Balkan Trafik! festival 2023 is set to showcase Kosovo's brightest musical talents

This year, the Balkan Trafik! festival is celebrating its roots. Taking place at the end of April in Brussels, Balkan Trakik! is set to feature many of Kosovo's brightest musical talents.

First held over 15 years ago after its creators, Nicolas Wieërs, from Belgium, and Ilir Sefa, from Kosovo first met, the festival describes itself as "a platform for cultural diplomacy," and the meeting place of creative minds from south-eastern Europe and Brussels.

Episode one of Balkan What!, a documentary produced by the festival, highlights some of the region’s brightest talents. 

Speaking to Cult at the documentary screening in Pristina, the Kosovar rapper and pioneer of Albanian-language rap, BimBimma, explained how he uses music to call out social issues and injustices.

"Music is life because everything in life is rhythm. And with the rhythm, I chose to make poetry and use my words as a weapon to fight injustice, to fight for justice, for equality, against corruption and social topics like that because mainly Kosovo is a poor country and in 20 years it could have grown much more than you see here."

From modern and contemporary to traditional, it’s just one (dance) step away. Kosovo’s national traditional dance troupe, "Shota", has 45 dancers and musicians, and tours all around the world.

The troupe’s star dancer, Besnik H. Grajcevci, explained that it’s an integral part of the culture and identity of Kosovo’s majority Albanian population.

"It's not by chance that we are known in the Balkans as the most enthusiastic people, the most energetic, with a strong internal dynamic and with a lot of emotions. That's why our dances have features. We as human beings, with our bodies, our inner emotions and our outfits - we act and speak in our