“I grew up in a neighbourhood in Sarajevo where time was measured by the bells of the nearby Catholic church, by those of the Orthodox church, and by the muezzin’s prayer calls.
Since then, all my life and all my music have been marked by the richness of these different chants.”
Goran Bregović was born in Sarajevo in 1950. His first steps in music were taken with a violin bow in hand, which he later traded for a guitar—an instrument that led him to rock music and to the band Bijelo Dugme, which became the most famous rock group in Yugoslavia.
When the band disbanded, Goran turned to cinema, composing unforgettable soundtracks for Emir Kusturica’s films, such as Time of the Gypsies and Underground. Bregović’s music draws on Romani and southern Slavic themes, and is the result of a fusion between traditional Balkan folk polyphony, tango, and brass bands—a communion of diverse influences that he fully brings to life with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra.
