It all began way back in '93, the birth of Balkan Beat - Bosnian immigrant Robert Soko was collecting impressions from Berlin's front lines while driving a taxi to pay the rent. On off hours, he and his Yugo mates hung out at the Arcanoa, a punk bar in Berlin's immigrant quarter Kreuzberg. Soko put on his first parties there, playing the music he grew up with - punk, ska, Yugo rock, new wave - for fifty German marks and free beer. The parties were a mix of irony and nostalgia, and began to draw crowds.
He, and the genre he created, Balkan Beats, have come a long way since. Regular Balkan Beats parties to beyond capacity crowds in Berlin led to his first international gig in that world capital of decadence, Hollywood. Then residencies in Paris, Budapest and London with 3 stops in NYC. Now, Soko has joined up with fellow Berlin Kreuzberg pioneer of world-punk, PIRANHA. Together it's onward, upwards and outwards from the international sector!