I was first drawn to Serbia solely because I wanted to trace my family history. However, I quickly found a people, history and landscape so vibrant and nuanced that they beckoned me closer and then pulled me in so tight…
Mariachi influences have always played a part in Balkan pop music, but over the last decade things have reversed. Mexico City is now embracing the brass-band folk of the Balkans In February 2005, shortly after moving to Mexico City for…
Photographer Jill Peters has travelled to the remote mountain villages of Albania to capture the extraordinary lives of “Burnesha” – women forced to live their entire lives as men. The result is a fascinating series of portraits of some of…
They got the looks, charisma and some cash lying around to produce a video. Well, at least they think so. The audience reactions are not always what they were hoping for There’s some mysterious force that makes muscled Balkan men…
In case you haven’t seen the latest EU promo video about Southeastern Europe, it’s trying to tell you we are all different and one and the same. Really? The only problem with this enlightening video is that it doesn’t exactly…
Remember our piece on the Yugoslav-Mexian music of the 1950s? Apparently, at the beginning of the Cold War, the socialist Yugoslavia had a thing for Mexican sound, with local mariachi bands spreading throughout the country, armed with sombreros and acoustic…
We bring you a selection of Balkan-related artists to keep your eye on in the coming year “You want it spicy? You want it hot? We cook so yummy yummy! Banditos hungry hungry! We make it sweet like honey!” Backed…
The real hipsters started their journey in ex Yugoslavia. Welcome to 1985 Split, Croatia, the cradle of the hottest legs in the Balkans If you happen to know at least one stereotype about ex Yugoslavia it’s most likely the one…
University of Graz professor who made a list of bizarre Balkan universities has received some bizarre mail in his inbox Couple of weeks a go, in September, we posted a list of bizarre Balkan universities by professor Florian Bieber from…
Professor Florian Bieber from the University of Graz has recently compiled an interesting list of rather bizarre Balkan universities, with their dubious curriculum, dodgy online presentations and sometimes ridiculous names. We cite the txt in full, originally published on Professor Bieber’s…
Bulgarian prom day Yes, prom is that special event in your life when you celebrate the useless years you spent in high school getting drunk, cheating on ma...
The real Croatian hipsters (Split 1980s) A piece of street history from Split, Croatia 1985 showing a high awareness of popular fashion of the time. Not much different from what...
Yu-Mex: Yugoslav Mexican Music of the 1950’s After the Yugo-Soviet relations broke down in 1948, the Yugoslav authorities were looking for an alternative source of cultural inspiration....
Belgrade Gay Pride 2010 
