I wanted to share some lead guitar examples from my native country (Serbia) and the Balkan region (former Yugoslavia mostly).
1st one is a Kolo (type of a folk dance - heavily ornamented, which is a characteristic of Serbian and Balkan folk music). It’s a composition by the famous accordionist Miroljub Aranđelović Kemiš called Zmija Kolo. Played by Zoran Brkic from Bosnia. The angle is nice, we can see the picking hand clearly.
It’s a facebook video, I’m sorry
(I tried to upload to Youtube but it mutes the audio). I uploaded a copy to google drive folder:
Folder with Examples
The 2nd one is a tambura/guitar virtuoso Bako Jovanovic, Serbian-Romani born and raised in Vienna. (He’s well known, played with Stochelo Rosenberg etc)
Some examples are from TikTok, so I put them in the Google Drive folder.
3rd The most famous guitarist in this style is probably Zoran Starcevic. (His “ljubicica kolo” is something I’m working on…but those ornaments are tricky. Here’s a version by Emir Hot )
4th Cakija Vasiljevic - known as the greatest rhythm player among guitarists here (he’s a proponent of “ciganija” which is translated as gypsy style, but it’s a problematic term, could be seen as a slur) Here’s a funny video where he teaches another guitarist how to play a famous Lubenica song. Interestingly, the pupil has difficulties with the picking hand.
Bonus video: Serbian version of REH
I wonder what you guys think about this style of playing?
It’s not that common here (accordions, keyboards and sometimes sax/violins take the leading role mostly). I play in a wedding band, and we usually play a few Kola, but guitar plays rhythm (Kontra).