1

Misa Djurkovic Ideologisation of turbo folk During the thirteen years of the reign of Slobodan Milosevic, everything was rapidly changing: e pires and nations have disappeared, new political and security co unities e erged, widened, strengthened, and the world was gripped by a new ideologies, infor ation technology was revolutioni!ed every second year, satellite "# and Internet got the world in a net $$$ %s global &uro' %tlantic political conte(t was radically changing, so e)ualy rapidly was changing the area of Milosevic actual or at least sy bolic power: the *epublic of Serbian +rajina was in creation just to disappear in the whirlwind in1,,-. *epublic of Serbia /*epublika Srpska0 e erged as an autono ous political creation with strong prerogatives of statehood, but with Dayton and especially post'Dayton politics, its characteristic have blurred as Milo1evi2 hi self had lesser and lesser i pact on its life. in early nineties Montenegro was a strong support of his politic just to eventually /particularly since 1,,3 0 evolve into a fully'fledged area, with fewer connections with Serbia. &astern Slavonia 'long associated with #ojvodina ' was reintegrated into 4roatia. +osovo and Metohija was torn fro Serbia in 1,,,$$$ soeven if it is very difficult to deter ine the li its of his political influence or areas that he ruled, is usually very easily and uncritically spoken of 5Milosevic6s Serbia5as a single, defined creation, the area connected by the 5rule of Serbian nationalis 5 as self'e(planatory ideology$ 7owever, the analysis of 8slobis 9 as a political syste ust be carried out by very subtle ethods, and the whole period of his rule ust be interpreted as a very dyna ic and changeable in its historical develop ent$ %s a very physical space of his political power varied during those thirteen years, also changed the internal ideological and cultural areas where he anaged the echanis s and ideologies that were used$ In the study of 1: years long period, special place in dealing with ideological and political struggle ust be reserved for the analysis of cultural space$ If the period of the rise of populis and alleged nationalho ogeni!ation and national awakening before the war / 1,;;'1,,1 0 was taking place concurrently with the still strong <ugoslav, internationalist and pro'=estern cultural te plate, as a product of inherited co and of social econo y and one'party state, then the period 1,,1 ' >??? is characteri!ed by incredible proliferation of the ost parado(ical cultural i(ture resulting fro the aket boo policy in the circu stances of social and value chaos $ In fact, it@s beco ing )ute co on for all 5cultural policy5 of slobis to be viewed as a product of dictator@s state$ 4ontrary to this approach, I will insist on the fact that Milosevic had just re oved or hid elitist and enlighten ent dictate of the state and allowed the free arket to create cultural values: and the si plest, the ost circus like and the least subtile for s of ass consu ption and ass entertain ent always win, so it is a s all wondet that this was the case in slobis too$ %nalysis of the entire culture in this period ust be very jagged and it needs to go along with an analysis of ideological for s$ Moreover, it see s to e that the study of ass culture is aybe the ost productive way to understand the ideological for s that were created and rotated during the said thirteen year period$ "his co ple( analysis ust focus on the vast and jagged wealth of different cultural products and ust, above all, find a way to pay e)ual attention to ele ents of

the native character as well as ele ents that@slobistic@ culture shared with the global /western0 ass consu er culture /where should be taken into account that co on Aalkan ass consu er culture that was aintained and transfor ed despite /or perhaps due toB0 utual ani osity and wars$ Cro this conglo erate of cultural artifact, during the years analy!ed,thatcreateda ju ble of ass culture, let us ention only the ost i pressive pheno ena: the flourishing of prophecy, clairvoyance, hiero anty, astrology, alternative edicine and other for s of e(ploitation of ideology of 5paranor al pheno ena5, pro oted by the state and para'state edia, but e(periencing r uch greaterr o entu by underground channels and social syste of so called 5radio ' Mileva5 /ear to ear, gossip0just because of new environ ental and social circu stances /insecurity, increasing the nu ber of patients,destruction of regular health care, collapse of the fa ily and fa ily values$$$ 0. flourishing pornography and prostitution, white slavery trade and other for s of se( industry with strip bars, secret brothels, *oad 7ousse and si ilar related institutions, e(pansion of drug use and co plete culture of isolationis and escapis , 5private5 drug addiction and alcoholis that developed in private apart ents in Serbia, )uite specific develop ent of video piracy and usic piracy in a situation when the whole country was e(co unicated, with all of the bi!arre aspects, such as the fact that piracy was state forced and used as an instru ent of rule and even direct political struggle, ideology and the nature of political rituals, rallies, celebrations, and any other pheno ena $$$ % special place in this society belongs to popular usic in all of its for s$ Dnlike ost often )uoted areas, where there are no basic research nor even publicistic reviews, the area of usic is often the ati!ed in journalis , and we have recently received the first pioneering studies that have atte pted to draw ideological, sociological, political, stylistic, and other aspects ele ents of the ntioned area$ Ea ely, those are &ric Fordy study: 5"he 4ulture of Gower in Serbia5 /nationalis and the destruction of alternatives0, specifically the section 5Destruction of alternative usic5 and study of lvana +ronja, 8Deadly Flow: Mass Gsychology and %esthetics of turbo'folk 1,,?'>???9$ 4%s all pioneering ventures, these studies also have nu erous flaws, one' sidedness and li ititations in approach, but are nevertheless, andwith all these shortco ings, noteworthy due to delineating interesting space and seting a starting point for future research$ "his article is certainly not eant to be a study ai ing to provide a final assess ent of the pheno enon of usical culture in Hslobis @, nor is written with the idea to evaluate and assess the two entioned studies$ My a bitions are li ited to atte pts to, in reference to the idea of two often )uoted authors, challenge so e of the thesis, e(pand others and ulti ately, ake few observations, as to present personal opinions of this pheno enon in whole$ Cocusing on popular usic of Hslobis @ ay be a good otive to raise so e even ore i portant issues associated not only with ourrecent history, but also with our future$ Cor e(a ple, the conflict of ideologies and creation of social consensus, the issue of transfor ation and creation of value syste and orientation of the Serbian society, the )uestion of the relationship and aligne ent of the elite and ass culture, the issue of Serbian elite and intelligentsia attitude, identity and heritage, as well as the )uestion of /re0valuation of Serbian trash fro the 3?s onwards$ Cirstly, a word about itological turbo'folk$It is the general tendency of the 5enlightened5, 5urban5, 5pro'=estern5 intelligence to throw co plete popular usic created /according to

the 0 in Serbia in ,?s under the pejorative co on deno inator$ =hen one such co entator entiones turbo'folk, what he eans is anything that is not rock and roll /which is apparently the definition of urban, subversive, western, cos opolitan, while the turbo'folk is supposedly nationalist, rural and war product0 So, that includes techno'folk and nouveau usic and dance and variety of other for s that have arisen as a cross'over ofthose basic directions$ In such a anener is ost often e(pressed only ideological and colonial position of the author or his lack of desire to seriously understand the pheno enon of popular usic, with all its co ple(ity$ &ven worse, often it is all about the anthropologists who studies wild tribes with so e of their retrograde product$ "his is the position that Fardy is generally /though not always0 very close to$ 7is research was apparently done during in 1,,: and 1,,I, and the book published in 1,,,$ In the eanti e, there have beena revolutionary ideological reversal in the nature of Milosevic6s govern ent, and especially in the develop ent of popular culture, which he did not even atte pt to describe or take into consideration, or he was not able to because he was li ited by his first gli pse, i posed by the local resources and that is to say point of view of the for er liberal'co unist, pro'=estern elite that has relegated to the opposition and that judges everything that under rile her /western, cos opolitan0, looking catastrophic eyes$ Ivana +ronja is far ore subtle in the interpretation of popular usic and, in her opinion turbo' folk is just a part of new /popular0 Serbian usic, which includes dance and neo'folk$ 7owever, she is focusing ostly on turbo'folk usic. dance is, for e(a ple, reduced to the role of the offspring of turbo'folk, and all pheno ena are generally viewed as part of turbo'folk atri( and, finally, the subtitle of the book is not H ass psychology and aesthetics of the new Serbian rnusic@ but e(actly Mass psychology and aesthetics of turbo-folk$ Fordy@s local sources are generally )uite doubtfull, unreliable and reductive$ Cor e(a ple, when he entiones Vreme zabave, saying it is a branch of the 5legendary independent aga!ine Vreme5 /p$ 11 :0, it is )uite clear fro which angle Fordy approaches the whole pheno enon of popular usic$ "hat is a point of view of the very s all group of people oriented by ideology, the group that e erged fro the for er co unist intelligentia ruling or dissident /there were no greater differences between those two0 and indentified itself =estern consu eris values and enlightened elitis $ "his group slowly for ed fro the co unist liberal internationalists who were defeated at the &ighth Session, and dissidents and cos opolits /unlike the dissidents ' nationalists0$ "hey were firstly politically organi!ed in DJDI, party of the for er <ugoslav Gri e Minister %nte Markovic, than in FSS, while at the sa e ti e this structure has co pletely onopoli!ed so called third sector /EFKs, edia, foundations0 just because =est considered the the only gratefull and appropriate political ideology worthy to be supported$ "he ain edia are Radio B92, Republic, so eti es asa borba and legendary Vreme! "hese structures e(isted as legiti ate factor of political life in Serbia, but the proble itself calls for the scientific research, which Fordy@s book aspires to be but re ains ideologically li ited by the perspective of this group, even when trying to present the views of other acters, typically labeled as 5nationalists5$ "he proble is not solely an ideological view, but aterial istreat ens as well$ Cor e(a ple, one of those old nostalgic rockers ' usual Fordy@s 5relevant interlocutors5 ' e(plains that rock

and roll used to be usic that was Hnor aly@ played in pubs /p$1I:0LB "his is just paradig atic for the li ited scope of the world these people have always lived in, not knowing what was going on a bit further away out of their circle /usually outside the city center0$ "hey are projecting that during the eighties rock was listened to in pubs because to the that see s logical$ Cor the less infor ed, listening to rock in Serbian pubs e)uals the opportunity of hearing operatic arias in the sa e institution$ &ven ore fantastic is the following state ent /co ing, of course, fro yet another of those reliable sources0: speaking of Milan Mladenovic, the late leader of "katarina velika, as of so eone who has not sold hi self, this source labels those that have sold the selves: 5Aands that have attached to the political wave, that produce crap, like Ba#aga and Ribl#a corba$ "hey got big oney for it$ Milan is like a father to the $ "heir usic, their ideas, they got it all fro hi $5 /Fordy, 1IM0$ I really could not even think of the greater adness than the state ent that Aora Djordjevic listened to "katarina velika and that Ribl#a corba based its usic on late Milan@s usic ideas$ Such te poral, stylistic and ideological nonsense need not to be e(plained to people in Serbia, but for the less infor ed, let6s try to e(plain that it is like saying that the $eep %urple or Aruce Springsteen in early eighties were listening and stealing fro &imple Minds$ Si ilar to this is the assertion /p$ 11M0 that during the eighties Aelgrade rock was personified in File and "lektricni orgazam$ %ccording to who, and for who B Eeither the 'rgazam was the ost popular ainstrea group, nor it wasa )uality, innovative alternative group ' indeed, of all significant groups in Aelgrade that arked the eighties, 'rgazam with their classic punk riffs in the early period and again classic pop'rock repertoire fro the late period, is the ost uninteresting$ =hat@s left of the can not be easured with the innovative and e(peri ental oeuvre of (arlo )krobata, *dol, %artibre#kersi, "katarina velika, $isciplina kicme$ "herefore, either Fordo was told so by a'rgazamlover, or he observed it all fro a li ited perspective of classic % erican rock and roll fan, where *ock is reduced to a few *olling Stones riffs$ Fenerally, due to the li ited ideological perspective, there are any other shortco ings to this study$ "he basic postulate in the interpretation of turbo'folk is co pletely wrong yth, according to which: "he eighties were arked by the rule of rock and roll as the do inant urban atri( of popular usic that young people were listening just as their peers in the =est, and Serbia was part of a cos opolitan rock culture$ In Serbia, rock was rebelious, subversive and protest echanis and allegedly a way of youth rebellion against the ruling co unist odel$ %fter that, with the co ing to power of Milosevic, rock and roll as cos opolitan urban culture was destroyed and replaced by a nationalist, anti'=estern, rural turbo'folk, pro oted by the state as a new ruling paradig of popular usic$ %nalysis of these clai s shows their basic contradiction: if the rock was do inant atri(, how it was subversiveB "he answer is that rock was neither do inant nor subversive$ "he popular usic scene in the 6;?s could be described as: pro'=estern, progressively oriented co unist elite supported all for s of popular culture that could give it legiti acy of alleged urbanity, internationalis , westernis , odernity and openness to refor $ *ock, universally accepted as ideology of all these epithets and the carrier of co on youth culture, was ideal isntru ent for this purpose$ "hus, rock was not subversive in the eighties. it was an instru ent that was giving ruling elite liberal co unists a pro'=estern legiti acy$ "he

rock was pro oted by the state, and i posed as part of desirable, ideologically do inant cultural odel$ *ock band recorder e(clusively for state'owned publishing houses /since there were no independent ones0 and were pro oted through state edia and other eans of state propaganda$ Eevertheless, the so'called urban bands /so loved by Fordy@s friends0 were selling no ore than :? thousand copies since with their intricate and e(peri ental usic for s and te(ts /"katarina velika is e(tre e e(a ple0 were too distant and inco prehensible to general population$ Freat circulation was ade by /and that is only logical0 by populist'oriented bands with provocative lyrics and entry'level usic for s /such as Ribl#a corba0 or those who, like Bi#elo dugme, flirted with folk and various propaganda tricks and stunts /)zra, for e(a ple, as well as Ribl#a corba, despite all of their 5politicalproble 5 was recording with the state publishing house0$ 7ow rockers were subversive can be illustrated by the fact' which Fordy, strangely, fails to register that in 1,;;, all ti e favorite "lektricni orgazam releaased, with GFG *"A, a big hit 5lgra rock6n6roll cela Jugoslavia5, that turned out to be the ost used rock song of all those in power$ %t the beginning of the war and with the introduction of pluralis , rock was no longer supported by the state because the arket was not profitable, and the govern ent at the ti e no longer needed pseudo' =esterni!ed card$ *ocke was not intentionally destroyed. it was just no longer i posed and pro oted by the state as before$ It was left on its own and so e truly alternative structures of publishing, pro otion and distribution that developed$ "he only interesting center was created around *adio A,>, and again just as in the old syste , only not with the done by the state oney but through old guard youth officials who received oney fro foreign foundations andwere able to use it on interesting e(peri ental projects such as (anda (odza i ebo#sa, $ark+ood dub, "va Braun, %layboy, (ristali$ %bove entioned is very i portant because the subse)uent interpretation creates an unrealistic picture of how during eighties everybodywas listening urban, subversive rock$ "hus is ignored the si ple fact that the greates circulation ' and without a strong state support but even with the official opposition and criticis of being pap and trash was e(ercised by populists /Miroslav Ilic is the only who anaged to sell over a illion records, Nepa Arena, #esna O ijanac, 7alid Aeslic0 followed by shrieking pathetic terrace'pop, always on the verge of folk /like Magazin, ,ari Mata ,ari, %lavi orkestar, Merlin !!!- and already entioned populistic 5folk5 rockers like Bi#elo dugme, .orba and Aajaga$ Fordy fully accepts this yth of the Aelgrade alternative scene and only at the end /p$ 1M? and 1M>0 entions that the authors believe that the turbo'folk was created after the collapse of co unist value syste of the eighties and rock as part of that value syste $ Aut these are esre illustrations of different opinions entioned. while the ain line of thought and analysis follows this i posed a yth$ Ivana +ronja is by far ore careful$ She courageously points out that the populists were far ore subversive in rejecting i posed elite odel of culture and were i plicitlye(pressing criticis of the co unist@s relocation of hugenu bers of people to the city where they felt kind of l.ost$ 7owever, she also accepts this yth when placing urban rock bands into the area ofsubcultures that were critical of the regi e and its syste of values, or 5were in opposition to the do inant enlighten ent'dog atic cultural odel, in othere words were in opposition to Mar(ist ideology and dog atic rule of elders, e$i$ partisan'co unist establish ent 5/p$ :30

She views the ruling structure of eighties as a onolithic structure, based on Mar(ist ideology, which is wrong$ "he eighties are characteri!ed by nu erous ideological and orientational conflicts between the co unists the selves, between refor ers and conservatives, nationalists andinternationalist, unitarists and decentralists /future separatists0$ 4haracteristic is the case of Slovenian /aibachthat +ronja entiones but never analy!e$ /aibach really pushed the li its of alowed cultural speech in <ugoslavia during eighties and deco posed e(isting dog atic, partisan syste of values, but using state resources and the edia, and with a strong protection of refor astic and nationalist co unist structures in Slovenia, that was preparing for a showdown with the federal reign and independence$ "his beca e apparent with a secession of Slovenia and especially during long'ter cultural and political preparations for it, when Slovenian co unists united, withoutany proble , with the so'called alternative structures, which were dissenters fro the .ivilne druzbe/philosophers, artists, political activists0 and with /a#bah with it@s project eue &lo+enische (unst$ Ee(t interesting ideological argu ent i posed by Fordy is apparently necessary connection of urban rockers and anti'war beliefs and opposition to the war$ "hus he entiones Aelgrade rocker project *i tutituki in 6,> and other anti'war actions in which they participated and local rockersstate ents at the ti e$ "his thesis falls as soon as you cross into neighboring 4roatia, where the 5urban rockers5 were supporting all things national and were strongly advocating the 5ho eland5 war in order to increase the response to the obili!ation and strengthen to defend 4roatia$ Nets ention just few:0ilm with the song 5" mo# druze beogradski,5 %sihomodo popwith 5,rvatska mora pobi#editi,5%rl#avo kazalistei 1/upi petom i reci ovo#e ,rvatska!14haracteristic restriction only in Serbia allows Fordy to avoid the answer to the )uestion why turbo'folk was so popular in any neighboring countries: Aulgaria, *o ania, Macedonia even if they had no Milosevic, war, sanctions, populist nationalis and the like$ Nast ideological vulgari!ation is related to rocker@s atte pt to present the selves as left liberals, cos opolitans /which in the nineties was the ruling ideological paradig of the =est0$ =hoever took part in the national euphoria or showed other inclinations besides cos opolitan /ie, had political doubts about =est0 was labeled nationalist and sacked 5fro rock5, as it was done with Ribl#a corba, Ba#aga or Kliver Mandic$ I a finding it particularly interesting that there is no notion of *doli, and it is clear why: it would totally overshadow Fordy@s ideologicalconcept$ *doliis certainly the ost intriguing urban band of the eighties,and by surveys authors of the of the best do estic albu 5'dbrana i posledn#i dani5 7owever,the issue here is the e(tre e right wing provenance and people who during the eighties affir ed and used so e of the strong focal points of Serbian traditional culture /Krthodo(y, 4yrillic, works Aorislav Gekic0 and often flirted with the life and work of Di itrije Njotic, leader of Serbian fascist detach ents during =orld =ar II$ "o this day, the for er leader of the group re ained very close with Isidora Ajelica, Eebojsa Gajkic and other representatives of the Serbian *adical right'wing ideological scene$ "his shows that Fordyfailed to defend his thesis even if he reduced Serbia in that period to a ultraurban elitistic power$ %t ti es, Fordy is ready /p$ 1>-0 to )uestion his basic thesis that the regi e deliberately was destroying alternative usic / ostly rock0$ %t the sa e spot, he says that the )uestion of whether the regi e deliberately directed against the local rock and roll culture, as part of the

progra e to direct the culture directed towards consistency with the war, certainly is so ething to be discussed, and these discussions can not easily end$ 7owever, his whole te(t is based on the unproved thesis, reflected in the state ent: regi e 5sponsored5 turbo'folk and neo' folk$ In a conversation I had with one of the key acters in turbo 'folk pro otion, the fa ous director of videos for usic stars of the nineties, Mr$ Oli, Igot )uite logical assurance that there never have been any of such tendencies$ "hough he worked with all the great stars of afore entioned scene, Oli never had any contact with politics and politicians, nor he received instructions on what is preferential and should be pro otedin the videos$ 7e had ost clearely confir ed that it was all about si ple laws of the arket in a given, specific conditions$ "he budget for aking the videos was usually very li ited, so eti es iserable /so e fa ous videos were fil ed in just a few hours0 and on the other hand, they had to be a showplace ofattractive contents$ It resulted in resorting to classic tricks used in arkets and edia of ass culture with ini al or non e(isting controll /as opposed to pre' nineties, when trash and kitschwere severely persecuted and ta(ed0: thus violence, nudity, si ulation of lu(ury $$$ It can be said that in this way so far suppressed collectively unconscious was allowed to e(plode on the surface, and there due to the radicali!ed abnor al conditions of isolation and struggle for survival and the like 'the whole story was given hyperbolic and grotes)ue proportions$ In connection with this is also the fact that Fordy registered, but never co ited to the )uestion of the ainstrea of popular usic$ "his proble is well registered by Olatko Josic,+S" director who pointed out the si ple fact that the ajority of the consu ers of ass culture genresneuter and listen to what is spinned in the edia, provided it is a lightweight and si ple for rather than de anding like "(V or $isciplina kicme$ Dntil the disintegration of <ugoslavia those people listened ostly above listed artist, but it should be pointed out that until the very eve of the dissolution, Aosnian bands /always on the verge of folk0 such asMerlin, ,ari Mata ,ari , Blue 'rchestra , and 4roatian Magazin, were by far the ost do inant in the pop ' scene aking a real ainstrea $ =ith their disappearance, a new space opened to be stor ed by ost co ercial ones ' na ely oderni!edpopulists$ =e should not forget that even during the nineties *"S was constantly trying to affir so e la e and uninventive festival perfor ers of pop usic, but the whole thing was utterly uninteresting and thus faoled$ "urbo ' nudity was far ore interesting$ %s to shed light on this, it is interesting to point out the case of the project 0unky ,ouse band, pro oted in 1,,>$ "he band was ade up on the principle of current boy band: handso e young an dancing on stage and singing light note$ In this case the usic was even re iniscent of a ore odern, funky sound, and as an adjunct so e highly respected ja!! usicians were engaged but despite great effort and positive teenagersreactions /very well attended concert in the 54entar Sava50, the project was unable to cash in due to the general crisis$ "he day after the concert, the anager said to one of the e bers: 5Cro to orrow you are Super lvan and we do so ething to get the oney$5"he result was a paradig atic techno 'folk track 5>??P ph5, fusion of techno riff fro the hit of Dutch duo 2 2nlimited, and classic tavern accordion$ Nvan pulled out fro folk only after rulling state ideology again beca e involved in popular culture,and that was when JDN took power fro the SGS and started to pro ote dance usic$ %t that point the

other e ber of the 0unky ,ouse bandalso e(perienced huge popularity with his dance projectMobi$ik ! It follows fro above entioned that the field of cultural policy during the period between the reign of urban co unist fro the eighties and JDN co unists fro the second half of the nineties, is best characteri!ed as a ti e of arketchaos and anarchy where ost co ercialspontaneously broke out, and they were turbo'folk perfor ers$ *ock was not deliberately destroyed it failedspontaneously because it was not co ercial, thus not interesting neither to regi e or consu er asses$ "he analysis of the attitude of regi e towards popular usic is a good way to discover the real ideology that regi e was pro oting$ Iin y opinion, it can be very well illustrated by the e(a ple of Milosevic6s rule$ Since I intend to deal with this topic in greater detailin another place, here I will give you just so e tips related to Fordy@s theses$ "he ain thesis of this planned work is to prove ' with popular usic ' that Milosevic6s regi e was the nationalist, just as Milosevic hi self was not a nationalist$ %s is well known, the nationalist strive towards the purification of their own traditions and their own culture, as to differtheir identity as uch as possible, and to defend it fro their opponents, or at least fro the global consu er culture$ "hat is obvious in e(a ples cited by Fordy, but he fails to reach the end of the story since that would not fit into his theoretical construction$ Fordy lists three groups of Milosevic6s nationalist opponents: circle around the fa ous %onos radio , then DGS MGs and chanter Gavle %ksentijevic and folk usic singer Miroslav Ilic$ "he first group is of the chetnik' seselj provenance and affir ed the true warrior ' chauvinist version of neo'folk, supposed to encourage Serbian warriors by its pri itive lyrics and to incite hatred against 4roats and Musli s$ Singers they pro oted, ainly living Hover Drina@ and closest to the traditional singing of 8the outcry9, were never pro oted through state edia$ "heir tapes were sold on the street, listened on the front, and in Aelgrade they were pro oted only by %onos radio ! Kf a conflict with Seselje r , the regi e did not affir this type of culture , but it is tolerated as an ally $ =hen the conflict , Milosevic6s people are severely hit by the , drove the co pletely out of the edia spectru , and pride is prohibited $ "he second type are the real opponents of Serbian nationalist conservative, of traditionalist and civil origin and they insisted on 5keeping and defending traditional Serbian culture5 accordin to the Crench or Golish odel$ Fordy cites the e(a ple of Gavlel %ksentijevic who e phasi!ed in the Eational %sse bly that the Serbian popular usic is 5polluted5 by oriental rhyth and other s /howling0 ele ents, ald all of that thanks to the turbo 'folk $ "he third group consists of those e bers of the SGS who are the epito e of traditional Serbian peasantry, like the notorious MG *aka and Aid!a, presented here in the guise of Miroslav Ilic$ "hey were well aware of nu erous ele ents in the social and political life that did not fit into what they saw as nacional'patriotic ideology but opted to get over it as long as they believed that Milosevic has to do whatever he was doing or to tolerate it because of the 5higher national interests$ 5 It is characteristic that even all these groups are nationalistic in their own way, they all considered their biggest opponent the orientalised turbo ' folk which, according to Fordy, was

affir ed by the nationalist Milosevic regi e$ It is obvious that this funda entally threatens the Fordy@s theoretical construct, ostly adopted fro his local advisers and infor ants $ %t the end of the te(t Fordy is trying to cover period fro 1,,I to Sloba@s switch to the for ula 5Geace has no alternative$5 "his is where his analysis end and the book is published in 1,,,$ "hus Fordy failed to analy!e so e funda ental chanes that better illu inate the eaning of slobis and ideology which he uses$ "his o ission is a big inus for the te(t, as it also loses sight of the global conte(t of the Milosevic era$ "he years Fordy analised were the ti e of death of the rock as a global ruling paradig $ "he nineties were the ti e of the e(pansion of infor ation technology and, therefore, it is not surprising that the popular usic has e(perienced a huge transfor ation in line with new technological possibilities$ % place previously occupied by rock was taken firstly by dance and techno usic, and later by so called +orld-music, and latin usis as its ost i pressive offshoot$ 7owever, the paradig of urban, current, odern and cos opolitan for Fordy re ained the old rock and roll of Rolling &tones tradition, which is to say that Fordy hi self is out of fashion$ /So e ight classify hi as an % erican nationalist who defends his pop ' culture and even advocate its do inance over the world$0 =hat his local infor ants failed to tell hi is that even during the period that he analysed, urban youth in Aelgrade considered dance usic the best fun$ "he ost significant place in the first half of the 6,?s was the club &oul 0ood, where all for s of usic were listened to and pro oted: suol, fanky, latin usic, haus and techno ' sound that e erged since 1,,>, entering the scene as the successor of Manchester6s %cid ' culture, and e(periencing tre endous e(pansion in the second half of the nineties$ Since Fordy does not register neither the space nor the change in popular usic scene, he also fails to register the fact that during the Milosevic era Aelgrade has created the strongest techno scene in &astern &urope, and hosted all the ost significant artists of the genre ore then once$ In this anner Fordy fails to notice the change JDN brought when owertaking power fro the SGS$ <ugoslav Neft and Mirjana Markovic actually affir ed old <ugoslav feelings and pro oted 4roatian and Aosnian bands Maria Milosevic@s radio (osava started to work in 1,,: and it propagate anti'nationalist <ugoslav and <ugo'nostalgia$ %t it@s later stage of develop ent, this political and ideological option was the strongest pro oter of dance as so ething 5 odern5 and current versus backward, Aalkan folk$ Maybe because they have reali!ed for the selves that rock has beco ed non'co ercial, and perhaps due to the fact that al ost all rock bands were their political opponents$ Cinally, Fordy was not able to follow the evolution of the usic during the nineties, as well as all the supporting industries that e erged with it$ It is interesting to analy!e what rhyth s and au(iliary usic ele ents were at the ti e involved in the ove ent ' rock and pop and Natin ele ents ' so eti es even on the verge of high')uality products of world' usic /as in the case of #esna O ijanac@s songs Malo po malo, brilliantly played by Ceris Mustafov, a star of world' usic0$ +ronja@s study was published after Milosevic6s fall, and she ade an effort to engage the entire period$ "hat allowed her, unlike Fordy, to ake a detailed investigation of the second half of the nineties, which arked the breakthrough of the dance usic$ "herefore, this book is a richer,

ore co prehensive and ore realistic, +ronja is ore subtle and sophisticated in relating to the diversity of layers and ele ents that have erged into this utant$ It is particularly i portant to note that the author is so eone who co es fro the world of fil , and therefore the best parts of her study are those devoted to the analysis of style, i age, and the es of video clips$ 5In the very introduction +ronja deter ines turbo ' folk and dance usic as an e(pression of 5specific encounters5 of the a a!ing nu ber of different factors$ In her words: 5"he e ergence of turbo folk and dance usic is an e(pression of specific eeting of our newly co posed postwar culture, our urban subcultures /very i portantL ' pri $ M$K$ 0: punk , hippie, 8s inka9 / akeup0, rock, new wave and rave during @,?, and than penetrating influence of =estern type ass culture and consu eris introduced through % erican ovies, "# series, and presenting western show designers, ass i portation and arketing of foreign goods, and so on$ 5 /p$30$ "his is a very good atte pt since the whole pheno enon is deter ined as a tangle, sfecific hybrid created in a chaotic intertwining of ideas, influences and styles /often the ost parado(ical i(ture caused laughter0, and then atte ps to analyse individual ele ents and sources that can be detected in its original or altered for $ +ronja si ultaneously onitors the i(ing in the usical product itself, as well as interference in i age, style and acco panying pro otion /wardrobe, set design, sy bols0$ In co paration with Fordy@s, the paricular )uality of +ronja@s approach is placing the pheno enon of turbo'folk in the conte(t of the global world of consu er culture$ =hile &ric Fordy at all ti es insist on autochthonous turbo 'folk as anti'western ove ent associated with the nationalist, anti'globali!ation orientation, +ronja gives a far ore realistic understanding according to which the aesthetics of turbo 'folk is a local offshoot of the global culture, and so e ore universal global trend$ Cro that perspective, especially interesting are the chapters 5"he co erciali!ation of culture and aesthetici!ation of everyday life9, and 5"urbo'folk aesthetics in the conte(t of global ass culture5$ In the second chapter, the author analy!es the fa ous %lt an@s ovie ashville, creating obvious parallels between the turbo ' folk ove ent in Serbia and iconography of new % erican country usic$ "his analysis is )uite credible and convincing, and it shows that the logic of turbo 'folk has its 5counterparts9 e$i$ pandans in the 5 ost progressive5 country today$ &ven ore interesting is the atte pt to place turbo ' folk into the conte(t of breaking Isla ic, Kriental and other e(otic Mediterranean rhyth s that have shaken &urope in 6,?s$ Dnfortunatelly, +ronja is li ited by her own starting pointe shared with Fordy ' and I6ve already critici!ed state ent that 5turbo ' folk usic $$$$ in principle is of a purely nationalistic character 5 / +ronja, p$ I;0$ Such a startin point is li iting and does not allow her to ove to in'depth analysis of turbo'folk as a arket, and ore universal, or at least a regional ove ent$ "he author points out as a parado( that turbo' folk, as nationalist rnusic, uses the odel of consu er =estern culture$ %s I have already entioned, turbo'folk with all of its rnelis and oriental ele ents, borrowing fro all possible rith s and cultures is not at all nationalist but )uite open, even ulticultural and intercultural rnusic$ Interestingly enough, just the breakthrough of turbo'folk arked the integration rnusli , Eovi Ga!ar sound, while the earlier and later pro'&uropean, international and declaratively rnulticulturaly oriented co unist persecuted it as kitsch, sund and pri itivis $ Garado(ically, in this very field attitude towards oriental ele ents in usic and i age of turbo 'folk perfor ers ' nationalists and

internationalists share the sa e understanding: nationalists want to defend purity of Serbian rnusic fro Kriental elernents and alleged pro'&uropean cos opolitans wish to suppress it all as a part of oriental, despotic legacy of prirnitivis that prevents us fro joining the 5world5, &urope, the =est $$ $ Kne of the ost problernatic +ronja@s theses in this te(t is the one about the relationship of turbo ' folk and dance usic$ "his idea runs through the whole article but it is ost e(plicitly set forth on page 3> where she states that 5dance originated fro turbo'folk5$ &ven if +ronja herself e idiatelly adds that it see s logically strange, yet she unreservedly supports this thesis and finds a proof in the transition of so e singers fro one genre to the other$ "his data should si ply be associated with the change of the ruling ideology$ Instead of SGS, which alowed arket logic to creates general taste and needs, when it ca e to power JDN wanted, just like alternative cosrnopolitans, to clear Serbia fro prirnitivis , Isla ic etc$ $ ele ents, as to direct it towards technological progress and rnodernisation in accordance with 4hina odel$ "herefore, JDN pro oted dance as an e(pression of new tehnology era, and singers were si ply adapting to the de ands of a new boss$ In addition, kronja fails to place dance usic in a global conte(t, as she did with the turbo' folk$ 5Mid ,?6s in &urope arked the burst of electronic sound in its various for s$ "here was ore de anding, ore urban version of house, rave and si ilar sound /propagated by radio B92 and so e bands0 as well as ore profane, ore populist and less de anding variant that ruled top'lists /bands like 2 2nlimited , $r)lban, various boy' bands $$0, accepted and propagated by JDN through (osava, %ink, etc$ +ronja register connection between JDN and dance, but never e(plains it, in other words she clai s JDN was just adapting to already e(isting trend$ "he point is that JDN planned creating this trend $ +ronja@s assertion that dance and turbo'folk have the sa e values syste calls for slightly different e(planation$ Kn page M>, the author akes a very good observation regarding the change of the es in 5national rnusic5 which happened with transforrnation of neo'folk to techno' pop$ +ronja e ployed even statistical analysis of particular sa ple videos fro the nineties, observed co plete change of the es, interests and, above all, enviro ent used in videos$ =hile neo'folk e ployed rural and traditional otives, 5turbo' folk5 is entirely urban pheno enon and its videos typically captured in an urban or suburban environ ent, the es are urban, scenery is very up'to'date$ +ronja states that 5turbo'folk and dance videos $$$ provided legiti ate confir ation for the new Serbian usic as urban fenornena9$ "o e(plain stated, she investigated the e ergence of turbo folk dance industry and video clips in Serbia ,?s$ Cirst of all, she analy!ed the process of professionali!ation of video aking, and how did the authors such as Oli and Dejan Milicevic introduce ultraurbane ele ents into folk i age /Oli used rock iconography and Milicevic used Aroadway 7ollywood gla or0$ %s these authors were covering both dance and turbo' folk production, it is easy to e(plain why the sa e otives and value syste were i posed $ %n interesting otive deserves detailed elaboration +ronja clai s /p$ I?0, that these subcultures represent faithful reflection of the social and legislative chaos$ I would like to connect this with y basic thesis that this is not that uch about the planned i position of so e atri( but rather the arket apping of collective unconscious in the o ents of chaos and destruction of the curently e(isting syste of values and oral standards$ Ea ely, if we were surrounded by violence, if only 1?? kilo eters fro Aelgrade there was a terrible bloody and

brutal war, could it be e(pected anything else but violence to be constantly on television screens and in particularly in dyna ic video clips$ /1>0 Music and video ' authors only reflected what was all around the and thus the turbo'folk is so uch ore description than the reproduction of the certain value syste $ =hen we talk about violence, ust not forget the global conte(t, ie the increase in the a ount and degree of violence in =estern ass culture production$ %t this point +ronja akes an interesting parallel between the Serbian warrior chic and black perfor er@s videos$ It6s a sha e that this otif reained ere an outline because it certainly deserves serious and detailed develop ent$ During the nineties, any of the suburbs of Aelgrade rese bled black ghettos ruled by the alternative institutions of local cri inals and drug lords instead of state ordeal$ Cro 1,,: onwards, drug, as well as weaponry trafficking, was in the incredible e(pansion in these areas, and crirninal beca e the only for of self'assertion, profit or so e social prosperity$ "his is e(actly the sa e i age kids could see in the videos and ovies of black rep'authors such as 3u- pak and therefore they easily identified with the $ "hus it is not surprising that do estic spot' authors resorted to the sa e for ula /drugs, violence, weapons, and prostitution0 since that was e(actly what the audience e(pected$ %nything else would have been dis issed as a bluff or a nuisance$ Kbjection that could e)ually be ade both to +ronja and Fordy is rearding their fi(ation on Aelgrade$ Aoth authors, unfortunately, reduce Serbia to Aelgrade alone, and analysis of edia only to %ink and %alma$ Eo referrals to any local station or vast network progra s of nu erous local stations which were widely founded during nineties$ "his conte(t is i portant because of what was entioned on the ainstrea $ "hese stations were re)uired to organi!e a progra with the s allest financial eans$ %s a rule, it was based on pirated ovies and illegal downloading5$ Quite the opposite would be the ideological pressure, when in the circu stances of chaos unrealistic picture of cal ness is projected: everything is in order, organized, sport events are broadcasted via satellite channels, followed by soap opera /first revival of % erican and than a flood of Natin soap operas0, and finally the usic ainstrea $ Aesides, one should keep in ind that before 1,,? neofolk was less prosecuted at the local level, in the province than in Aelgrade, and is therefore pri arily propagated through a network of local radio stations /the fa ous institution of 4el#e, cestitke i pozdravi, as well as certain stations such as Radio &abac0$ "herefore is easy to understand that when the State level persecution of kitsch and trash was suspended, local stations had full freedo to broadcast whatever 5people wanted5 , that is, understandably, a turbo'folk$ Cinally, it was ti e for %ink otto 8=hy notB9$ Dealing with local stations is also necessary for understanding the topic that +ronja /1:0, contrary to Fordy, )uite appropriately entiones and arks$ It is about subversive potential of neo'folk fro the eighties, and itss a bivalent status in a society where it was ideologicaly violently persecuted, but on the econo ic and social level it was tolerated /because of high inco e and because the s artest of rulers reali!ed that people ust not be abolished of ass entertain ent it seeks0$ +ronja akes a very good notion that neo folk was a serious i plicit criticis of the socialist society that indicated the failure of violent urbani!ation odel, alienation of people brought fro their natural rural environ ent into the urban jungle where they felt lost, uncertain and iserable$ /1I0$ "hose were the people yearning for their villages and past lives, trying to find it and sing it with the neo folk hits$ Interestingly, their idols, greatest usic stars, as a rule were fro the countryside and represented a fellow country an who has

succeeded$ / 1- 0 /"he difference between neo'folk and turbo 'folk is evident in the fact that the latter, especially in its second wave, spawned heroes fro the city suburbs, such as %ca Nukas , D!ej, +arleusa or Jovana0 $ "o illustrate the position of the pop artists in <ugoslavia, we shal )uote Getar Nukovic and his introduction to the ost co prehensive and ost interesting work dealing with the proble s of showbi! and 1,,?, his book Bol#a proslost /Aetter past0$ Nukovic says, 8witch' hunt in show business has been, for decades, one of the ost popular hobbies of local public eager for trophes that are beco ing an i portant point in every hunting biography$ &(pirience teaches that no for that: so eti es it is 6 to get rich easy6, so eti es 6ta( evasion6 and so eti es 6artistic level degradation6 and 6e(pansion of kitsch6, but ost often a welco ed scandal that proves that show' business workers are entertainers, folk' rockers and all casual co panions necessary evil that ust be eradicated as soon as possible$ &ver since the first days of the victory of socialis in our country, under special scrutiny of the authorities, they were pushed to the argins of society: perpetualy suspicious ele ents, potential ene ies of progress and hu anity, always the perfect sacrifice which re ained silent as to survive$ Scenario of the later has not changed: they are portayed as cheap entertainers, generally dull, uneducated, greedy, ean and insensitive, willing to sell the selves for a gig, to every listener and any state$9 %lthough treated in such a degrading and disrespectful way, they have survived for the people, despite ideological pressures, was buying their records, attending their concerts, and reading aga!ines that dealt with their lives$ It is i portant, particularly for the neo folk, to once again point out observations of Sveta Nukic, stated by +ronja, that this usic was left entirely to itself, ade a social pariah, rnarginalised by the ruling cultural establish ent, instead of beein accepted as a real e(isting pheno enon and properly channeled and directed, instead of consu ers taste being carefully and gradually groo ed and thus booted the overall )uality of the oderni!ed folk usic$ It is interesting that Foran Aregovic proved it very possible: he used folk usic fro southern Serbia, oderni!ed it, fit into odern atri( and now is scoring reat success in &urope$ It is a a!ing that no one ever tried anything like that, and that such a successful projects as the 2ndergraund soundtrack does not even have any i itators, yet alone a creative followerL "his is what I want to e phasi!e in particular because the new, post'Milosevic govern ent in a culture re inds e, totally, of the co unists who ruled before the , even any people are the sa e e(cept that now they are not in S+ but in so e of the DKS parties$ It is obvious that these people have failed to learn anything and that they are trying to turn the wheel backwards, to where things were ten years ago: again we shall have a do inant cultural elitis that people do not accept and, on the other hand, proscribed but by the people accepted turbo'folk heroes$ "he elite will live in its glassed, i aginary and self'sufficient world, and ordinary people will live in their culture in the world ruled by the arket laws that increasingly defor their usic$ Sadly, but this is just a reflection of the general political pattern of the relation between elite and co on folk fro the - Kctober onwards$ =hat scares e the ost is that the result of such an attitude of the govern ent towards the people shall be the return of so eone like Seselj or Milosevic and we6ll get back to a tragic circle of e(tre es alternating in power$ %nd such states are regrettable$

5!3this area alone is enough for a serious and thorough analysis! /et us mention that in the early nineties began unfettered proliferation of open prostitution! 6ust take magazine 'glasi and note e7pansion of t+o columns8 famous %ersonal contacts that previously +ere for people +ho other+ise +ere not able to find a partner or con#ugal companion, become the real so-called public advertising of +hore house 9euphemism used +as )gency for business companionship- , offerin all kinds of se7ual services:particulary bizarre +as advertising the dirtiest hard porn videos, during a couple of months in ;92 and ;9<, publicly offered and sold through ads in the category Videos! )gencies selling this material +ere giving a detailed describing of the content, so +e had opportunity to revie+ all the possible combinations8 grandmothers and students, grandfathers and school girls, grandparents,#uvenile orgies, #uveniles 9=-> grade- raping a classmate , etc! !! 3his +as stopped only by public protests! 2! 3he +hole phenomenon of state piracy though shocking, theoretically +as never neither touched nor ade?uately e7plained and clarified! 9)n interesting attempt +as &rdan $#uric article published in the #ournal )ntipirat, no! <! @uasi-state 3V stations, such as %alma and %ink, in the early and mid-9As have regularly broadcasted the latest ,olly+ood hits! 3his tradition is prolonged into late 9A;s by the state 3V ; %olika +hich, for e7ample, broadcasted attractive blockbusters, like the last 6ames Bond, as to keep people from going to the opposition meetins! ! B C ;"ricDordy, 3he .uliure of %o+er in,&erbia, %ennsylvania 2niv!ersity % ress, 5999,s tr 5 A<5>=, C B;*zdan#e 3ehnokratia, Beograd, 2AA5 =! *n this conte7t, an interesting phenomenon is everything that happened on the occasion of the recent release of album %esma iznad *stoka * 4apada ! 3his is a pro#ect initiated by 6ovan Eulibrk , &%. priest, +ith the intention to brin the .hurch closer to the +idest population, and this is a recipe that is long time used in +estern countries and in )merica ! 3he pro#ect +as designed and implemented by a dozen of famous &erbian bands that +rote and performed compositions based on te7ts of Bishop ikola#Velimirovic! .ontroversial +orks of ikola#Velimnirovica is other+ise very accepted and popular in many &erbian intellectual circles, even among the younger population, especially because communists have banned it, and reading it +as considered rebellion 9he +as considered the best orthodo7 &erbian +riter in the 2Ath century-! 3herefore,it +as no +onder that the pro#ect involved a number of important &erbian 1urban1 bands, among them t+o currently tconsidered he best - %artibre#kersi and $ark+ood dub! 3he pro#ect +as met +ith fierce condemnation from the said Dordycircle, and proclaimed as clerical fundarnentalist'rthodo7, right-+ing, anti-Fester !!! *n an article ipublished by Republic, 2>B-2>= , 6ovan 4latic seeing the +hole event as a betrayal, commented +ith the +ords, 1 +e lost the rocker !!!1 ! )gain is ignored the global conte7t and the phenomena are considered unilateral! *t should be noted that simultaneous +ith this pro#ect in )merica +e can vitness remarkable e7pansion of the so-called .hristian rock that appeas as very modern, very Festern! 3his phenomenon is mentioned here only as another proof of the one-sidedness and inade?uacy of DordyGs thesis !

>! &ee the essay1 acionalizarn i popularna rnuzikaH

I! *n greater detail * +rote about this in the article 1%op-politika * pop ideologi#a!1 J! ;*nterestingly enough, turbo-folk and techno-folk combine t+o of the +orld rulling trends8 techno-matri7 and folk music! 'f course,in a ?uite caricatured manner, the products are of a generally very lo+ ?uality! ;%osition of Mir#ana MarkoviK8 very close to anti-+ar movement, and the third sector 9ie other &rbi#a-! &he +as e?ually radical critic of the +ar, populism, hate speach, nationalism and the like! Fith the beginning of the nineties she also advocated the promotion of ?uite similarvalues as +ell as the aforementioned groups 9modernization, internationalism, etc!!-, but sa+her model in the "ast, in .hina, not the Fest! 3he basis for this study is (ron#aGs master;s thesis! ;Muzicki video spot u &rbi#i Lih! "stetika filmskog #ezika kao nosilac znacen#a stla neofolk kulture1 More specifically, she said that dance borro+s its motives from )merica, Dermany and "ngland! ; )t least partly, that served as foundation for 62/ vision ! ;5< - (ron#a , p ! 2= ;5B - Fhenever in e+ Belgrade, that e7treme symbol of socialist madness called mass urbanization, my attention is dra+n to+ards the multitude of simple, irnprovised benches infront of monster building, usually occupied by one or more rannies +ith headscarfs ! 3his mega- sad picture tells us that these people, even after decades of living in ne+ circumstances never got used to ne+ customs and still try to preserve +hat they considered at least a simulation of normal life,for e7ample sitting in front of the house in the countryside , to meet and see the neighbors, ask them about their health, and +hen there is ccommunication , the security of familiarity !

H 1- Kvo je i!vanredno opisano u pes i grupe Zabranjenopusenje $Ibro dirka5$ Gesnia govorl o5nase rnalo lbri harrnonikasu5, i! nase rnahale koji tako dobro svira !a raju, all koga !li rnenad!eri odvuku naestradu i utope njegov retki talenat uestradnu industriju$ Meduti , poenta je da se on u to veliko svetu ne oseca dobro i pored svih velikih uspeha$ *a!resenje dola!i na kraju pesrne kada se, nosen nostalgijorn, Ibro vraca u nasu rnahalu da svira !a svoju raju jer 5rnahalu i sevdah Ibro nije ogao da!aboravi5

5= 3his is e7traordinary described in a poem of 4abran#eno pusen#e, M*bro plays1 ! 3he son is about 1ourrural lbro, accordion player1 from our MmahalaH +ho played so +ell for his people but the evil sho+ bizz managers dragged him and dro+ned his rare talent in the sho+ business industry ! ,o+ever, the point is that he does not feel good in that +orld spite of his great success! &o, finally the song ends +hen *bro, being nostalgic, comes back to his MmahalaH to play for his eople he +as not able to forget Mmahala and svdahH

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