Balkans scheduled to continue invading Wicker Park

Entertainers at the White House during last year's Halloween celebration, the brass/reed Gypsy/Balkan band Black Bear Combo along with DJ Romasoul are invading Wicker Park every third Friday in Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave., Fri, Aug. 19 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Aug. 20.

Black Bear Combo is inspired by traditional music from eastern Europe and the Balkans. They filter through their own free jazz and rock backgrounds. Since 2002 they've brought their sound to rock clubs, basements, festivals, weddings, funerals, parties and street corners across the country.

Originally from Sarajevo, DJ Romasoul has appeared in and around Chicago since 1995. As a war-refugee escaping war-torn Yugoslavia, she took what she could of the Balkan with her, wrapped in a small red scarf. Making her way around the globe, she has used music to reconstruct what she couldn't carry with her.

Influenced by all the cultures she has bumped into throughout her world-wide journey, she creates a mixture of folk sounds and house and elektro music. DJ RomaSoul aka Maja Bijedic has made people dance across a wide variety of venues and private events in Chicago.