Vranjske igre

he Vranje dances are characteristics to the Serbian population in Vranje. Those are dances that came from the east, brought by the Turks.

The Vranje music is quite famous. It became particularly popular in the capital city of Belgrade because of a drama with singing, Koštana, by Borisav Stanković, a native of Vranje. The most interesting parts of the Koštana (a sort of a Serbian musicle) feature songs about love and tragedy.   Especially eye-catching is the dance of the Serbian southern regions, called čoček [cho-chek].

Čoček are the dancers, the music and the dance itself  (the čoček dances). Today it is primarily played by the trumpet ensembles popular in Serbia and Macedonia (the “trumpeter”), mostly the Gypsies – Roma, so this sort of music is quite similar to the Gypsy music of the region.

Like the circle dance, there are all sorts of versions of the čoček. The most popular one is the Vranje čoček.