/ 1968
/ 1968
MUSIC VIDEOS IN SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA AND POST-SOCIALIST SERBIA
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAThis paper outlines the historical origins and contextual specificities of the development of music videos as a specific media form accompanying the ups and downs of the popular music industry in the socialist Yugoslavia and Serbia as one of its successor states – from the socialist system of workers’ self-management to the (postwar) neo-liberal capitalist economy. The focus of this paper is on the strategies for promotion of music products (and performers) and the fusion between music and advertising industries in the period of transitional restructuring of economy in general and the music industry in particular. In the socialist 1980s, music videos in Serbia were predominantly produced by the relatively inflexible system of public television broadcasters, who only exceptionally used music videos for promoting commercial products. This situation notably changed in the early 1990s with the rapid deregulation of the media system and Serbia’s entry into the “full-fledged” market economy. For the newly launched TV broadcasters music videos soon became a popular (and inexpensive) segment of airplay. At the same time, they began to serve their “original” purpose – advertising new music releases and talents. Nevertheless, in the chaotic circumstances of Serbia’s war-time economy, UN sanctions, spiraling of inflation, mass impoverishment, unemployment and other symptoms of economic crisis, advertising per se had questionable commercial effects. This largely holds true for commercial effects of music videos. Due to the global developments in the media systems (emergence of the Internet as a prime medium for broadcasting music videos), their TV airplay is diminishing and standards of their technical production are rapidly rising, along with audiences’ expectations. This makes music videos (at the same time) more expensive and less economically viable. The logic behind the fusion of music videos and “traditional” TV commercials reflects the chaotic circumstances in the music industry, as well as the Serbian economy in general.
/ 1968
RUSSIAN STYLE ROOM
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAThis paper was composed as an attempt to uncover the influence of the Russian immigrants, known as reliable connoisseurs of antiques, on the formation of the Sekulić Collection of Icons. This collection represents one of the most significant collections of icons in Belgrade. The icons, among other pieces of art, were collected by the architect Milan Sekulić and his wife Pava over 40 years. Art collecting is a phenomenon that was significantly developed under the influence of the Russian immigrants, but this topic was never fully researched. The practice of art collecting is always a reflection of a general taste of the society. The aim to analyse the unpublished material from the Collection of Fine Arts and Music before 1950 of the Belgrade City Museum will shed some light on the influence of Russian immigrants on the formation of public and private tastes in arts and culture in Yugoslavia, between WW1 and WW2, which also affected their preparation and presentation in the Sekulić family residence. The revival of national thought caused the Byzantine art to become the appropriate expression of the Serbian ethnicity roots, thus functioning as a medium of a collective self-representation in the period between the two global wars. Serbian culture owes a significant part of this process to Russian culture. Due to this influence, Milan Sekulić decorated one of the main chambers in his residence following traditional Russian interior design and adorning it mainly with Russian icons dating from the 18th and 19th centuries that evoked the spirit of the Russian culture.
/ 1968
MUSIC ELEMENTS IN SONGS, BALLADS, POEMS AND DRAMAS BY LAZA KOSTIĆ
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAIn this essay, the author is presenting and explaining elements of music art found in Kostić’s literary work, such as poems, ballads and dramas. It argues that he depicted singing and dancing as part of the desired atmosphere symbolic of the crossover of music art into the natural phenomena and used technical music expressions in his poetic narrative. The basic goal of the paper is to determine and classify music elements in Laza Kostić’s literary discourse, i.e. the manners in which the poet has used them. The author describes the function of using musical elements as dramatizations of the poetic text and its tragedies. Using musical elements in an original way, Kostić has emphasized patriotic themes in his epic narratives, as well as romantic theme in the lyrics of songs, poems and dramas. It can be concluded that Kostić has had a great knowledge of the art of drama, and that he has used the knowledge of drama techniques throughout his literary oeuvre.
/ 1968
MUSIC FESTIVALS AS A REFLECTION OF CULTURAL POLICY DURING THE COLD WAR
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAThis paper examines the influence of political changes on the cultural life in Poland and Yugoslavia from the 1950s to the early 1960s. After a period of socialist realism (as the main art orientation), the tendency toward liberalization of culture started in both countries. In the domain of organizing musical life, such tendencies reflected in establishing of international festivals of contemporary music. The Warsaw Autumn (1956) and the Zagreb Music Biennale (1961) were places where composers from both sides of the Iron Curtain have presented their works. Analogies between these festivals are evident, given the fact that the Polish festival was founded five years earlier and served as a model for establishment of the Zagreb Music Biennale. First of all, the Warsaw Autumn and the Zagreb Music Biennale have shown similar problems in regard to the music repertoire. In addition, the similarities between these festivals are recognized based on the main objectives of both festivals organizers which implied aspiration for incorporation of Polish and Yugoslav music culture into the contemporary tendencies of Western Europe. It was a crucial strategy of the Warsaw Autumn, as well as of the Zagreb Music Biennale, whose purposes were about contributing to the liberalization of both Polish and Yugoslav culture. Therefore, this study has found that these festivals, although perceived as a departure from political ideologization of music, continued to promote modified political aims referring to presentation of Poland and Yugoslavia as liberal countries.
/ 1968
WOMEN’S LITERARY EXPERIMENT OF BODY KINTSUGI BY SENKA MARIĆ
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAKintsugi is an ancient Japanese art form of “golden repairing” of broken ceramic pottery by using beautiful seams of gold or platinum. The essence of kintsugi is to visibly incorporate the damage into the aesthetic of the restored art piece instead of disguising it, so as to recognize the history of the object. The process usually results in a masterpiece more beautiful than the original. Senka Marić, a contemporary Bosnian and Herzegovinian poetess and writer, has used the art of kintsugi in a women’s literary experiment to create her 2018 novel Body Kintsugi, based on her own breast cancer experience. Accordingly, this paper analyses the poetic art of precious scars in Senka Marić’s novel Body Kintsugi.
/ 1968
NEW MUSEUM FACING OLD DILEMMAS
/in Studies /by Kcs21blAAThe term ‘new museum’ came into use at the end of the 20th century, followed by ‘new museology’ which referred to questioning the very foundations of the traditional museums. In the concept of the new museum, its suggested social-political role placed museum professionals before new challenges, first programme-wise, by changing the focus from the artifact to the person, i.e. by creating museum content. This paper presents the concept of the new museum first through a prism of its basic concepts, and then through the prism of concepts contained in the ICOM publication. Although this publication recognizes the critical tones in advocating for the revision of the museum, we notice considerable reservations as a reflection of the museum institution crisis.
/ 1968
TRANSLATING THE TERM REAL AND ITS USE IN RAP MUSIC
/in Hip-Hop /by Kcs21blAAThe primary goal of this paper is the solution of the problem of translating the term real from English to Serbian when it is used in Hip-Hop culture. The paper describes the roadmap of the process of finding the adequate word in Serbian for the term ”real” – the term ”прави”. The secondary goal of this paper is the improvement of the communication among members of the Hip-Hop community by offering an argumented recommendation for the use of the term ”real”/”прави” in Rap music. The conditions for the usage of this term are given from both theoretical and historical perspectives, as well as the argument for the advantages of interpreting the term ”real”/”прави” as synonymous to the term ”hardcore” when used in reference to Rap music, lyrics and artists.
/ 1968
SAMPLING OF TRADITION
/in Hip-Hop /by Kcs21blAASerbian hip-hop scene rose during the nineties and quickly blossomed into several historical, stylistic and ideological orientations, sometimes seen as “waves” in popular, emic discourse of hip-hop fans. Its grasp over the concept of authenticity mostly deals with the construction of an imagined, localized “ghetto”, ranging from urban neighborhoods of Belgrade to an idea of neoliberal Serbia as ghettoized state and cultural territory where various forms of resistance take place. In the present dispersion of the scene, discourse on ethnicity (and locality) can be pinpointed as an important, albeit not overtly dominant axis of Serbian hip-hop, that yet steadily gains recognition. This reach towards ethnicity initially was propagated by the members of rap collectives such as Belgrade-based Beogradski sindikat, and in recent years followed by other hip-hop performers as well. Although the idea of national culture thus became visible in overall discourse of hip-hop community, the use of particular local, “ethnic” sounds, motives and manners wasn’t so common for rap songs. However, this has been changing recently, as so-called “ethno” music consisting of neotraditional or popularized local traditional music forms, became a source for rap music’s current endeavor to propose a viable alternative to dominant political and cultural discourses – both dominant ones and those within rap. Serbian hip-hop performers use ethnic music as a clear indexical sign pointing toward the authenticity and historicity of traditional music, and thus attempt to add a “flavor” or a local rendition to globalized, popular and common rap tropes and sounds. The songs “Next year in Prizren” by group Beogradski sindikat and Nikac od Rovina by rapper RIZBOw SENSEI can be taken as separate case studies that indicate how Serbian rap music utilizes sounds labeled as ethnic, as well as the forms of cooperation with hip-hop ‘outsiders’, in order to promote a powerful call of interpellation possibly reaching beyond the community of ‘hip-hop nation’.
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