Ansambl Mastika was formed in 2005 as a vehicle for my original compositions and arrangements. Incorporating electric guitar and bass, Ansambl Mastika’s distinctive electric sound is known as the New Balkan Uproar.
Raya Brass Band is a workhorse of the New York Balkan music scene, sometimes playing six high energy performances in a single day. This five-piece collective formed in 2008 and promptly named itself for the newborn daughter of a band friend, obliging us to perform at our namesake’s birthday parties in perpetuum.
Veveritse Brass Band was formed by JR Hankins in 2006 after a trip some of us took to the mecca of Balkan brass, the Dragacevo Festival in Guca, Serbia. The band’s name is a transliteration of the Serbo-Croatian word for ‘squirrels’. But we’re not just a bunch of cute little rats with bushy tails, we’re the most thrilling Balkan brass band this side of Vranjska Banja.
Sherita is named for our favorite pink, fossil fuel dinosaur, whose portrait has adorned the corner of Atlantic and Classon Aves since the 1970s.
