Goran Bregović

Born in 1950 in Sarajevo, then part of Yugoslavia, Goran Bregovic first made his name on the 1970s Yugoslav rock scene as guitarist and composer for the band Bijelo Dugme, founded in 1974 and active until the late 1980s. After that period he turned his work toward composition, developing a style that mixes traditional Balkan music, Romani influences, brass bands, choirs and forms close to pop and rock. His collaboration with director Emir Kusturica on the soundtracks for Time of the Gypsies (1989), Arizona Dream (1993) and Underground (1995) marked a turning point and led him into a wide range of film music, including La Reine Margot (1994) and Train de vie (1998). From the 2000s onward Bregovic has regularly toured with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra and released several albums under his own name, including Tales and Songs from Weddings and Funerals (2002), Alkohol (2008), Champagne for Gypsies (2012) and Three Letters from Sarajevo (2017), where Balkan instruments, solo voices and wind ensembles intersect. Occasional collaborations with rock and world-music artists and his appearances on international festival stages anchor Bregovic in a trajectory both tied to Yugoslav memory and open to various European and Mediterranean contexts.