Description
Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band
Now in its 41st year, Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band is the foremost presenter of traditional Balkan brass music in the US. They have performed for concerts, weddings, and festivals across the US and in the Balkans, from the esteemed halls of the Kennedy Center in Washington to the illustrious Guča Brass Festival in Serbia, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors. They were the first musicians from abroad to perform Serbian music at Guča, and they have been invited guests five times. Their 2010 visit was featured in the documentary Brasslands. They have released four albums of music for listening and dancing. In 1986, they created the Golden Festival and have joyously sponsored it ever since.
Gabriel Marin’s Balkan Trio
Multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Akhmad Marin has been called a “Fusion Wizard” (Guitar World) and “boasts insane chops, impeccable time, mastery of diverse traditional scales, rare fretless guitar fluency, and a gift for manipulating effects” (Premier Guitar Magazine). The Buffalo Times calls him “the guiding light for his generation of six-stringers,” while Bass Musician Magazine notes he is “A fretless guitar virtuoso whose microtonal adventures rival those of many eastern musicians, with a talent for rhythm and nuttiness.” He is also recognized as a “Master of the Dutar” (NPR, New Sounds).
Gabriel’s solo album Ruminate spent months on the Global World Music Charts and received glowing reviews. He has studied and performed music from North and South India, Iran, the Balkans, Turkey, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, as well as Western classical, avant-garde Jazz, and Heavy Rock. One of the few players to explore fretless and MIDI guitar, he has found a truly unique and expressive voice, enhanced by his layering of effects. A founding member of fusion band Consider the Source, he also plays dutars, dombra, tanbour, and uctelli saz. Gabriel tours nationally and frequently in Turkey, Central Asia, and the Middle East, performing with master musicians. In 2024, he was greeted by the Minister of Culture of Tajikistan for his music and cultural diplomacy.