Contemporary urban folk music in the Balkans: Possibilities for regional music history
Starting with Maria Todorova’s landmark study Imagining the Balkans (Todorova 1997), numerous authors have raised their voices against stereotypical images of the Balkans. Over twenty years after the publication of this book, the term “the Balkans” seems to have lost some of its negative co...
| Published in: | Muzikologija |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Institute of Musicology of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
2018-01-01
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-9814/2018/1450-98141825091D.pdf |
| Summary: | Starting with Maria Todorova’s landmark study Imagining the Balkans (Todorova
1997), numerous authors have raised their voices against stereotypical
images of the Balkans. Over twenty years after the publication of this book,
the term “the Balkans” seems to have lost some of its negative connotations
related to wars in favour of characteristics with positive overtones, such
as the Balkan peoples’ joie-de-vivre and entertainment strongly related to
music. The areal ethnomusicology drawing from fieldwork throughout the
Balkan peninsula has been a fruitful topic for numerous local and foreign
ethnomusicologists and the very term “the Balkans” has raised a special
interest in the ethnomusicological research of “outsiders”, as well as in
the music industry. This paper is written from the perspective of an
“insider” ethnomusicologist from the Balkans. I raise the question of the
definition of the “Balkan” popular music label and discuss its main
structural characteristics. I offer a new possibility of (re)considering a
specific musical genre of the region based on the research of urban folk
music practices. I present characteristics of urban folk music practices
from the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth
century in the countries of the Balkans, with special attention paid to
their common aspects. Also, contemporary urban folk music, which is often
criticized as a specific popular music form, is considered. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177004: Serbian Musical Identities between Local and Global Frameworks: Traditions, Changes, Challenges] |
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| ISSN: | 1450-9814 2406-0976 |