🎺The Serbian Woodstock, or the Guča Trumpet Festival.
August 8–10, 2025 — the little Serbian town of Guča is going to be sooooo loud! That's when Guča hosts its trumpet festival, one of the biggest brass band competitions in the world. And no kidding, it'll be the noisiest weekend in the Balkans.
📜 History — from a village idea to a global phenomenon
* The first festival took place in 1961 in the churchyard of the Holy Archangel church. Only 4 bands performed back then. The winner was Desimir Perišić — it's his monument that still greets guests at the entrance to Guča.
* The festival idea came from "Politika" journalist Blagoje Radivojević, who added brass bands to a local folklore celebration.
* By the 1970s the festival had become a nationwide event.
Today the festival draws more than 600,000 guests over three days to a town with a population of about 2,000!!!
🎺 What's going to happen?
Most of the performances are improvised – the trumpeters play, as they say, "from the soul".
The legendary Fejat Sejdić will perform at the festival — the "king of the trumpet", who has won dozens of times without being able to read music.
Besides the competition program, there'll be evening and night-time partying with street bands, kolo and čoček dancing, and improvisation on every corner of the town — until midnight and beyond! Yes, yes, this weekend Guča doesn't sleep.
Also, for many years now the Guča Festival has staged a traditional Serbian wedding, complete with processions and celebrations in the village streets. This vivid part of the festival adds color and sets the mood.
If you're still not sure whether to go, let me sum up:
🎺 Guča is the Serbian Woodstock: mountains, brass, the smell of stewed kupus and mutton, rakija and loud sounds. The festival's music literally makes everyone there dance! That very atmosphere of informal folk euphoria, when you're spinning in a round dance with the crowd and have no idea how you ended up there)) And, of course, tons of content! Bring a power bank, it's a must!
In the comments: the festival program by day and useful tips for those who decide to go
Published August 5, 2025 · Open the post in Telegram ↗
