The Yuri Yunakov Ensemble Long a crossroads of the East and West, the Balkans developed a musical culture enriched by both. This exciting group performs music from the Balkan countries of Bulgaria and Macedonia. They play in a contemporary style called "wedding music," so named for its ubiquitous presence at life cycle celebrations such as weddings and baptisms where music and dancing are a must. Gaining popularity in the 1970s, it combines Bulgarian regional folk musics and the music of the Rom (Gypsies) with Indian, Turkish, jazz and rock influences. It is characterized by complex rhythms, dense ornamentation, breakneck speed and stunning improvisations; songs are performed in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Romani (Gypsy ) languages. Though banned by the socialist government of Bulgaria because of its "foreign" elements, "wedding music" thrived as a form of countercultural expression. Yuri Yunakov was born in 1958 in Haskovo, Bulgaria of Turkish Rom ancestry. The Roma, an ethnic group originally from India, have played a central role in the professional folk music of every country in the Balkans. By the early 1980s Yuri was playing saxophone in the acclaimed band Mladost and later in the world-renowned ensemble Trakija. As one of the genre's leading figures, Yuri became a folk hero; his status was comparable to that of a rock star in the West. Yet Yunakov was repeatedly harassed and even jailed because he played Rom and Turkish music. After emigrating to the United States in 1994, Yuri Yunakov formed the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble to promote the unique and vital sounds of Bulgarian "wedding music" in America.