Who’s Singing over There? Transnationalism in Post-Yugoslav Popular Music and Its Boundaries

The paper examines transnational relations between the states-former  Yugoslav republics established through the medium of popular music from 2000 to the present. Drawing on examples from Serbia and Croatia, the paper shows how transnational music stars (e.g. Đorđe Balašević, Momčilo Bajaga Bajagić...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEtnoantropolos̆ki problemi Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 117 - 143
Main Author Mitrović, Marijana
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Belgrade 10.12.2009
Subjects
boundaries
Croatia
former Yugoslavia
popular music
Serbia
transnationalism
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Summary:The paper examines transnational relations between the states-former  Yugoslav republics established through the medium of popular music from 2000 to the present. Drawing on examples from Serbia and Croatia, the paper shows how transnational music stars (e.g. Đorđe Balašević, Momčilo Bajaga Bajagić or Ceca Ražnatović) are seen as symbolic reference points of national ethnopolitical discourse having a constitutive role in processes of identity construction. "Turbo-Folk" musicians from Serbia have also had a symbolic function in both countries, since in Croatia they have represented a cultural resource that enabled distancing from the music genre associated by many urban Croats with the ruralization (and so-called Herzegovinization) of Croatian urban centers. In addition, a study of value judgments about Serbian and Croatian pseudofolk-pop music provides insight into the transnational negotiation of conflicting identities within the ex-Yugoslav context. Finally, the paper shows how ethnonational boundaries drawn by nationalizing ideologies created separate cultural spheres, which have been transnationalized following the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
ISSN:0353-1589
2334-8801
DOI:10.21301/eap.v4i3.7