Guca
DVDs
A good way to warm up to the notorious Guca brass festival
is to watch some of the DVDs featuring – in one way
or another – the Serbian brass music.
For those strictly interested in the music and the different
orchestras, three Serbian releases are available, recordings
of the midnight concert from 2004, 2006 and 2008;
Guca. Ponocni Koncert 2004
Here we experience the orchestras of Dejan Lazarevic and Veljko
Ostojic at the beginning of their carriers, Elvis Ajdinovic
and Dejan Petrovic probably at the height of theirs, while
the orchestra of Milovan Babic is at the end of its career.
The DVD concludes with Slobodan Salijevic Orkestar playing
the hits Mesecina and Kalashnikov, albeit with severe sound
problems with the vocal microphone.
Buy the DVD at yu4you.com
Guca. Ponocni Koncert 2006
Three hours of midnight concert with good, uplifting performance
from Dejan Lazarevic, decent performances by Dejan Petrovic,
and Bojan Ristic and Demiran Cerimovic blowing like their
lifes depended on it. Elvis Ajdonic’ orchestra is dressed
in identical Hugo Boss suits, for the visual impression. While
the orchestra of Nenad Mladenovic is not so tight all way
through, the young Ekrem Mamutovic takes the lead in the song
"Ekremov Tamarski Vez", and clearly shows the rising
star he is – not surprisingly, in 2007 he fronted his
own orchestra and won the first trumpet! The midnight concert
2006 is not 'opa!' all way through though, and regarding a
couple of the kolo orchestras I wonder how they made it to
the final…
Nevertheless, good value for money in this DVD.
Buy the DVD at yu4you.com
Guca. Ponocni Koncert 2008
I haven't received the DVD yet, as it has just been released,
but I was there, and know that there was plenty of good performances
– not least by Dejan Lazarevic, who managed to win both
the first trumpet and the golden trumpet. Also Gvozden Rosic
played some exciting kolos at this concert, as can be heard
on the Guca 2008 page. The concert of Boban Markovic Orchestra
is also featured on this release.
Buy the DVD at yu4you.com
Documentaries about the Guca festival;
'Guca'
Dir: Milivoj Ilic
71 minutes
The Serbian director Milivoj Ilic lets us glimpse into the
madness of the annual brass festival in the small Serbian
town, Guca. In this movie we get all round, up and down, and
if this makes you dizzy – well, then you just got a
fine idea about what the festival’s like! Nevertheless,
the film manages to portray the chaos of Guca without getting
chaotic itself. Milivoj Ilic lets the music form the leitmotif
through this turbulent madness of a brass competition. Especially
we follow the two band leaders Dejan Petrovic and Veljko Ostijic
and their preparations for the competition in 2005. And several
shots of the orchestras are so hot that I’d buy the
movie just for them! The movie also shows a thing I’ve
always found funny about Guca; On the one side: the ‘officials’
of the festival – a management so dry that it squeaks,
the long-drawn-out bureaucratic speeches before the musicians
play and the professor-like judges, who evaluate whether or
not the orchestras play 'traditionally' enough. On the other
side: the extreme, heavily soaked party atmosphere that penetrates
the festival… where is the connection!? We also get
a talk with the Boban Markovic Orkestar, walking down the
main road with a heavy VIP attitude… And Marko Markovic,
chatting on the cell phone, wearing bimbo shades. What a sight!
Hustlers, tricksters, good folks, bad folks, traditionalists,
nationalists, expat Serbs, country dwellers – the gallery
of characters is just as multicoloured as the festival is
bizarre. As one Guca visitor aptly put it; "Guca is the
world's biggest psychiatric clinic" – go watch
the movie and join in for an hour!
As a bonus, the DVD has three full length performances with
Petrovic, Lazarevic and Ostojic from the final competition
in 2005. Visually, the movie is well made, with nice shots,
good photographic quality and warm colours.
Watch trailers at the Myspace page of the movie: myspace.com/gucafilm
buy at: shop.gucafilm.com
'Trumpet’s Republic'
Dir: Stefano Missio
Director Stefano Missio's documentary about Serbia is pretty
much about Guca too, and it features a glimpse into the life
of farmer and trumpeter Gvozden Rosic, winner of the golden
trumpet in 2001. Govzden introduces his hometown like this:
"Here we are in the village of Rti. Rti is more beautiful
than Beverly Hills!". Apart from Rosic, performances
of several other orchestras is featured in 'Trumpet's Republic'.
The movie doesn't have a traditional development or storyline,
but rather becomes a kind of patchwork of many impressions
from post-war Serbia, political, culinary, personal and of
course musical. While both sounds and visuals are quite 'rough',
the team behind this movie shows an extraordinary talent for
capturing very close and unique moments, with a potential
to touch the heart of the viewer.
The movie hasn't yet been released on DVD, but is screened
in festivals around the world, check the calendar at the website:
www.trumpetsrepublic.com
'Guca – Prestonica Trube'
Dir: Dragan Kovacevic
82 minutes
The only of the documentaries that features old. historic
recordings of the orchestras of Slobodan Salijevic, Svetozar
Lazovic, Milovan Babic, Boban Markovic and others, with the
oldest seemingly from 1994. That alone makes this DVD a must
have!
Unfortunately, the names of the participating orchestras are
often not mentioned, which makes it hard to know who’s
who for the novice in Serbian brass business. This DVD has
its focus on the history of the festival and the surrounding
region, and mainly in a musical context. The historical recordings
– otherwise inaccessible – make this a highly
valuable release.
Buy the DVD at yu4you.com
Feature films about Guca:
'Guca!'
Dir: Dusan Milic
A "Romeo & Juliet" type love story with Marko
Markovic, son of Boban Markovic, playing the main role. I
haven’t seen the whole movie yet, but it seems like
a funny, not-too-serious movie worth watching especially if
one is obsessed with Guca.
The story:
JULIET (Juliana), a white girl, falls in love with a dark-skinned
ROMEO, a divine trumpet player from a Roma orchestra. Her
father Sacmo, a leader of the rival white band is disgusted
with Romeo's skin color. At the upcoming Festival of trumpeters
Romeo must prove to him that, due to his talent, he is the
right man for his daughter. Sacmo's willing to overcome his
belief and give up his daughter to the Roma only if Romeo
proves to be better than him.
Romeo and Juliet:
Marko Markovic & Aleksandra Manasijevic
A trailer
from the film, featuring the song "tigar rumba".
The "ending
battle"...
Buy the DVD at yu4you.com
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last update July 26th
