The Guča Trumpet Festival

Guča is an ordinary small village in western Serbia for fifty-one weeks of the year. In August it hosts the Dragačevo trumpet festival, which began in 1961 as a modest gathering and has become the largest brass event in the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of people and dozens of competing orkestars. The music is Balkan brass at full volume: trumpets, tubas and drums playing kolo dances and laments at a speed and force that has to be heard in person, with bands roaming the streets and playing directly into the faces of anyone who pays them, a banknote pressed onto a sweating forehead being the traditional tribute. There is a formal competition for the golden trumpet in the arena, but most of the festival happens in the street, in tents and around spit-roasted lamb, and it runs continuously for days.

What you actually see

• The street orkestars - bands playing at close range for banknotes.
• The golden trumpet competition - the formal contest in the arena.
• The kolo dancing - crowds dancing in circles to the brass.
• The food tents - spit-roasted lamb and pork through the days and nights.

When to go

The festival is in August, usually running for the best part of a week with the main days at the weekend; dates are published months ahead. Book accommodation as early as you can, in Guča itself or in Čačak, or plan to camp, as the village fills completely.

Honest expectations

It is extremely loud, extremely crowded and fuelled by a great deal of rakija, and it is not a gentle cultural outing; sleep is largely theoretical. Facilities in a village of two thousand people hosting hundreds of thousands are stretched to breaking. Bands playing directly at you expect payment. Those who want the music without the chaos should look for Balkan brass concerts elsewhere.

Nearby

Čačak and the Ovčar-Kablar gorge are close; Zlatibor lies southwest.