Stephen Wordsworth

Trumpets in Guča, and Beer in Belgrade

Today we are hosting an entry written by Bill Longhurst, Charges d'Affaires in the British Embassy in Belgrade.

Life is rarely dull in Serbia.  Even in August when the capital seems to calm down, the streets are much clearer of traffic and the newspapers are obviously struggling to find interesting headlines, there are major events going on.

Successive weekends saw me visit two very different festivals, proving that there are still plenty of people around who have not fled to a beach or other getaway.   

“Guča” is shorthand for the SABOR TRUBAČA GUČA - translation Guča Festival of Trumpeters.  For four days, a small town slap bang in the centre of Serbia (a beautiful but testing 3 hour drive from Belgrade)  is overrun with visitors and fans of this very Serbian musical tradition. 

Down there last Saturday, I saw technically brilliant trumpet bands perform astonishingly high-paced, high-volume music while smaller groups of players wander around the streets and restaurants busking their own similar brand of music. 

All this is accompanied by exceptionally large amounts of beer being served alongside spit-roasts of lamb and suckling pig on every corner.

Despite the heavy drinking and merry-making, the only danger I witnessed was to the poor statue of the Guča trumpeter in the centre of town up which had climbed what looked like two dozen young men armed with kegs of beer, happily setting off flares.

Although it is unquestionably a very Serbian experience, it also somehow manages to have an international feel.  Visiting bands from a number of countries were taking part, including FYR Macedonia, Slovenia and even a marine band from the USA, although not yet from Britain.  We have our own very rich tradition of brass bands and the Mayor of Guča, rightly proud of another successful event with over 600,000 visitors, promised to invite a British participant next time around.  2010 will be the 50th anniversary of the festival and they are setting their sights high on VIP attendance:  Presidents Obama and Medvedev.

Back to Belgrade this week, to the Belgrade Beer Fest on the “Ušće” an enormous park in the centre of town at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube.  Some parallels with Guča – mainly the volume of beer being consumed - but very different music.  

A campaign theme of this year’s event, supported by the British Embassy, is environmental protection, specifically the “I choose to recycle” campaign.  Raising awareness of both the environmental, but also economic, benefits of recycling is not what you would immediately associate with a drinking event, but the sight of several participants carrying bags with empty beer cans (recycle 15 and you get a free beer!) suggested it was making progress.

This is just the first in a series of environmentally themed activities we are planning  this Autumn.  Keep an eye on this blog for further promotion of our green agenda through music, sports (London 2012) and "fashion" (Eko-Diplomatija).

Posted at 09:02 15 August 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[2]

Universiade spirit... or not

The World University Games, or Universiade, opened in Belgrade this week, bringing thousands of athletes and officials from 145 countries to Serbia.  On Monday 29 June we organised a garden party to welcome the British team and officials, and some team members from other countries too.  We also hosted many Serbian guests, of course, including a group of school pupils from the Rade Drainac school who are supporting the UK team during their stay here.  With entertainment from the 'Orthodox Celts' - a local band that plays Irish music - it was a very international occasion.  All the weather forecasts had said it would rain, but they were wrong as usual, and everybody seemed to have a good time.  I was enormously impressed by the enthusiasm of the young UK visitors, none of whom (as far as I could find out) had been to Serbia before, who were all looking forward to their competitions.  They all seemed very happy with their accommodation, and with the welcome they had received.

 
On 1 July I went to the opening ceremony at the Belgrade Arena.  The flags were paraded in one by one to loud cheers and everything seemed to be going well until the flag of the USA appeared.  Then, unfortunately, a large section of the crowd to my left began booing loudly, and there were further boos, though less loudly, when the Croatian flag appeared a few minutes later.  This must have been very hurtful to the young US and Croatian athletes present, who had worked so hard to get to the competition.  It also left all the references to 'sportsmanship' and 'fair play' in the pre-scripted speeches that followed sounding very hollow.  After the speeches there was an entertainment programme.  The young people must have rehearsed hard, but I no longer felt like celebrating and left before the end.

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 08:44 02 July 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]

Doom But Not Gloom

I was in London all last week at our annual Ambassadors' conference.  Discussions were, inevitably, dominated by the global economic crisis, and the plans for the G20 Summit, which is being held in London on 2 April.  The aims of the Summit are easy to sum up:

·        To stabilise financial markets, and so enable families and businesses to get through the recession;

·        To reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system, to restore confidence and trust;

·        To put the global economy on track for sustainable growth.

Achieving these goals will be much more difficult.  No-one is suggesting that this meeting - which builds on the foundations laid at the November 2008 Washington Summit - will provide all the answers.  Indeed, some press commentators, always on the look-out for disaster stories, are already predicting failure (as one speaker last week put it, at least we don't have the problem of excessive expectations!).  My sense is that it will be a step forward, and that the world's leaders will come away with, at least, a better sense of what the answers are going to be, and what we all need to do to reach a 'global deal' on new, sustainable growth.

We also talked a lot last week about the prospects for EU enlargement, and the so-called 'enlargement fatigue'.  But amidst the gloom, there was some better news, including for countries like Serbia that want to join the EU. I wrote this up in 'Politika' (English language version here).  Skimming through the comments this morning in the on-line version of the paper, I seem to have annoyed some of the paper's more nationalistic readers.  But I hope that others, who haven't commented, will have got the overall positive message. 

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 17:52 01 April 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[4]