New Year’s Eve In Belgrade

By: Jelena Jovanovic
Belgrade, Nov.27, 2009 (Serbia Today) - The New Year’s Eve celebration is one of the most widely observed events of the year in Serbia, and for all of those who have decided to celebrate the New Year in Belgrade, this year’s celebration promises no shortage of events to choose from.
The City Parliament of Belgrade, the organizer of the traditional New Year’s celebration on the streets of Belgrade has not announced the details to that event yet. This celebration usually attracts a large number of people, both Belgrade natives as well as visitors to the capital.
Last year the main stars of city celebration of New Year were Goran Bregovic, with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, Marija Serifovic, Eurovision winner. Ana Stanic, and Belgrade rock singer.
If weather permitting, the New Year’s celebration on the streets of Belgrade should be a very interesting event. It is important to have good company, dress warmly and watch out for those firecrackers.
The biggest event that has already been announced is the New Year’s party with folk star Svetlana Ceca Raznatovic and the new Grand Stars (Grand Music promotes CDs of young folk music singers). Tickets for this widely advertised event has promotional prizes of RSD 2000 (EUR 20), until the end of November. Prizes in Ceca Fan Pit are RSD 3000 and the place in VIP Gallery costs RSD 8500. The organizers of this event in Belgrade Fair (Halls 1 and 4) promises big folk party all night long and prizes for all.
Club Verige, in Ada Ciganlija will organize a party with young pop-folk singer Damir Radanovic. In SPORT Cafe, popular cafe in the city center, Sale Sax band and DJ Petar Ristic will perform.
Another Club in the center of Belgrade, Latino Corazon, announced special party with DJ Insomnia (Disco, Latino, R’N’B, House, MTV hits) and Trumpet Band (participants in Guca Trumpet Festival). The selection of drinks and food is also part of the ticket`s price, as well as cocktails.
The diversity of Belgrade venues organizing New Year’s celebrations is quite extensive. Celebrations in more exclusive clubs last year cost EUR 60 and up, and were intended for the younger, well-dressed population which listens to various types of electro music(Clubs Magacin, Genex Impuls Hall, Hotel Hyatt Regency - Club Ellington and in the Crystal Ballroom, Grand Casino, and increasingly popular location on the Danube Quay in Zemun). Clubs Magacin and Stefan Braun has launched their event for New Year’s Eve and the tickets are EUR 60 Euros for girls and EUR 80 for men.
Some big DJ parties will certainly be organized this year. But, at the moment, exact information is still a unknown. New night club, Maximus (on the Sava bank, New Belgrade side) announced its own New Year Party with Maxi band (Stage 1), DJs from Greece and Slovenia (Stage 2) and big house stage. Tickets are RSD 3000.
Among the boat clubs (splavovi) which are also offering live performances (or DJs), are Freestyler, Bleywatch, Ambis, Amsterda. Famous Belgrade boat club with gypsy music and authentic band with the same name – Black Panthers - announced that tickets for the big party would be RSD 5500.
A majority of Belgrade clubs, cafes and restaurants in all parts of the city will be open for guests on December 31st. And, most of the people will decide where to go several weeks before New Year’s Eve. That decision depends on age and taste, whether one prefers an upbeat party with a well-dressed crowd or a more modest time with a laid back crowd.
Average prices in average Belgrade clubs, last year, were from 30 to 50 euros.
In the long line of Belgrade restaurants organizing a celebration for the New Year, it is well known that the restaurants in the Bohemian Quarter (Skadarlija) will all be completely full. In a mini inquiry carried out at several of the most well-known Bohemian Quarter restaurants (Ima Dana, Dva Jelena, Tri Šešira), we have discovered that prices for the New Year’s celebration last year were between RSD 4500 and 6000 which included live music, a welcome drink, an array of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and a menu based on the national cuisine (corn bread, prosciutto, cheese, kajmak and the mandatory grilled meat). Prizes for this year are not yet fixed.
Guests of the Bohemian Quarter on New Year's Eve are typically Belgrade natives with a long tradition of celebrating the New Year in one of the restaurants on this street, but there are also Serbs from abroad, Serbs from other parts of Serbia and international visitors to Serbia’s capital. It’s mostly middle-aged and older folks coming to the Bohemian Quarter to celebrate, but, as the restaurant owners in the Bohemian Quarter have said, over the last few years there has been a rise in attendance of younger guests as well. In the Bohemian Quarter they play exclusively Old City music and the orchestras which play for the New Year can be heard in the Bohemian Quarter restaurants all year round.
So, if you are in Belgrade to wait for 2010, you can definitely find a party that will suit you and keep you smiling as we enter into the New Year.