A Frenzy of Trumpets: Why Brass Musicians Can't Resist Serbia's Wildest Festival
By Lisa Hix
— Aside from a certain subset of musicians, most Americans live a day-to-day life that is sadly free of brass music. In Serbia, however, any occasion is an excuse to bring out the horns. The joyous, off-kilter sounds of Balkan brass bands fill the air during weddings, births, housewarmings, funerals, and patron saint days. And every August, even in times of war and strife, Serbians celebrate the trumpet—or, more accurately, the flugelhorn—at the Dragačevo Sabor Trubaca, commonly known as the...
