Popular Music and Narratives of Identity in Croatia Since 1991
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Popular music and narratives of identity in Croatia since 1991 Catherine Baker UCL I, Catherine Baker, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated / the thesis. UMI Number: U592565 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592565 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 Abstract This thesis employs historical, literary and anthropological methods to show how narratives of identity have been expressed in Croatia since 1991 (when Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia) through popular music and through talking about popular music. Since the beginning of the war in Croatia (1991-95) when the state media stimulated the production of popular music conveying appropriate narratives of national identity, Croatian popular music has been a site for the articulation of explicit national narratives of identity. The practice has continued into the present day, reflecting political and social change in Croatia (e.g. the growth of the war veterans lobby and protests against the Hague Tribunal). The cultural boundaries o f the nation were also subject to contestation and challenge according to symbolic value judgements of what was and was not considered ‘Croatian’. Various aspects of popular music (e.g. instruments, vocal styles) were constructed as symbols of inclusion and exclusion in this discourse, and several attempts were made by professional interest groups to promote certain genres as a basis for a national style of popular music. The nationalisation of cultural space also entailed the marginalisation of music/musicians from other ex-Yugoslav republics (especially Serbia) with ethno-nationally ambiguous connotations. An examination of what have become transnational cultural flows shows the continued interdependence of the ex-Yugoslav states and markets. The thesis combines analysis of Croatian press sources and song lyrics themselves with ethnographic material drawn from 35 weeks of fieldwork in Zagreb and Slavonia. Interviews and participant observation of musical events are used to analyse the importance o f music in narrating individual as well as collective identity. 3 Contents 1 Introduction and literature review..........................................................................................5 1.1 Background..........................................................................................................................5 1.2 Methodology........................................................................................................................7 1.3 Popular music in south-east Europe............................................................................ 10 1.4 Popular culture................................................................................................................. 21 1.5 The nation and identity...................................................................................................29 1.6 Research questions ..........................................................................................................38 2 Music and nationalism, 1991—2000...................................................................................... 41 2.1 Music and the media during the Homeland War...................................................... 43 2.2 Themes in wartime music...............................................................................................51 2.3 Stardom and the war.......................................................................................................63 2.4 Post-war popular music and the nation.......................................................................70 2.5 Remembering the nineties through music................................................................. 77 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 80 3 The cultural politics of music, 1991—99..............................................................................82 3.1 The tamburica movement.............................................................................................83 3.2 Contested musical narratives.........................................................................................99 3.3 Symbolic value-judgements......................................................................................... 107 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 114 4 Music and nationalism after 2000...................................................................................... 117 4.1 Music and the veterans’ protests................................................................................ 118 4.2 Folk, urbanity and Thompson............................................................................. 125 4.3 Nationalism, extremism and the N D H .....................................................................127 4.4 Popular music and the Hague Tribunal protests..................................................... 134 4.5 Marketing patriotic showbusiness.............................................................................. 144 4.6 Centre or extreme: Marko Perkovic Thompson, 2006-07 .....................................149 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................157 5 The cultural politics o f music after 2000 .......................................................................... 160 5.1 Political change and the music infrastructure.......................................................... 161 5.2 Cultural boundaries and folk........................................................................................165 5.3 Music and personal identity..........................................................................................175 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 183 4 6 The nation in context ............................................................................................................ 187 6.1 Post-Yugoslav cultural space: disintegration and reintegration........................... 188 6.2 Music, memory and ambiguity....................................................................................203 6.3 Transnational cultural flows........................................................................................ 210 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 219 7 Audience membership..........................................................................................................222 7.1 The waterpolo celebration........................................................................................... 223 7.2 Thompson’s Maksimir concert...................................................................................227 7.3 Zagrebacki orkestar.......................................................................................................234 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 237 8 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 240 References.................................................................................................................................. 245 Appendix 1: Playlist.............................................................................................................245 Appendix 2: List of abbreviations....................................................................................247 Primary sources....................................................................................................................249 Secondary literature............................................................................................................. 263 5 1 1ntroduction and literature review 1.1 Background This thesis explores how narratives of identity were proposed and contested through popular music, and with reference to popular music, in Croatia between 1991 (when Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia) and 2008. During this period Croatia experienced serious political, social, cultural and economic upheaval, most seriously because of the 1991—95 war. In summer 1991 the escalating tensions in the relationship between Croatia, Serbia and Croatian Serbs in Krajina and eastern Slavonia developed into war, and they were further complicated by Croatian involvement in the war in Bosnia (1992—95). The war in Croatia (the ‘Homeland War’) officially ended in August 1995 after two Croatian Army operations