From Kolos to Kusturica, experience the rich sounds of driving Balkan brass. Zlatne Uste (Golden Lips) is an internationally known group of American-born musicians playing traditional music of the Balkans, primarily representing Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Romany (Gypsy) traditions. Four-time invited guest at the Dragachevo Brass Festival in Gucha, Serbia, the 12-piece band is among the foremost presenters of traditional Balkan dance music in the United States. Each year Zlatne Uste hosts and produces the Golden Festival, New York's biggest and best Balkan music festival with an astounding 40 or more bands and something for everyone.

Raya Brass Band (pronounced "RYE ah") is the sort of brass band that gleefully mashes up the music of Eastern Europe with funky American dance grooves. Featuring odd meters, unusual scales and a fine helping of gorgeous Balkan and Romany (Gypsy) melodies played on reeds, trumpet, accordion, tuba and drums, Raya Brass Band slakes the thirst for something old and new at the same time, unusual and funky, spiritedly played by some of NYC's finest Balkan folk musicians.

Veveritse Brass Band is a romping orchestra of energy inspired by the Roma(Gypsy) brass bands of the Balkans. Their squirrely arrangements and compositions are just a part of the fun of dancing to their driving, 11 person train of horns and drums. Passion and drama know no better ally in Brooklyn than Veveritse Brass Band.

Sazet Band, an eight-piece Romani wedding band from New York City. Sal Mamudoski- clarinet; Romeo Kurtali- sax/clarinet; Caner Tokgozol- solo keybords; Remzi Demo- bass keyboards; Kurte Kurtali- drums; Amdi Seyfedinov- doumbec/ percussions; Beni Kurtis- vocals; Sazet band was formed in 2011 under the leadership of Sal Mamudoski & Romeo Kurtali.

Our eight-piece wedding band is composed of Roma from Macedonia and Turkey. The band performs traditional folk and Romani music from the Balkans (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Greece and Turkey), but has influences from classical, jazz, funk, techno, and fusion styles of western music. We wanted to do something very different from the music that comes from the Balkans in Europe, so we needed the right musicians for this project, ones who would know the traditional music very well and how to form it with western style of music. We call it "New York City-style" of Roma music. Basically east meets west. The music we perform has complex rhythms, great melodies, dense ornamentations and amazing improvisations. Sazet band has performed at a number of weddings & concerts, and was honored to perform at the 2012 Golden Festival in New York City. Sazet band is working on an album which we expect to release sometime during October 2012.

A Roma born to a singer mother and a folk dancer father in Prilep, Macedonia, Seido has palyed darbuka / dumbek in Balkan and Middle Eastern style for 30 years. With his extensive experience playing Turkish, Greek, Balkan, and Middle Eastern percussion combined with flare of jazz from studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, his unique virtuosity has set him apart from the pack worldwide. After frequently playing music in the now-legendary Middle Eastern nightclubs such as Ali Baba and Port Said in Manhattan closed, Seido started truly developing and aumenting the style of dumbek playing with his unique approach. In the early 90's, he joined forces with Matt Dariau, as a member of highly influential Matt Dariau's Paradox Trio. Paradox Trio spearheaded the downtown New York Balkan Jazz movement, catapulting Seido into a household name in the genre, with his unique virtuosic darbuka/dumbek style that seamlessly combined jazz and Balkan technique. Seido has played with such notable artists as Tarkan, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and Ivo Parazov. He also accompanied Tayyar Akdeniz and his dance troupe, while traveling to teach at several Balkan and Turkish music and dance camps on both coasts, such as EEFC Balkan Music & Dance Workshops (CA & MA/NY), and Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp (PA). Balkan Brothers, the collabotation with his life-long friend, Ismail Butera, continues in local nightclubs and concert halls, as well as his own ensemble, Romski Boji.