The Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra play Dorćol Plac in Belgrade on September 4, at the Dorćol Sessions 2 edition. The start is at 9 pm, and tickets are 2,500 dinars through tickets.rs.

The group was born in Barcelona in 2012, when a set of musicians came together to mark International Roma Day. Their first name was the Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra and they played klezmer and Eastern European Roma music. From November 2015, after one of the founders left, they changed the name and widened the scope toward Balkan tradition in a broader sense, as a multi-ethnic culture rather than a single genre.

What makes them relevant to a Belgrade audience is the line-up. Clarinettist Robindro Nikolić and double bassist Ivan Kovačević are Serbs, and the team is completed by Italian accordionist Mattia Schirosa, Catalan singer Sandra Sangiao, French guitarist Julien Chanal and Greek percussionist Stelios Togias. So: Balkan repertoire played by people who came from six directions, two of them from this country. That is not exotica, it is coming home after a long journey.

Their discography is substantial: Imbarca from 2013, Balkan Reunion from 2015, Del Ebro al Danubio from 2016, Avo Kanto from 2018 and Nova Era from October 2020. They marked their tenth anniversary in 2022, and in 2023 presented new original material. The album titles say everything about the direction: from the Ebro to the Danube.

Dorćol Plac is one of the livelier summer stages in Belgrade, and Dorćol Sessions is its programme gathering visits like this one. Tickets are 2,500 dinars, through tickets.rs.