When someone talks about Serbia (former republic of Yugoslavia), what’s your first thought or image? Warzone? Bombings?
How about Music? Families? Music Festivals?
Wait– did I just say MUSIC? Yes I did. I saw this amazing movie entitled BRASSLANDS that is about Serbia and the culture of Serbia that revolves around a type of brass-based music genre that has evolved into what is now a world-reknown music festival!!
Here are the details:
A tiny Serbian village explodes with brass cacophony and riotous celebration as more than half a million music fans descend upon Guča, the world’s largest trumpet competition. Amidst a cast of defending Serbian champions and struggling Roma Gypsies, an unlikely brass band from New York City, Zlatne Uste, voyages to represent the United States only a decade after NATO bombs rocked Belgrade. They will be the first Americans ever to compete at Guča.
Brasslands offers an intimate and sometimes unsettling portrait of how the hopes and fears of this diverse group of characters collide in their search for common ground and musical ecstasy.
The citizens of Guča prepare for the oncoming hordes with a mix of national pride and nervous energy. The older generation has lived through world war, socialist rule, national fragmentation, and ethnic cleansing – all of which has given way to a festival at the center of an evolving national identity. Middle-aged business-owners hope to capitalize on a growing festival and huge influx of cash.
The youngest watch the best trumpeters in the world play their country’s traditional music: some yearn to play on that stage, while others throw on their headphones to pump Metallica and Lady Gaga.
In this war-scarred landscape, disparate societies find common ground in a joyous, deeply transcendent music that leaves no ear unaffected.
Every competitor seeks to win, but the film’s characters are all making their trumpet pilgrimages for very different reasons:
—25-year-old “master trumpeter” Dejan Petrovic—the reigning Guča champion—returns to defend his championship title.—Demiran Ćerimović—a world-class Roma Gypsy trumpeter—struggles against deeply ingrained racism for the opportunity to make money for his family.
—Through it all, a fish-out-of-water American band plays to validate their very existence in front of a population still scarred by U.S. bombs.
Audio stream of the music. Available from iTunes and Soundcloud!
As the festival commences, Brasslands bears witness to the deeper resonance of the music, as the town of Guča begins to swell with frenetic energy.
From the deafening batteries of drums and staccato snares, to the euphoric brass chorales and electrifying trumpet solos, everyone here has gathered to celebrate the music, to dance, and to enjoy life. Despite the fact that tensions continue to simmer below the alcohol-fueled surface, Brasslands attests to the fact that even amidst fractured ethnic and political divides, there remains a universal human desire for identity, joy, and belonging—and that, if only for a few days, it will make itself heard. And the operative and pivotal thing that brings everyone together is their love of music and in particulary the brass instrumentality that binds everyone together despite their differences based on ethnicity, country of origin and just difference between people.The word’s “world’s largest trumpet festival” may not immediately inspire awe. Yet the sight and sound of 500,000 people however flocking to a tiny Serbian village for three days of revelry and rivalry is truly something to behold.
With the Guca festival celebrating its 50th anniversary, Brooklyn’s Zlatne Uste brass band journeys to Serbia, eager to test themselves against the likes of Dejan Petrovic, a fourth-generation trumpet master. Discovering a country still bearing the physical and psychological scars of war and political strife, they likewise find transcendence among their fellow devotees who’ve congregated at this makeshift shrine to the stirring music they all worship.
Saw the movie and loved it!! It’s well-worth the effort to see this movie– especially for such a limited time. It shows you that ethic origins do not have to separate us– nor religious beliefs. We are all human beings.
Brasslands– Free Screenings (USA, 2013, 86 mins, HDCam)
In English and Serbian with English subtitles
World Premiere
Directed By: Meerkat Media Collective
Executive Producers: Adam Pogoff, Bryan Chang
Producers: Adam Pogoff, Bryan Chang, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg
Cinematographers: Bryan Chang, Eric Phillips-Horst, Michael Palmieri, Jay Sterrenberg, Jeffrey Sterrenberg
Editors: Bryan Chang, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg
Cast: Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, Dejan Petrovic, Demiran Cerimovic
NYC Premiere and party: Rooftop Films
BRASSLANDS: Meerkat Media Collective
SATURDAY JUL 13, 2013 6:30 PM
Free
VENUE
BROOKFIELD PLACE (FORMERLY WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER)
between West Street and the Hudson River
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
220 Vesey Street, New York City, NY, 10080
A, C to Chambers Street; E to World Trade Center, 2, 3 to Park Place
SHOW
BRASSLANDS
6:00PM Doors Open
6:30PM Four live brass bands! Zlatne Uste, Slavic Soul Party!, Inspector Gadje and Raya Brass Band–create the experience of being enveloped in the frenetic energy of competing bands.
8:30PM Film Begins
Definitely worth checking out. Do conme with an open heart, mind and also a willing pair of ears because it’s very much like being part of a festival in real life.
This is playing in NEW YORK on July 13 and also September 22. Do check out the website at www.brasslands.com
BRASSLANDS: THE FILM AND SOUNDTRACK TO A WORLDWIDE: BALKAN BRASS MOVEMENT
Soundtrack to be Released on July 13th through Evergreene Music
Brasslands isn’t just the soundtrack to an extraordinary film, but the soundtrack to a blistering global movement of Balkan brass fans across the world.
Already a huge success at the International Film Festival in Belgrade and a “Best of Fest” winner at Minneapolis Film Festival, Brasslands premieres in the United States at the L.A. Film Festival and will see its East Coast debut as part of New York’s River to River Festival and Rooftop Films Summer Series on Saturday, July 13th.
Evergreene Music is proud to be releasing the soundtrack to Brasslands-and it couldn’t come at a better time. Fresh off the heels of its historic Balkan Arts Series release, Brasslands is the ideal project for a modern New York label with a passion for global music.
Every year a tiny Serbian village explodes with riotous celebration and brass cacophony, as more than half a million music fans descend upon Guča, for the world’s largest trumpet competition. Brasslands documents Guča’s 50th anniversary festival, where amidst a cast of defending Serbian champions and struggling Roma Gypsies, an unlikely brass band from New York City, Zlatne Uste, voyages to represent the United States only a decade after NATO bombs rocked Belgrade. They will be the first Americans ever to compete at Guča.
As the festival commences, Brasslands bears witness to the deeper resonance of the music, as the town of Guča begins to swell with frenetic energy. While ethnic and political divisions continue to simmer below the surface of this war-torn country, everyone here has gathered to celebrate their music, to dance, and to enjoy life. With deafening drum batteries, lightning trumpet solos, and euphoric brass chorales, Brasslands attests to the fact that even amidst great turbulence and unrest, there remains a universal human desire for identity, joy, and belonging-and that, if only for a few days, it will make itself heard.
In addition to some of New York’s finest brass bands, such as Zlatne Uste, Veveritse, Raya Brass Band, and Slavic Soul Party!, the Brasslands soundtrack features rare contributions by Serbia’s most sought-after trumpet virtuosos: Roma legend Dejan Avdić, 3-time Guča champion Demiran Ćerimović, and 2010 champion and “trumpet master” Dejan Petrović.
“It might be counter-intuitive,” says Evergreene Manager, Mark Roberts, “but the relentless energy and assertive spirit of this music is the perfect soundtrack to modern life in the city. It’s fast, it’s empowering, and it matches New York’s energy every step of the way.”
The Brasslands soundtrack releases on July 13th, 2013 via Evergreene Music.
The soundtrack will be available as a digital album with iTunes booklet and as a Digipak CD with an immersive 16-page booklet.
For more info on Brasslands and the film makers → www.brasslands.com
For more info on the soundtrack and Evergreene Music → www.evergreenemusic.com
For more info on the East Coast premiere in NYC with Rooftop Films and the River to River Festival → www.rooftopfilms.com/2013/works/brasslands/
https://www.facebook.com/Brasslands
https://twitter.com/Brasslands
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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