Guča voted best international festival

Guča voted best international festival

“Forget Glastonbury, Reading, Burning Man and Cochella: the wildest music festival on earth is a cacophonic and crazy brass band festival that takes place every summer in the tiny Serbian town of Guča in the western region of Dragačevo,” the site writes.

“For an entire week the sound of thousands of blaring trumpets rends the air, playing everything from traditional Serbian folk and gypsy music to songs by the likes of Goran Bregović. Grilled meat washed down with potent plum brandy keeps you and the delirious crowd going.”

The festival starts on August 30 this year and end on September 3. There will be a record number of competing brass bands this year and seven international bands will be performing as main acts. The organisers of the festival are expecting many visitors from abroad this year and Radio Television Serbia will be broadcasting the festivities for all those who are interested and unable to attend.

The Serbian Government has set aside more than 150 million dinars for the festival this year, said Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilić.

Ilić said that 150 million dinars has been set aside for infrastructural purposes, 12 million to organise the festival, and ten million to enable all visitors to attend the festival free of charge.

One million dinars has been set aside for accommodations for the brass bands.  

Ilić said that the final night of competition will be opened by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica.

The Guča festival began as a small competition for the Dragačevo Assembly of Trumpet Players back in 1961, and now attracts nearly half a million people every year. More information can be found at the festival’s official site.