“He, who sings, thinks no evil”

Just as they have their own culture, different countries have different music because the music captures a piece of their culture.

Serbians consider themselves a musical nation – this belief is grounded on a centuries old heritage of music that has been formed under the influence of both the East and the West.

As the country was caught between pieces of the Roman Empire, Hungary, Byzantium, near the Ottoman Empire and Venice, Serbia was influenced by a variety of other cultures; which affected the music so that it contains elements that are characteristic of the Balkan area.

“He, who sings, thinks no evil” is an old Serbian saying that will describe Serbian’s attitude towards music in the best possible way.

People used to sing all the time and in various occasions, and songs created in the field or at festivities would spread around followed by the sound of the fifes, trumpets, drums and bagpipes. Some of them survived until this day reminding us of the past times.

• The “gusle”: a single-stringed musical instrument and the “frula”: a musical instrument resembling a flute, are typical folk musical instruments in Serbia.
• There is also “tamburitza”: a kind of guitar, typical for the region of Vojvodina.
• The accordion and the violin, even though extremely popular now, came into use much later.
• The trumpet has gained large popularity, and is celebrated especially at the Guca Brass Festival and on Serbian weddings as well.

Photo by Aleksandar Janjanin wedding photographer / AjproFoto