Balkan Trafik: after the hype

The Balkan hype ended a few years back, but the Balkan Trafik festival keeps demonstrating that Balkan music is still very popular. The festival is being organised for the seventh year running at Bozar, and in addition to a wide variety of Balkan music, it offers food stands and regional wines, workshops, and, for the first time, debates.

Last year, Albanian rockers Jericho had to cancel their attendance at the very last minute due to visa problems – probably a first for a European band – but this year, the socio-politically committed gang from Kosovo will be here. Their rock contains regular bursts of traditional Albanian music. As a festival in the European capital, Balkan Trafik is completely right in presenting Mafiasko Taxi on Saturday evening. The group emerged from Feria de Fronteras, a European project that fosters and stimulates collaboration between musicians, photographers, and visual artists from Europe and the Balkans. In this case, it is between the Belgian musicians of the Orchestre International du Vetex, Bosnian singer Jelena Milusic, and jazz guitarist Dick van der Harst. On Saturday afternoon, Feria de Fronteras is organising two round-table debates about living and surviving in the Balkans as young artists and on the role culture might play in giving the European project a new élan after the accession of the Balkan nations.

As the top of the bill, the festival is bringing Goran Bregovic back, but that is a slight bone of contention. Couldn’t they have dug a little deeper to find upcoming talent in the Balkans, rather than bringing this international star back to Brussels for the umpteenth time? We are looking forward more to the New York Gypsy All Stars who are bringing their “nuyorbalkan” to Belgium for the first time, and to the Taksim Trio’s tender mix of Turkish tradition, jazz, and classical. The in-house production Aka Balkan Moon also promises to deliver an exciting fusion from the Belgian jazz band Aka Moon, violinist Tcha Limberger, and internationally renowned Bulgarian musicians, while the Romanian wind musicians of the Ciocarlia brass band are coming back to Balkan Trafik. They set the very first edition of the festival on fire with their hyperkinetic gypsy music. Balkan Trafik is definitely worth visiting just for the side shows, ranging from workshops and folk dancing in the hallways of Bozar to food and a Balkan Bazaar. The Rembetiko Kafé and the Kabaret Manouche are the icing on the cake, where you can quietly sip a Balkan wine while enjoying live music. Beside parties, this year will also feature a debate about “The Brussels-Balkan Connection” moderated by the Albanian political philosopher Bleri Lleshi. To recover from the partying – that is, after all, what Balkan Trafik is mostly about – you can nestle into one of the comfy sofas at Bozar to explore the Balkans more deeply during the film day. We recommend the Turkish film Beyond the hill (3 pm), a mix of drama, black comedy, and thriller about the conflict between a small land owner and a group of nomads. The film debut of director Emin Alper won awards at various international film festivals.

Balkan Trafik • 17 > 21/4, Bozar, rue Ravensteinstraat 23, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-507.82.00, info@bozar.be, www.bozar.be