The Jimmy Barka Experience are named after Džimi Barka, character from an old Serbian film called When I'm Dead and Gone and played by Dragan Nikolić. Their first on-stage appearance was back in 2010. Since then, they've been around the block a couple of times and even opened for Ursula Rucker, Gramatik and Parov Stelar on occasion.

It has finally happened. Even after all these years, Wham! made it to the top of a national chart with their Christmas carol about open-heart surgery. This time around it was the Austrian chart that holds the honours although the official German chart wasn’t far behind.

Google them, and you will mostly find Punčke billed as a punk band. But that is not nearly the whole story. They could just as well be described as an alt-rock, indie or maybe even grunge band. All of this is by design, as they are actively eschewing a single descriptor.

Christmas Craze is taking over European music charts. Not only did Mariah Carey move to the top of the Austrian chart, Denmark has its own version of a seasonal chestnut with Tinka. Top of the EU Pops brings all of that this week on Ara City Radio.

Blaž Mencinger started out as a guitarist in a jazz band. Which is about as weird a career move as you can make in Slovenia. I mean, jazz bands are literally nothing short of an expensive hobby. But by late 2020, he was already making a name for himself as a singer/songwriter.

And do it begins. This December was not two days old when Germany already did the deed and put Mariah Carey atop its music chart with that tune from Love Actually. All I want for Christmas is a quick and merciful end to Mariahpocalypse 2024.

Nominally, Smetnaki straddle the cross-section between ska, punk and funk. The band themselves insist that they are not bound to any specific genre. But listen closely and you'll hear jazz in all its forms. Check them out on this week’s Balkan Express

Somehow, Bruno Mars made it to the top of four different European charts this week. And with two different colabs at that. Die With A Smile, with Lady Gaga refuses to go away and is atop the Belgian and Bulgarian chart. More importantly, his ATP, with Rosé took the top spot in Latvia and Lithuania, too.