About Bratia Music – Balkan Gypsy Jazz Band from Barcelona

Bratia invites you to awaken from the winter slumber of European culture and tradition, with courage, knowledge and a fresh vision. A sonic universe that celebrates movement, freedom and brotherhood between cultures. Looking East, with a sound halfway between tradition and modernity, the Barcelona-based quintet —an international collective of five nationalities— has one single goal: to help audiences rediscover something carried in their blood, their roots, their DNA. Music, culture, tradition… life.

The Barcelona-based quintet Bratia emerges from the desire of the Serbian double bass player Ivan Kovačević to merge two distinct musical worlds into a frenzied proposal. The infinitely rich soundscape of the Balkans meets the energy, sobriety and precision of gypsy jazz, brought together by the nomadism of Roma music to create an explosive cocktail that will leave none indifferent.

As one of the pillars of the emblematic Barcelona Gipsy Balkan Orchestra, with an accumulated experience in more than 35 countries over the years, Kovačević, together with his regular battle companions, Greek percussionist Stelios Togias and Catalan violinist Pere Nolasc Turu, embark on this adventure forming a quintet with two guitarists hardened in the legacy of Django Reinhardt. The Mallorcan Biel Ballester, an international artist who has spent years sweeping away audiences around the world with the trio under his own name, and Victor Paradis, a promising young guitarist of French-Canadian origin who in a short period of time has become prominent in the Barcelona music scene.

The mixture between the traditional music of the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, in addition to the unique personality of the band’s own compositions make this quintet a one-of-a-kind sensation, an extraordinary sonic experience. Or as the band’s very name of Slavic origin suggests, a brotherhood… BRATIA.