BOBAN MARKOVIC WAS BORN ON THE MAY 6TH, 1964, ON THE DAY OF SAINT GEORGE  THE MOST IMPORTANT GYPSY FESTIVAL DAY OF THE YEAR  IN VLADICIN HAN SOUTH SERBIA, A TOWN OF 10,000 INHABITANTS, MOST OF WHOM ARE OF ROMA GYPSY HERITAGE AND SHARE A RICH MUSICAL TRADITION.

BOBAN’S FATHER, DRAGUTIN, WAS A MUSICIAN, AS WERE BOTH OF HIS GRANDFATHERS. BOBAN’S MOTHER, JULKA, USED TO RE MIND HIM THAT HE SHOULD STRIVE TO PLAY AS WELL AS HER OWN FATHER.

HE GOT HIS FIRST TRUMPET WHEN HE WAS 5 YEARS OLD, BUT BOBAN DIDN’T APPROACH THE MUSIC SERIOUSLY UNTIL MUCH LATER. RATHER, HE PREFERRED TO PLAY WITH OTHER CHILD REN AROUND THE VILLAGE, AND ONCE HE EVEN FORGOT HIS INSTRUMENT IN THE SAND WHILE HE WAS BUILDING A CASTLE WITH HIS FRIENDS.

GROWING UP, BOBAN PREFERRED TO PLAY SOCCER AND HIS GREATEST DESIRE WOULD HAVE BEEN TO BECOME A PROFESSIO NAL PLAYER. HIS FATHER WASN’T HAPPY WITH HIS INCLINATIONS, AND HAD A SERIOUS TALK WITH BOBAN WHEN HE WAS 10 YEARS OLD, TO TELL HIM THAT HIS DESTINY WAS TO BE A TRUMPET PLAYER. THUS, BOBAN STARTED TO PLAY AT HIS FATHER’S CONCERTS AND THE MARRIAGES WHERE THE ORCHESTRA PERFORMED. HE WAS OBLIGED TO PLAY UNTIL HE WAS EXHAUSTED.

BY THE AGE OF 20 HE FOUNDED HIS OWN ORCHESTRA AND WAS READY TO COMPETE AT THE GUCA FESTIVAL, THE MOST IMPORTANT BRASS BAND COMPETITION IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA EVERY YEAR SINCE 1961. THERE ISN’T A BIGGER SATISFACTION FOR A SERBIAN PLAYER THAN TO BECOME THE FIRST TRUMPET

OF THE GUCA FESTIVAL. BOBAN STARTED TO TAKE PART IN THE GUCA COMPETITION IN 1984 AND SUCCEEDED IN WINNING THE FIRST TRUMPET SO MANY TIMES THAT HE WAS ASKED TO STOP COMPETING IN 2001. IN 2006 HE WAS NOMINATED AMBASSADOR OF THE GUCA COMPETITION, BECOMING ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSONALITIY OF BALKAN BRASS BAND MUSIC.

HIS COLLABORATION WITH FILM DIRECTOR EMIR KUSTURICA AND BALKAN COMPOSER GORAN BREGOVIC FOR THE SOUND TRACK OF THE MOVIES UNDERGROUND AND ARIZONA DREAM EARNED FURTHER ACCLAIM. TOGETHER WITH HIS ORKESTAR HE HAS TRULY CONQUERED THE WORLD ON HIS NEVER ENDING TOUR TO SHOW WHO IS THE BEST BRASS BAND ON THE PLANET. HIS FATHER DRAGUTIN WAS RIGHT: BOBAN’S DESTINY WAS TO BE A TRUMPET PLAYER. A BRILLIANT ONE. THE KING.

MARKO MARKOVIC WAS BORN ON FEBRUARY 29TH, 1988. HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD WITH HIS MOTHER LIDIJA, AND HIS SISTER TAMARA, WHILE  AS A MUSICIAN  MARKO’S FATHER BOBAN WAS RARELY AT HOME, SPENDING JUST A LITTLE TIME WITH HIS FAMILY. SO WHEN MARKO  AT THE AGE OF 5  STARTED TO DEDICATE ALL OF HIS AFTERNOONS TO HIS TRUMPET PASSION HIS VERY FIRST TEACHER WAS HIS GRANDFATHER DRAGUTIN, WHO WAS ALSO HIS FATHER’S TEACHER.

EACH TIME BOBAN WENT AWAY, MARKO WAS LEFT BEHIND SITTING OUTSIDE IN THE YARD, PLAYING ALONE AND DREAMING TO FOLLOW HIS FATHER, WHO HAD NEVER SERIOUSLY ATTENDED TO HIS SON’S MUSICAL TALENT UNTIL MARKO WAS 12 YEARS OLD. ONE DAY, LIDIJA, BOBAN’S WIFE, FORCED HIM TO DEDICATE A LITTLE TIME TO LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL VIRTUOSITY OF HIS SON. THE RESULT WAS THAT BOBAN WAS SO COMPLETELY ASTONISHED BY MARKO’S SKILLS, THAT IN THE END HE GAVE HIM A COMPOSITION TO BE ARRANGED, AND SENT HIM DIRECTLY TO A RECORDING STUDIO.

WHEN HE WAS 14, BOBAN CAME HOME ONE DAY AND TOLD MARKO TO PACK HIS BAGS AND JOIN THE ORKESTAR. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO REHEARSE; MARKO ALREADY KNEW THE SCORES BY HEART. HE FULLY JOINED THE NEVER ENDING TOUR IN MAY 2002. OVER THE YEARS, BOBAN HAS BECOME MORE AND MORE FASCINATED BY MARKO’S TECHNIQUE AND HIS PASSION FOR THE MUSIC AND FOR COMPOSITION; SO MUCH SO THAT HE DECIDED TO GIVE HIM FULL CONTROL OF THE ORKESTAR, AS A GIFT FOR HIS 18TH BIRTHDAY.

IN ADDITION TO HIS MUSICAL CAREER WITH HIS FATHER, MARKO HAS BRANCHED OUT INTO SCREEN ACTING, PLAYING THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE GUCHA! THE DISTANT TRUMPET, DIRECTED BY DUSAN MILIC AND COPRODUCED BY EMIR KUS TURICA, WRITING AS WELL THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE MOVIE THAT RECEIVED A NOMINATION FOR EUROPEAN FILM AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE. HE HAS ALSO INTENSELY COLLABORATED WITH MUSICIANS LIKE SHANTEL LIVE ON STAGE AND ON THE ALBUMS DISCO PARTIZANI AND PLANET PAPRIKA, WITH THE TRUMPET PLAYERS ROY PACI FROM ITALY AND FRANK LONDON FROM NEW YORK ON THEIR TRUMPET TRIUMPH TOUR, AND WITH MISS PLATNUM FROM BERLIN ON HER ALBUM THE SWEETEST HANGOVER, WHILE NEVER STOPPING TO TOUR WITH HIS FATHER AND THEIR FAMILY ORKESTAR ALL AROUND THE WORLD.