History of Guca Festival

The traditional Dragacevo trumpet - its cult kept alive for nearly two centuries regardless of political and social considerations - has with time become world-renowned. It is owing to the trumpet that the name of Serbia has resounded worldwide, in all the continents. Some orchestras, when they appear on stage, whether for official competition national dress, the authentic and indigenous dances and other folk inspired elements, coupled with music, have become an integral part of national gathering.

The virtuoso music performers, the trumpet players to the paradox and make the story more authentic - are for the most part fully self-taught. They play by ear and quite spontaneously, relying on their musical memory; they play from the heart and soul, and their music reaches out to listeners precisely for this quality. The Gucha Assembly of Trumpet Players continues to grow year after year: today, this musical feast of recognizable national skills is more popular, more diverse and bigger than ever before.

The first Dragacevo Assembly of Trumpet Players was held on October 16, 1961 in the yard of the Church of Sts. Michael and Gabriel in Gucha. Initially, it was a very modest Assembly - almost subversive for the prevailing political circumstances of that time. However, the Assembly gradually grew and expanded its, one might say, magical influence, and over the past ten or so years has become the folk remained its key symbol and raison detre, it is no longer held solely for the trumpet players. It grew into an Assembly of toastmasters, painters, song "Sa Ovcara I Kablara", marks the beginning of the festival each year. Some church music festivals notwithstanding, the Assembly of Trumpet Players is the best know event of this kind extending uninterruptedly for 43 years and attracting guests and musicians alike from every continent. Trumpet players and folk song and dance groups from around the world deem it a great honor to be invited to the Assembly, and the number of v visitors increases with each coming year. The record was set in 2002, when Guca hosted in excess of 300.000 visitors.

With considerable experience in organizing Assemblies, today the traditionally hospitable Gucha has earned its place on the map of world music festivals, inviting high interest from ethno music lovers, and deservedly so. As an internationally recognized trumpet capital, and a singular corner of positive energy, a place with accumulated joy, gaiety and spontaneity, coupled with the piercing yet gentle sound of the trumpet, Gucha is a place of catharsis of the heart and soul while the festival lasts. All this is more than enough to attract visitors to Gucha each Mexico , Spain , Greece , Denmark , China and many other close or distant countries. The names of Boban Markovic, Milan Mladenovic, Ekrem Sajdic, Elvis Ajdinovic, Fejat and Zoran Sejdic have carried the glory of the Serbian trumpet across the world. Some 600,000 visitors are expected at the next, and 50th Assembly. That would be very impressive indeed, would it not?


Istorija

Guča je gradsko naselje u opštini Lučani u Moravičkom okrugu. U Guči se svake godine tradicionalno održava "Dragačevski sabor trubača". Guča se prvi put pominje u turskom katastarskom popisu iz 1476. godine. Guča kao centar zajednice naselja - subopštinski centar opštine Lučani po postanku je starije urbano naselje od Lučana. Bila je opštinsko, pa sresko mesto do 1955. godine da bi se svelo na opštinsko do 1962. godine, kada je ukinuta opština Guča i formirana opština Lučani sa sedištem u Lučanima.

Serbian History Trumpet Tradition

Serbian History Trumpet tradition

Dragacevo, which used to be a rural region, experienced strong economic and general educational and cultural development after 1950, and mostly in the first decade of the 21st century, first of all thanks to the Trumpeters Festival.

The capital of modern trumpeting - Guca, is relatively small, and the trumpet was first played as far ago as 1831. Before nearly two centuries Milos Obrenović ordered the establishment of a "Principle's Serbian band" in Kragujevac, and that the first brass band be led by Josip Slezinger (1794-1870), a man from Sombor, who in those times was the first musically literate expert in Serbia. "Oberlautar" Mustafa, a man who played the violin and "zurle" (zurna), was until then amusing the Serb ruler and his entourage "and was amusing also even foreigners who did not have much understanding for Turkish music". Immediately upon his arrival in Kragujevac he started to organize the band. Since he lacked in skilled musicians, he asked the Principle to arrange that young man from among the population be found, who have talent and will to do this job. Milos promptly ordered that each county delegates five young men. And, so it started. Although it did not always run smoothly, they learned to play the new "golden" instruments, by playing the round-dances and songs which they knew and were familiar with them, but learning also everything that maestro J. Slezinger was teaching them in the then Serbian capital Kragujevac.

History of the Serbian Trumpet Tradition

Almost two centuries passed by, there were many outstanding military brass bands and band leaders from the regiments and divisions. However, only in the mid 19th century were the foreign musical and cultural influence getting stronger; they can be identified at the beginning of the new era in the folk music of Dragacevo and were particularly strong in regard to trumpet music and homophonic multi-part singing , i.e. in singing "na bas". How the brass bands were emerging we heard from spontaneous statements of modern Dragacevo musicians. It is known in Dljina that their oldest trumpeter "was a guy named Cebic who was playing before World War I… And he himself inherited it from the past times. "In Goracici the first orchestra was founded by the Davidovic brothers from Dragacica "probably sometimes about the times of World War I, and this band included only four musicians". Also, the story goes that "in Rti the band leader and first trumpet was Milisav Kostic–Tralja, and his today's heirs are trumpeters playing in the Srecko Obradovic orchestra". And so we come also to the trumpeter Desimir Perisic from Goracići and the winning orchestra at the First Festival in Guca in 1961.

The songs are usually based of two-bar motives and melodies, mainly of two part structure consisting of 4 to 5 tones.

All around the globe, at all meridians, on all continents, most probably also on the Antarctica, it is known that Guca and Dragacevo are famous for trumpet music. The trumpet can be heard, loudly and gently, also in the biggest cities of the world and recordings of the trumpeters' music have reached the outer space, where the cosmonauts were amusing themselves.

With all the other flags, the Dragacevo Trumpeters Festival's flag has been flying since 2000 also on the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest, on the Himalayas (8,848 m). It was placed there by the first Serb – a man from Dragacevo, Dragan Jacimovic from Puhovo.

To say it in modern language, Dragacevo Trumpeters festival is one of the most famous Serbian brands. And… trumpet music took for the world from the villages of Dragacevo, via Guca. Via Dragacevo Trumpeters Festival at which, for full five decades, the blessed musicians – the golden Serbian trumpeters – gathered in flocks.

Dragacevo, which used to be a rural region, experienced strong economic and general educational and cultural development after 1950, and mostly in the first decade of the 21st century, first of all thanks to the Trumpeters Festival.

The capital of modern trumpeting, Guca, is relatively small, and the trumpet was first played as far ago as 1831. Before nearly two centuries Milos Obrenovic ordered the establishment of a "Principle's Serbian band" in Kragujevac, and that the first brass band be led by Josip Slezinger (1794-1870), a man from Sombor, who in those times was the first musically literate expert in Serbia. "Oberlautar" Mustafa, a man who played the violin and "zurle" (zurna), was until then amusing the Serb ruler and his entourage "and was amusing also even foreigners who did not have much understanding for Turkish music". Immediately upon his arrival in Kragujevac he started to organize the band. Since he lacked in skilled musicians, he asked the Principle to arrange that young man from among the population be found, who have talent and will to do this job. Milos promptly ordered that each county delegates five young men. And, so it started. Although it did not always run smoothly, they learned to play the new "golden" instruments, by playing the round-dances and songs which they knew and were familiar with them, but learning also everything that maestro J. Slezinger was teaching them in the then Serbian capital Kragujevac

Almost two centuries passed by, there were many outstanding military brass bands and band leaders from the regiments and divisions. However, only in the mid 19th century were the foreign musical and cultural influence getting stronger; they can be identified at the beginning of the new era in the folk music of Dragacevo and were particularly strong in regard to trumpet music and homophonic multi-part singing , i.e. in singing "na bas". How the brass bands were emerging we heard from spontaneous statements of modern Dragacevo musicians. It is known in Dljina that their oldest trumpeter "was a guy named Cebic who was playing before World War I… And he himself inherited it from the past times. "In Goracići the first orchestra was founded by the Davidovic brothers from Dragacica "probably sometimes about the times of World War I, and this band included only four musicians". Also, the story goes that "in Rti the band leader and first trumpet was Milisav Kostić–Tralja, and his today's heirs are trumpeters playing in the Srecko Obradovic orchestra". And so we come also to the trumpeter Desimir Perisic from Goracići and the winning orchestra at the First Festival in Guca in 1961.

The songs are usually based of two-bar motives and melodies, mainly of two part structure consisting of 4 to 5 tones. The vigorous folk round-dances from the western regions are characterized by occasional pauses of the leading trumpets, with the basses taking over the leading tune of the leading trumpets, highlighting the basic harmonies. Also, we will notice that southern folk dances are usually characterized by oriental music, in the so-called "aksak" rhythm. This is especially emphasized with the "performance" of the drummer, who expertly combines larger "cukan" (right hand) strokes with those of the thinner stick (left hand, on the edge of the drum, skillfully stressing the changes of double and triple meter in the specific rhythmical formulas and combinations (8/8; 7/8; 9/8 etc.), especially in the characteristic dances – songs called "chochek". Then, spontaneously and ravishingly, genuinely enjoying in the music, dance only those who truly know how to do it. In the eastern region a big number of folk dances of the "Batrna" (ancient dance) type and "Stara Vlajna", i.e. "Timocka Rumenka" or "Svrljiski laskavac", are preserving the genetic features of the Vallah or Serb Hora dancing, when the dancers are crossing their hands and holding each other by the belt. And all Serbian songs and dances have up to five tones, while Vallah melodies are more diversified and with an occasional alternation of the slow parts with the usually faster refrain. Singing with trumpet accompaniment is gaining in popularity nowadays here with us. Like the first folk trumpeters from the times of Milos, contemporary ones are also mainly autodidacts having keen hearing, and are playing a huge repertoire of songs and dances by heart, and by the ear, improvising their interpretation spontaneously and from their soles and hearts.

With the first orchestras, their members evolved as musicians and their number was invreasing. At the beginning the orchestras had five musicians, and the contemporary orchestras usually have up to ten musicians (three to four ''B'' trumpets, three bass flugelhorns, one bass trumpet – helicon or euphonium, and, finally, snare drum and large drum with cymbals. Three regions clearly identified themselves by the style of their music, and are today three famous centers with the best trumpeters in Serbia today. Although the trumpet is not as deeply rooted in our people like the vocal music tradition, the fact is that those active in the field of culture have four decades ago broke the ground for trumpet music in tiny Guca. Since then, like awakening from a dream, trumpet music grew very quickly in those areas of western, eastern and southern Serbia in which the trumpet seed probably had already been thrown and did exist, and it also woke up during so many decades in the center of Sumadija, where its seed was for the first time thrown in the far away year 1831.

Grunula je truba

Grunula je truba - Branko V. Radicevic



Sve se izgleda menja. Sabor ostaje isti. Kao element. Zemlja. Vazduh. Voda. Pečenje. Lebac i slanina. Beli lukac. Kolovođa i kec. Prvi i poslednji u kolu. Sabor je čudo. I to čudo nad čudima. Trebalo je, pre trideset i pet godina, promarširati ulicama Guče. U anteriji. Sa šajkačom na glavi. U prisustvu vlasti. U pratnji trubača.

To je čudo. Taj pohod koji traje. Koji ne prestaje. Od Sabora do Sabora. Od grada do grada. U kasno leto. Pred jesen. Dumbara bubanj. Igra kolo. Ali, molim vas, zamislite: kako je to bilo pre trideset i pet godina. U prikradici. U prekorici. Kao inačica. Tek će narasti inat. Tek će se zainatiti pravi inat. U sveopštoj sumnji.

Prikradalo se. I pripremalo veliko kolo. U prikradici. Naizgled naivno i nevešto. Trebalo je imati hrabrosti. I odoleti pokudicama. Šta će vam to tu? I zašto će vam baš tu? I šta će tu Dragačevo? I zar se to sme u Dragačevu? I šta će drugi reći? I kako će se drugi ponašati? I ko će za to odgovarati? I šta ako se to u nešto neprilično izrodi? Opasno je! Nije vreme! Zašto baš trube? I šta će tu trube? Pa to podseća na ratove! I kakvi su to bili ratovi! Ima ratova i ratova. Osvajačkih, napadačkih, tlačiteljskih, nepravedenih, opakih i zlovremenih.

Šta će tu trube ? Na šta nas podsećaju? Na nekakva knjaževstva i kraljevstva?

Nije Srbin izmislio trubu. Šta će truba u kolu? Ima ona preča posla. Zna se njeno mesto. Ispraća u ratove. I maršira s vojskama. Jedan, dva. Pod komandom. Jedan, dva. Ne može u šest koraka.

I grunula je. U Dragačevu. Kao izazov. I prkos. Prisetila. Podsetila. Promladila. Dahnula vedrinom. I nadom. Jer narod igra. Ima nade. Jer narod igra. Dobro je kad narod igra. Zasvadbariće jesen. Rađaće se deca. Oživeće njive i livade. Biće leba i slanine. Zaratariće zemlja. Neće zaratovati. Ona će zaratariti. Jer bog Perun, vrhovni srpski bog, nije bog ratova, već berićeta, bog plodnosti. On opominje gromovima i munjama. On upravlja zemljom i nebesima. I šalje kišu na žednu zemlju. Oplođuje. Preporađa. Omlađuje. Stvara. Daruje.

Trebalo je lukavo, polako, strpljivo, uz neophodne dodvorice i nepotrebne pristanke, očuvati saborovinu, koja je postala dadž, napajala ljude verom i nadom da još ima zdravlja i da nije sve prošlo i da će se živeti i ploditi.

Zaigralo je veliko saborsko kolo. I porodio se veliki, opštenarodni inat. Truba se pretvorila u čudo. Oslušnite je. Drma. Čućete što nikad niste čuli. Čućete ako ste posustali. Čućete ako ste posumljali. Ima spasa. Ima nade. Čućete ako ste se odrodili. Čućete ako se još niste porodili. Čućete ako ste se zaplodili.

Moj glas je slab. Nemam snage da nadvičem trubu. Sve što sam govorim, kazaće vam truba. Ona neprestano samo o tome trubi. Treba je čuti, slušati i razumeti. Ona umesto nas progovara. Jednog dana, ko zna kada, došla je među nas iz dalekog belog sveta. I progovorila je našim glasom. Baš kao da je svirala. Kao da se usvirala. I uguslila. Videli smo je na slikama posvećenim Božijim prostorima. Anđeli navešćuju dolazak. Strašnog suda. Ona se potpuno pripitomila u Dragačevu. Ne poziva na juriš. Neće u rat. Ne navešćuje propast sveta. Dolazak Strašnog suda. Započinje kolo. Svetkuje. I razastire radost. I zato je dobrodošla. Kao preporoditeljka. Na radost. I veselje.

Branko V. Radičević, pesnik, jedan od osnivača Sabora
Slovo domaćina na otvaranju 30. Sabora 1990.

Cudo zvano Guca by Momo Kapor

Momo Kapor

Ko je mogao i da pomisli da će zov trube uspeti da okupi, ni manje ni više, šesto hiljada ljudi i da će na pustim poljanama Guče nići, kao u kakvom ratnom pohodu, polje šatora? A svi su zaboravili, niko ni da pomene, da je čitavu tu priču pre četrdeset devet goina, 1960. godine, započeo jedan pesnik, Branko V. Radičević, zvani Mačista, koji je proslavio Srbiju, a posebno Čačak, odakle je rodom, svojim pesmama i poemama.

Niko da se seti Mača, koji je sa nekolicinom prijatelja sakupio tri-četiri sirota duvačka orkestra koji su se potucali po Srbiji po svadbama i sahranama, više gladni nego siti, i da ih je doveo u portu ispred crkve Svetih arhangela Mihaila i Gavrila u Guči da tu sviraju ceo letnji dan do podne, a onda, bogami, i uveče, i sve tako, puna tri dana.

Vraćajući se u Beograd, Mač je natovario u kola i teški krajputaš iz okoline Čačka, prvi koji je ikada videla prestonica, uvevši tako u modu staru tradicionalnu skulpturu, i to obojenu, dok su se intelektualci divili rupama Engleza Henrija Mura. E, pa lepo bi bilo da je bilo ko od zvaničnika makar i pomenuo Mačistu, Branka V. Radičevića, ali Srbija je to: ona lako zaboravlja. Uostalom, pokojni Mačista ima vremena da čeka da ga pomenu.

Sva muka i bes, sva lepota i tuga, sva radost i muzika, koje se sakupe za godinu dana u Srbiji, prve nedelje avgusta šiknu u nebo kroz blistava grla truba na Saboru u Guči. To je događaj na koji seljačka Srbija nestrpljivo čeka punih godinu dana. Tada Guča, varošica u brdima, postaje svetska prestonica trube.

Ne zna se pouzdano kada su se i kako trube primile u Srbiji, koja je odvajkada poznavala uglavnom gusle, pastirske svirale, frule i dvojnice, ali je to verovatno bilo posle srpsko-turskih ratova potkraj devetnaestog veka, kada su se četni i pukovski trubači vratili u svoja sela, donevši sa sobom olupane, ulubljene i izubijane, a često i kuršumima probijene trube, kojima su, do tada, pozivali na juriše i svirali povečerja. Ratovi koji su usledili početkom novog veka znatno su povećavali, sem mrtvih, i broj truba. Zbog toga je u njihovom tonu još uvek najizrazitiji ratnički zvuk, poklič na pobedu ili smrt – tanki, mesingani lim, naliven melanholičnom mrenom povečerja.

Donosili su ih kao dragocenosti, pažljivo uvijene u krpe i futrole, sašivene od uvoštenih šatorskih krila, u svoja zabita sela. Odmotane i pažljivo izglancane blesnule bi, usred bode siromašnih izbi, sjajem zlatnog roga. Čuvali su ih brižljivo i negovali, zasviravši katkad u sutonu kolce ili posmrtni marš, sve dok ne postadoše pravi virtuozi, ravni, ako ne i bolji, od meksičkih marijačija. Svojim instrumentima postizali su i najviše, gotovo nemoguće tonove, ali su bili u stanju i da nežno, trubama, bekrijama šapuću u uvo uspavanke. I kao što je šljiva madžarka u ovom delu Srbije pronašla najpogodnije tlo za svoje sokove, isto tako se primila i truba, do tada nepoznata srpskim muzičarima. Pokazalo se da se nijednim muzičkim instrumentom, čak ni violinom, za koju su bili majstori Cigani, ne može bolje izraziti suština bića ovog naroda, ponekad kroz krik, često kroz suze, jecaje ili promukli smeh, a najčešće kroz obesne taktove narodnih kola, punih razuzdane radosti.

I sada su se, sa svih strana Srbije, sjatili svi u Guču. I oni koji su tek nedavno prvi put dunuli u pisak, i oni što su živeli od sviranja po svadbama, sahranama, vašarima i zabitim krčmama. Bilo je među njima svakojakih; onih u seljačkim gunjevima i opancima-šiljkanima, sa šajkačama na glavama, i drugih, što su već stekli ime, pa se odenuli u svilene košulje jarkih boja i širokih rukava, prsluke i lakovane cipele. Došli su tu odršani orkestri bez sluha i imalo muzikalnosti, uvežbani ansambli, koji su već nastupali na televiziji i igrali po filmovima, ciganski orkestri sa rumunske i bugarske granice i družine sa imenima nagrada ispisanim na bubnjevima pozlaćenih činela – čak i ansambl američkih marinaca! u Guču su se sjatilii rojevi domaćih i stranih filmskih i televizijskih ekipa da zabeleže kamerama još jedan potpuno nepredvidljivi uzlet srpskog duha. Već prve noći, podanici prestonice trube, zaplitali su jezicima i provlačili se kroz stolove pod šatrama u osmicama, opijeni raskošnim zvukom i pićem što se nemilice točilo na svakom koraku. Najbrojniji među njima došli su iz obližnjih gradova i Beograda, a nije bilo malo ni onih što su stigli čak iz Evrope i Amerike, da nedelju dana traže i pronalaze svoje zaboravljene korene. Samo na ovom mestu mogle su da se susretnu leptir-mašne sa šajkačama, mlade lepotice sa slavnim, pijanim starcima, dame, odevene po poslednjoj pariskoj modi, sa zabrađenim seljankama; pod šatrama koje su bazdile po rakiji, pečenom mesu i duvanskom dimu što je naprosto kuljao iz njih. Svaka šatra postala je improvizovana gostionica sa rasparenim stolicama i sastavljenim stolovima prekrivenim čaršavima, u kojoj su se smenjivala i nadmetala, naizmenično, po dva-tri orkestra duvača. Pred jutro, iskolačenih očiju, okrenuli bi svoje trube jedni naspram drugih, poput tromblonskih bacača zvuka, izduvavajući svu svoju nagomilanu snagu i bes kroz njih, nadmećući se ko će koga da nadjača i otera sa poprišta. Lepotice su se pele na stolove i igrale po njima (zvali su ih stolovače), a muškarci padali u dert, razvezivali kravate i opuštali kaiševe ispod nabreklih trbuha. Ništa se, naime, ne slaže i ne prožima tako dobro kao šljivovica iz tog kraja i svirka duvača-Dragačevaca.

Oko šatri su se okretali danonoćno ražnjevi sa prasićima i jaganjcima a na nekoliko mesta i teški volovi, sa kojih su vešti majstori noževima odsecali ispečeni sloj, i dok se pekao novi, prodavali još vrele režnjeve volujskog mesa u rasečenim lepinjama.

Što se tiče ovogodišnje Guče, zapanjile su me dve stvari: prva, da nije bilo nijednog slučaja svinjskog gripa, koji hara planetom, a to iz dva razloga – najpre, zbog toga što su gosti pojeli svu raspoloživu svinjetinu, tako da grip nije stigao da se zapati u njoj, a i to je najzad dokazano, da bacili gripa umiru na metar i sedamdeset pet centimetara udaljenosti od onoga koji je popio tri litra vina ili gajbu piva. Tako je slučajno i pronađen najbolji serum protiv gripa. Druga stvar koja me zapanjuje, po ko zna koji put, jesu pijani Slovenci, koji dokazuju da nema šta da tražimo u Evropskoj uniji, jer da je tamo dobro, ne bi dolazili kod nas u Guču da se provedu pod sloganom ''Samo jednom se živi!'' Kako im je tamo, najbolje se vidi iz načina na koji piju: oni se opijaju mračno i depresivno, bilo čim što im dođe do ruku, samo da pobegnu od načina života kojim žive.

Ono što je potpuno nelogično u Guči kuva se u velikim zemljanim loncima, i zove se svadbarski kupus. Kiseo kupus u avgustu, to me zaprepašćuje. Da li je to onaj poplesnivili kupus, preostao od zimus, ili su ga zakiselili na brzu ruku, ostaće zauvek tajna. Zaista ga je perverzno jesti usred leta.

Primetio sam još da Guča, i pored svoje popularnosti, polako ali sigurno gubi svoju izvornu dušu, približavajući se američkom Vudstoku ili novosadskom Egzitu. Njena buduća propast počela je prisustvom u orkestrima saksofona, koji je do tada bio nepoznat instrument u srpskoj narodnoj muzici, a nastavlja se sa sve prisutnijim klavijaturama. Još samo nedostaju orgulje i harfistkinja sa šajkačom, pa da stvar bude potpuna. Još nešto: u repertoar se sve više uvlače belosvetski šlageri od Maj veja do Kondorovog leta – kao , možemo i to. Za iduću godinu Guča je najavila takmičenje za prvu trubu sveta. Šteta što su umrli Dizi Gilespi i Majls Dejvis – oni bi sigurno došli da se takmiče sa Salijevićima.

Kao što je ono prase pitalo, ima li života posle Đurđevdana, tako se i mi pitamo, ima li ga posle Guče?

Momo KAPOR, književnik i slikar

Nin, Beograd, 20. avgust 2009.

Matija Beckovic - Shake it

Matija Beckovic

It is not habitual for the host to speak, except if hosting the Trumpeters Festival in Guča, where every guest becomes the host from the moment when he enters the world capital of trumpet. As the host among hosts, I asked how long should I speak. They answered like true hosts do – tell us how long you would like to speak. Well, then, with permission – listen and hear!

The trumpet has been in use by people and angels since ever, and never and nowhere without good reason. Here, in Guča, the trumpeters are among the first ones to take into their hands the trumpets, and they do so with one reason more.  They say that the first trumpet descended to Guča looking for a place from where it could be heard the farthest. All her sisters followed her in flocks and jointly thundered into the chest of Serbia.

The call of the trumpet made all that sounds and tunes in, all the quivers and joining quivers on that loud side with which all the sides are linked, all the languages, the skies and the earth, to start roaring, storming and weeping.

The people and those musicians without scoresand those with musical notations in their soles swarm to follow the sound. And the sound which makes you tremble, is the sound of the mother whose son you are – so says the poet. So it happened that since the Festival in Žiča we perhaps did not have a more joyful festival than the Festival in Guča! Life seeks an exit, and the sound seeks its rights.

 The walls destroyed by the trumpets of Jericho, are destroyed also by the trumpets of Dragačevo, and this has been going on for forty two years now. In some places they call it Woodstock, in others Mariachi, or Band-aid, or Exit, but everybody knows that Guča is the exit and that the original sounds better.

What many intellectuals do not know, Serbian peasants did not forget. It is better to blow a trumpet, than to sniff glue! Therefore, we hardly do have something more urban and more superior than the Trumpeters Festival in Guča. Obviously, the world Festival in Guča is Serbian contribution to globalization. Namely, if we would join the European Community without our tunes and colors, without our name and memories, how would they know who came to them and what they brought with them?

From the old to the new era, from the goose-feather pen to the computers, from calls across across the hills to the mobile phone and e-mail – everything that was ever created has still been in the process of transformation and creation. And this is not a Festival, but rather a volcano of health and beauty, which was activated from the heart of Serbia. And new, young volcanoes always become active where the old ones were active, too.

There is nothing we did not use to make music with: the leaf, the comb, the glass, the hair, the nails, the fingers, the horns, the belt, the stones, the eye-lashes, the mustache. There is no tree from which we did not try to make a trumpet. And there are no two leaves that did not differ, nor two stones which did not make echoes in a different way. And everything that we see on the Earth, are instruments of the big and glorious people's philharmonic orchestra. And to those trumpets which are today in Guča responding to the sun, this is what we must say: I know you, trumpet, when you used to be a willow tree!

The self-willed voices, the stubbornness of accents, the individuality of tunes – they will never cease to live and move human hearts. The biggest achievements of mind and hand which belong to the general spiritual property of mankind, all the immortal things which Earth gave to the skies, it related to the people and multiplied with the people!

Poets compared our embroideries with the wistfulness of Bach's and Schuman's solo violins. We know that embroidery, national costumes, folk dance, rituals, habit are also symbols with many meanings. But hundreds of thousands of participants in the Festival in Guča come to enjoy, dance and sing, and do not listen to interpretations!

Modern man has reached far, but it seems as if he noticed before reaching the aim that he did not take his heart and his soul with him.

And now, without these two, he does not care about the entire world. And this is where the deeper substance of the Festival in Guča is hidden. Not only by returning to oneself, but returning to joy and to the sense of living.

The State is what its music is – said Confucius 500 years B.C. If we only could say this for Serbia – how well off we would be! It is unbelievable that the State can be second-hand, and music original and authentic.

Throwing garbage to the wells is one of the biggest disasters of our spiritual ecology. Famous is the case of the shepherdess which happened right here, sixty years ago. She allegedly started suddenly to call somebody from the Ovčar and Kablar mountains whose name nobody has ever heard before and to ask him nothing else but when he will be coming to Užice, without asking why he should be in Užice and whom he has there. This is how one of the most irrational creations emerged, which was sung for decades with most disastrous consequences. And nobody was wondering about those who forged this song, they were rather persecuting those who memorized the original.

Thanks God, everything ended well and at the 42nd Trumpeters Festival in Guča we heard the original version as if such wonder had never existed! Hence: Serbian Principle, accept us among the Serb people! Welcome and come with luck – and leave with even more luck!

Shake it, maple!

Matija BECKOVIC, poet and novelist Letter of the host at the opening of 42nd FESTIVAL 2002nd