Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra

The Belgrade jazz band Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra – just as the Street Musicians Festival – celebrating its 15th birthday. The group numbers eight: singer Aleksandra Bijelić, keyboards Aleksandar Miletić, brass section Sava Matić, Nemanja Zlatarev and Veljko Kenkovski, Vladimir Racković on banjo, Ivan Maksimović on double bass and on drums Miloš Milosavljević.

“When all thought that this wonderful kind of jazz was extinct in our country for ever, some new, strong force propelled eight courageous people to pull it back from the bonds of memory and yet again return to the audience that wonderful atmosphere and swaying music from the beginning of the 20th century”, announced the members of the Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra, the only ensemble of its kind in Serbia.

Dixieland arrived to former Yugoslavia by the end of 1953. This type of music is regarded as the first major style in jazz, and was created by African-American and Creole musicians from New Orleans, who combined elements of blues and ragtime with the tradition of the brass orchestra. The most famous jazz musician that came from New Orleans was certainly the great Louis Armstrong.

The American city of New Orleans is regarded as the birthplace of jazz. Typical New Orleans’ style jazz is performed by a small group – combo, with five to eight musicians. Trumpet, clarinet and trombone are supported by the rhythm section, while the themes of the improvs were usually well-known melodies of marches, gospel songs, ragtime and blues.

Exactly that is the music played by the jazz band Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra, a group that, in a short amount of time, has quickly grown into, as can be noticed, an important cultural institution of the Serbian capital and a unique representative of our countries musical culture. Belgrade Dixieland Orchestra will perform on this year’s Street Musicians Festival on Saturday, 5th September.

Belgradedixielandorchestra.com