Join us for North America's biggest celebration of community through the music and dance of the Balkans (cultures across the region) and beyond (Middle Eastern, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, and more). Immerse yourself in two nights of uproarious performances across multiple stages featuring 50+ bands.
 
Enjoy four stages of live music for dancing and listening, savor complimentary Balkan appetizers, enjoy a drink from the cash bar, and browse the crafts and meet artisans in the Charshiya marketplace.

Schedule of events:

6:00 pm: Ballroom - Mlado selo - Young people's band performing varied Balkan music
6:30 pm: Imperial - Amir Vahab Trio - Persian and Turkish Folk Music
6:30 pm: Empire - Ta Aïdhonia - Exquisite Traditional Greek Songs of Anatolian (Eastern) Greek Thrace and Asia Minor for dancing or listening
6:30 pm: Gold - Young Bulgarian Voices NY and 101 Kaba Gaidi and Tupani - Bulgarian music with singing and Kaba Gaidi-Tupani for dancing
6:35 pm: Ballroom - Niva - Niva is an all women band that plays and sings Macedonian roots music - alternately lyrical, mournful, ecstatic and spooky music that used to be the soundtrack of everyday life back in the day.
7:00 pm: Gold - Aqua- Boden- Temple Trio    A fun party set of klezmer dance tunes (both standards and new compositions on violin, accordion and cello) as well as some of the raucous, raw fiddle tunes from Transylvania.
7:00 pm: Imperial - Lauren Brody's Accordion Bytes - Bulgarian and Macedonian old-style songs and dance tunes
7:00 pm: Empire - Synkratics - Electro-Balkan dance jams, Similar rep to Great Circles and Ansambl Mastika.
7:10 pm: Ballroom - West Philadelphia Orchestra - An energetic party brass band inspired by the great brass bands of Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as klezmer.
7:25 pm: Gold - Eva Salina and Peter Stan - Accordion and voice duo, mostly balkan Roma songs.
7:30 pm: Imperial - Dimitri Stefanides - Pontian Greek music on Lyra and drum
7:30 pm: Empire - MacNCheez Balkan PowerTrio - Electro-acoustic traditional and modern village and urban folk music from the southern Balkans.
7:45 pm: Ballroom - Valeri Georgiev - Bulgarian music and songs
7:55 pm: Gold - YiYi - Ukrainian Folk Music that blends ancient dance tunes, traditional instruments, and three part polyphonal singing with a twist of banjo.
8:00 pm: Empire - Michael Winograd plays Dave Tarras - Klezmer
8:00 pm: Imperial - Pontic Firebird - Propulsive and uplifting Greek dance music from the Black Sea coast of Turkey    
8:20 pm: Ballroom - Slavic Soul Party! - Balkan brass funk and Roma accordion wizardry
8:25 pm: Gold - Yasna Voices NY Bulgarian Women's Choir - Bulgarian folk songs - arranged and village style - sung a cappella
8:30 pm: Imperial - Brooklyn Chalgija - Urban Macedonian songs and dance instrumentals with Ottoman roots
8:30 pm: Empire - New York Spelmanslag - Scandinavian folk dances, from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark
8:50 pm: Gold - Ensemble Verba    Singing trio rooted in the polyphonic vocal traditions of Ukraine's villages. We like to blend our voices into the beautiful, shrill, and plaintive Ukrainian folk harmonies designed to pierce skies and hearts alike
08:50 pm: Ballroom - Mountain Lions - Saxophones and davul: dance music inspired by zurna-zurla repertoire from the southern Balkans.
09:00 pm: Imperial - Kara Uzum - A Turkish music project with clarinet, strings, kanun, percussion, and multiple vocalists, playing all your favorite Turkish classics.
09:00 pm: Empire - Romashka - Russian and Romanian Romani music for dancing and dreaming.
09:15 pm: Gold - Ukrainian Village Voices - NYC singing collective whose mission is to preserve and revive the polyphonic singing style of Ukraine's villages, frequently focusing on seasonal celebrations, ritual songs, as well as lyrical music. We often sing songs recorded by ethnomusicologists from the oldest dwellers of villages in Ukraine. We pay homage to the ancient spirit of these songs while bringing a unique North American feel to the music.
09:25 pm: Ballroom - Chris Tiktapanides - Greek
09:30 pm: Empire - Ralph and Friend - Bulgarian - Gadulka + Percussion
09:35 pm: Gold - Trendafilka - Eastern European polyphony
09:50 pm: Empire - GrooveIstanbul - Traditional yet lively Turkish music, curated especially for Zlatne Uste festival fans.
10:00 pm: Gold - Scott Wilson and Efendi - Belly Dance music of Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Armenia
10:00 pm: Imperial - Zelenaya - Polyphonic Eastern Europe vocal traditions-folk song merged with the texture and affect of a metal band!
10:00 pm: Ballroom - Zlatne Uste    -Balkan Brass
10:20 pm: Empire - Szikra - Traditional Hungarian dance music of the Csángó people from Moldva and Gyimes in Romania. The energetic, ancient pulse of this music ignites the dancers' fervor. Csángó dances are lively and easy to follow, including line and couple dances, many with syncopated rhythms
10:30 pm: Imperial - Greek Judas - Electric versions of Greek Rebetika
10:30 pm: Gold - The Yale Slavic Chorus - SSA arrangements of folk music from Eastern Europe, Georgia, and the Balkans
10:40 pm: Ballroom - Merita and Raif - Albanian
11:00 pm: Imperial - Sarma Brass Band - A 10-piece Balkan Brass Band that evokes the energetic grooves and soaring melodies of the Balkan Roma. They play original material as well as a variety of traditional music from Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, and Albania. Their full and epic sound, consisting of groovy melodies and chest-thumping rhythms, will entice even the most shy listener to dance.
11:05 pm: Gold - Zhenya Lopatnik - Original compositions and Ukrainian folk songs. A theatrical journey through time with storytelling around the life of people in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Jewish community.
11:15 pm: Ballroom - Noga Group-Avram Pengas - International- Ethnic-Mediterranean
11:20 pm: Empire - Bulgarian Bitov - Bulgarian Bitov
11:30 pm: Imperial - Conical Cacophony - Brass Band music from Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria
11:35 pm: Gold - Dolunay - Songs from the Turkish people living across Rumeli, the former region of the Ottoman Balkans. Dolunay's intimate sound, sparse in loudness and textured with the dissonance of eastern blues, gives way to a sound at once earthy and celestial.
11:40 pm: Ballroom - Novi Hitovi Brass Band - Flaming hot contemporary Romani and Jewish party brass music from the Balkans and beyond.
11:50 pm: Empire - Harris Brothers Balkan Band - Intimate and powerful presentation of Balkan and Roma folk dance music. We create personal conversations with dancers through face-to-face performance.
12:00 am: Imperial - AKANA - Romani rooted music from the Balkans infused with RandB, Hip Hop , jazz and Fusion.
12:20 am: Empire - Balkan Fields    - Vocal and instrumental dance music of the Balkans
12:25 am: Ballroom - Lubo Smilenov - Bulgarian
12:30 am: Imperial - Balkan Peppers - A jazz-funk fusion band which combines joyful dance rhythms of the balkans with jazz-Funk improvising solos
12:50 am: Empire - Ta Pedia Tis Polis - Authentic Greek music, focusing on Rebetiko-a soulful genre often referred to as the "blues of Greece." The music is rich in storytelling and emotion, featuring traditional Greek instruments like the bouzouki, violin, and baglamas, and showcases dynamic vocals and intricate rhythms.
01:00 am: Imperial - Mac Faves    Traditional izvorno-style music from North Macedonia
01:20 am: Empire - Rodyna - Eclectic folk music from regions in and around Balkans and Eastern Europe.
01:30 am: Imperial - Kavala Brass Band - Brass music mostly from the area around Florina in Greece
01:30 am: Ballroom - Undertow Brass Band - An energetic party band formerly known as What Cheer? Brigade, Undertow takes inspiration from various musical styles, most notably Balkan music; we approach this material non-traditionally but with deep reverence.