Guča Trumpet Festival
Imagine a small town with only 2,000 residents. Imagine that this town is full of joy and music everywhere.
Imagine that this idyllic town is host to hundreds of thousands of people roaming through the streets. Now what if I told you that you can do more than just imagine it?
Welcome to Guča, a small town just a 3-hour drive from Belgrade. Every August for the past 55 years, a world-famous trumpet festival has been held in this small Serbian town.
I had long heard myths and urban legends about this festival, but had never been a fan of traditional trumpet music. Therefore, I never imagined I’d enjoy something like the Guča festival. As you can probably guess, I was dead wrong.
‘Whoever doesn’t go crazy here just isn’t normal.’
I visited the festival on the grand 50th anniversary. The slogan of that year’s festival can be roughly translated as: ‘Whoever doesn’t go crazy here just isn’t normal.’ (It sounds better in the original, but you get the idea.)
Suffice to say, the festival was madness — complete madness! And even though I was not visiting with some group of hip, youngster friends, but rather tagged along with my middle-aged father and his mates, that didn’t stop me from having an absolute blast!
During the festival, the whole town is turned into a pedestrian zone, so we couldn’t enter with our cars. Instead, we hitched a ride on a traditional horse-drawn carriage called a ‘fijaker.’
As we approached the town, I began to hear the music. The sounds filled every nook and cranny of the town! The bands have their formal competitions in the evenings, and so throughout the day musicians roam the streets and entertain the crowds for free.
It was just past lunchtime when we arrived; the main square — which boasts the town’s trumpeter monument — was packed with people and music and dancing. In such a place, you just have to dance; try as you might to resist, the atmosphere will take you!
That afternoon, I danced through the streets, ate liberally from food stands, and guzzled the local ‘rakija,’ all homemade and traditional. These three joys form a never-ending cycle in Guča: you dance, you eat, you drink — and then you start to dance again!
What more is there to ask for?
If you’ve enjoyed this article, please consider recommending/sharing it.
Our latest articles: The Roman Galleries of Roşia Montană, Turda Salt Mine, Love Baroque? Love Varaždin, Simontornya Fortress, Gazivode Lake, Dunafoldvar Town,Brač Island.
Follow Eastern Chronicles on Medium, Facebook, and Instagram.
