When a young Bosnian dodges the bullet shortly before the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia, comes to Berlin in the early 1990s and starts spinning records, it is the beginning of a musical wave that, a few years later, overwhelms Europe and spills over to America and Japan: Balkan Beats. 

As a DJ, Robert Soko popularized a genre that grew from a  mixture of folk, klezmer, Gypsy sound, disco and punk.

Music journalist Robert Rigney accompanied him on his journey. From articles, memories and interviews with over 130 artists, a fascinating portrait of a scene emerges that at its peak aspired to be “the new rock’n’roll”.