Bjoko x SABS: A conversation about Balkan music in Denmark

How can the music and energy of the sunny Balkans thrive in cold, grey Denmark? That is the central question in this conversation with two veterans of the Danish Balkan music scene, Bjonko, and cultural ambassador SABS.

Over the course of an hour and a half, we’ll be talking about the general musical traditions many people associate with the Balkans, about the genre’s Danish expression – and about whether it can even be called a “genre” at all. The focus is on the guests’ personal experiences of creating music that originates from a culture other than the Danish one, and of presenting and celebrating it. 

For more than 16 years, SABS has been exploring and promoting music from the global underground, with a particular focus on Balkan and roots-hybrid music. With roots in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has a personal connection to the region’s musical heritage, but her approach goes far beyond traditional notions of Balkan music.

Bjonko Stosic was born and raised in Copenhagen, but comes from a family of musicians from the town of Bitola in Macedonia. For 25 years, Bjonko has been developing and delivering wild and intense Balkan beats on the clarinet and saxophone to the Scandinavian music scene – a hybrid that combines traditional Balkan folk music with contemporary mainstream genres.

The discussion will be moderated by Aarhus Volume’s own Søren Gad Hvas, a postgraduate student in religious studies.