sign in sign up
<<
Home , Aca Lukas, Azra, Balkan brass, Das ist Walter, Edo Maajka, Mile voli disko

Instructor: Dr. Vladislav Beronja [email protected]

REES 325/ EUS 347/ WGS 345: Punks & Divas in Southeastern : Popular Music and Cultural Identity in the

COURSE DESCRIPTION

“What kind of music do you listen to?” can be a loaded question. Based on your taste in music, others will invariably place you in a specific (sub)culture, class, lifestyle, and even speculate about your political commitments. Your taste in music can make or break a friendship, produce feelings of camaraderie as well as of repulsion. For some time now, scholars have viewed popular music as a dynamic cultural field, where various social meanings—attached to race, nationality, gender, and sexuality—are constantly being produced, contested, and negotiated among different communities of listeners. This insight into music as a crucial site of political struggle and collective identity formation will be the starting point in our analysis of popular music genres in the Balkans, a region of Europe that has undergone sweeping historical changes in the 20th and 21st centuries, including the fall of Communism and—in the case of former —the formation of seven new nation- states through a series of bloody and brutal wars. We will begin the class by examining the emergence of Western pop genres, such as punk and new wave rock, in late socialism (in the 1980s), which became associated with urban youth subcultures, sophisticated irony, and liberalization of the one-party state. From there, we will move to the analysis of “turbo-folk,” a curious mixture of contemporary electronic and traditional that became extremely popular in the 1990s, when the conflict in Yugoslavia was at its peak. Featuring extravagant and scandalous Balkan divas, roughly equivalent to Rihanna and Lady Gaga in the U.S., turbo-folk was (and still is) connected with nationalism, the new mafia elite, and general cultural decline. We will watch videos, examine arguments for and against turbo-folk, and try to pin down its political functions, cultural meanings, and recent transformations. We will end the class by examining new trends in Balkan popular music, such hip-hop and , and their relationship to recent protest movements, minority politics, and claims of cultural (in)authenticity. In addition to scholarly literature, we will make a substantial use of a class Tumblr blog, featuring music videos, song lyrics, links to other blogs, covers and other visual and audio materials, which will allow us to fully immerse

ourselves in different sounds, scenes, fashion styles, and communities we will be studying throughout this course.

Learning Objectives:

By examining the changes in the production and consumption of popular music in the Balkans, students will gain an understanding of larger historical shifts both in the region and on a more global scale. Additionally, students will refine their analytical and critical thinking skills by situating cultural objects in a dynamic historical and political context and by reflecting on the social effects and assumptions surrounding the consumption of popular music more generally. Our discussion of Balkan popular music will be guided by the following questions:

• How does popular music shape collective identities? • What is the role of popular music in large-scale social and political transformation? • How is popular music used as a medium of political mobilization by the state and civil actors? • How do musical tastes produce, reflect, and reinforce social differences and hierarchies? • Why are claims of cultural authenticity often attached to popular music? Who makes these claims and why? • How do different music genres function in different political and cultural contexts?

Grading:

10%-class participation and attendance* 10% map quiz of the Balkan countries/major historical events 25%-weekly discussion post (250 words or more)** 25%-take-home midterm exam (short essay format)*** 5%-abstract and outline of long essay or multimedia project 25%-one long essay (8-9 pages) or multimedia project

*Regular attendance is absolutely crucial if you want to fully and dynamically engage in this seminar. Missing one meeting means missing a large chunk of the narrative about the development of Balkan popular music against the backdrop of large-scale political and social changes that we are attempting to collectively construct and critically examine in this class. Missing more than three classes will put you at risk of failing this class altogether.

**During this class I will maintain a class Tumblr blog where I will post music videos, lyrics, and related links. Your grade will be based on weekly comments on the Canvas

Discussion Forum (minimum 350 words in length) related to the units we’re covering in class and referring either to the readings, the Tumblr materials, or both. ***The take home exam will be in the form of four argumentative and/or analytical essay questions. It will be due on March 9, on the last class session before spring break.

Grading Scale: Performance will be graded according to the following percentage standards:

A: 93-100% B: 83-86% C: 73-76% D: 63-66% A-: 90-92% B-: 80-82% C-: 70-72 F: 0-62% B+: 87-89 C+: 77-79 D+: 67-69

Other General Information: 1) Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-329- 3986 (Video Phone) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations. 2) I expect all students to abide by the UT honor code. http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/spot_honorcode.php 3) In particular, I take plagiarism VERY seriously. Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic integrity. In simplest terms, this occurs if you represent as your own work any material that was obtained from another source, regardless how or where you acquired it. 4) Please notify me in advance about absences due to religious holidays. You will not be penalized for doing so, but you will still be required to make up the missed class as outlines above.

* All guns must be concealed at all times in line with the Campus Concealed Carry legislation. If an/the instructor or student(s) sees any sign of a gun in class, the UT police will be called immediately per the UT implementation policy for the statute. * For responsibilities of concealed gun permit holders on campus, see UT’s information page: https://campuscarry.utexas.edu/students * Here is UT’s general information website about campus carry: https://campuscarry.utexas.edu/ * We have excluded guns from our offices as UT implementation policy allows. The first day of class we will provide oral notification of this. If you are a licensed to carry permit holder and wish to come to my office hours, you must either store your gun in your car or at home before you come to my office as required by UT policy or you may arrange with me to use Skype during office hours.

SCHEDULE WEEK 1

Jan 17: Introduction

Jan 19: Theorizing Popular Music I: Sounds, Aesthetics, Technologies

1. Simon Firth, “Toward a Popular Aesthetic” in Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Harvard UP, 1998) 2. Paul Théberge, “’Plugged in’: Technology and Popular Music” in Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge UP, 2001)

WEEK 2

Jan 24: Theorizing Popular Music II: Genres, Tastes, Communities

1. Jennifer C. Lena, “Music Genres” and “Government Purposed Genres” in Banding Together: How Communities Create Genres in Popular Music (Princeton UP, 2012). 2. Evan Kindley, “Love, Factionally” publicbooks.org

Jan 26: Histories: What was Yugoslavia and what came after?

1. Carole Rogel, The Breakup of Yugoslavia and its Aftermath, Greenwood Press, 2004, 1-55 2. Film: Whose Is This Song? (dir. Adela Peeva, 2003)

WEEK 3

Jan 31: Histories: Popular Music and “Balkanization”

1. Vesna Goldsworthy, “Invention and In(ter)vention: The Rhetoric of Balkanization” in Balkan as Metaphor, (MIT Press, 2002), 25-38. 2. In Class: Whose Is This Song? (dir. Adela Peeva, 2003)

Feb 2: Three Chords and an Attitude: Punk West/East I

1. Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Routledge, 1979. 73-84 2. Ellen Willis. “Beginning to See the Light” in Out of the Vinyl Deeps, (Minnesota UP, 2011), 148-157. 3. Patti Smith, Just Kids, Bloomsbury, 138-141 4. In class: QUIZ

WEEK 4

Feb 7: Three Chords and an Attitude: Punk West/East II

1. Sabrina P. Ramet, “ and Counterculture” in Social Currents in Eastern Europe (Duke UP, 1995) 2. , “We Will Rock YU” in Impossible Histories (MIT Press, 2001)

Feb 9: Punk Scene I: Darlings of the State: &

1. Reading: “Ex-Yugo Punk II” Maximum Rocknroll, July 2016 2. Film: Happy Child (dir. Igor Mirković, 2003) 3. : Paraf, Zastave (Banners, 1984); , Državni ljubimci (Darlings of the State, 1982)

WEEK 5

Feb 14: Punk Scene II: New Wave Ironists: &

1. Reading: Dejan Kršić, “Everybody Dance Now! – Album Cover Design 1979- 85” and “The Finest Hour of the Socialist State,” Mirko Ilic: Fist to Face 2. Albums: Paket Aranžman (Complete Package, 1981); , Sunčana strana ulice (Sunny Side of the Street, 1981); Prljavo Kazaliste, Crno-bijeli svijet (Black-and-White World, 1980) 1st Draft: Piece of Music Journalism Due

Feb 16: Punk Scene III: New Primitives:

1. Readings: Dalibor Mišina, Shake, Rattle and Roll: Yugoslav Rock Music and the Poetics of Social Critique, Ashgate, 2016, 151-191 2. Albums: , Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo (Spit and Sing my Yugoslavia, 1986); Zabranjeno pušenje; Das ist Walter (German: This is Walter, 1984)

WEEK 6

Feb 21: Punk Scene IV: Feminist and Queer Iterations

1. Ivan Kreil Kamp, “The Female Body of Punk,” publicbooks.org 2. Songs: Slađana Milošević, “Amsterdam,” 1979; Boye, “Dosta, Dosta, Dosta” (Enough! Enough! Enough!,” 1988); Xenia, “Moja prijateljica”(”My Girlfriend,” 1983); Borghesia, “On” / “He” and “Noćne šetnje”/ “Night Walks”(1985); Oliver Mandić, “Ljuljaj me nežno,” 1981; Au Pairs, “Equal but Different,” 1981; The Slits, “Typical Girls,” 1979; The Raincoats, “Only Loved at Night,”

Feb 23: Punk Scene V: (Anti-)Totalitarian Conceptualists:

1. Marina Grižnić, “Neue Slowenische Kunst” in in Impossible Histories (MIT Press, 2001)

2. Mikvlaž Komelj, “The Function of the Signifier “Totalitarian” in the East Art Field” in Retracing Images: Visual Culture After Yugoslavia, Brill, 2012 3. Songs: Laibach, “Opus Dei (Life is Life), 1987” “Across the Universe,” “Volk: America” 2006 Final Draft: Piece of Music Journalism Due

WEEK 7

Feb 28: Turbo-Folk I: “Soundtrack for Genocide”

1. Eric Gordy, “The Destruction of Musical Alternatives” in The Culture of Power in (2010), pp 103-165 2. Vice Documentary: “Around the Balkans in 20 Days” (Part 2/5) 3. Songs: “Disko Nindža” from The Fall of (1989); , “Jugoslavenka”/ “Yugoslavian Woman” and “Mile voli disko”/ “Mile likes disco” (1982); Ceca, “Kad bi bio ranjen” / “If You Were Wounded” and “Ime i prezime”/ “First and Last Name”; Jelena Karleuša, “Krimi Rad”

TAKE HOME EXAM DISTRIBUTED

Mar 2: Turbo-Folk II: Croatian Response

1. Catherine Baker, Sounds of the Borderland: Popular Music, War and Nationalism in since 1991, excerpts 2. Songs: E.T. “Tek je dvanaest sati” / “It’s only Midnight”; Hrvatski Band Aid, “My Homeland,” 1991; Kasandra, “I’ve got a Feeling,”1995; Prljavo Kazalište, “Lupi petama” (Stomp your heels, 1993)

WEEK 8

Mar 7: Film Screening: Srđan Dragojević, The Wounds, 1998

1. Rory Archer, “Assessing Turbofolk Controversies: Popular Music between the Nation and the Balkans,” Southeastern Europe 36 (2012) 178–207

Mar 9: Turbo-Folk III: Injunction to Enjoy!

1. Slavoj Žižek, “Repressive Desublimation” from Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Woman and Causality (Verso, 1994) 2. Uroš Čvoro, Turbo-folk Music and Cultural Representations of National Identity in Former Yugoslavia, Routledge, 2014, 1-29 3. Songs: Ivan Gavrilović, “Dvesto na sat”/ “Two Hundred km per Hour”; Viki “Kokakola, Malboro, Suzuki”/ “Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Suzuki”; Mile Kitić, Šampanjac/Champagne, 2006; Ivana Salekov and , “Omaklo mi se”/ “It slipped from my grasp”; Tamara Obrovac feat , “Turbo funk”

TAKE HOME EXAM DUE

March 13-18: SPRING BREAK

WEEK 9

Mar 21: Turbo-Folk IV: The Body of the Diva

1. Zala Volčić and Carmen Erjavec, “Constructing Transnational Divas: Gender Production of Balkan Turbo-folk Music” in Circuits of Visibility: Gender and Transnational Media Cultures, 35-53. 2. Dijana Jelača, “Feminine Libidinal Entrepreneurship: Towards a Reparative Reading of sponzoruša in Turbo-Folk” in Feminist Media Studies, Vol 15, 2015 3. Songs: Severina, “Gas,”; Severina and Sajsi MC, “Silikoni”/”Silicones”; Jelena Karleuša, “Insomnia”; clip from “Man is Not a Bird” (dir. Dušan Makavejev, 1965)

Mar 23: Turbo-Folk V: Queerest Music in the World

1. eurovicious, “Queer as Turbo-folk” I-IV balkanist.net 2. Brett Farmer, “The Fabulous Sublimity of Gay Diva Worship,” Camera Obscura 01/2005, Volume XX, Issue 59, 165-195 WEEK 10

Mar 28: Digital Projects Discussion; Guest Speaker: Ian Goodale, REES Librarian Mar 30: Film Screening: Maja Miloš, Clip, 2012

WEEK 11 April 4: Balkan & Dub Step I: Definitions & Problems 1. Tricia Rose, “A Style Nobody Can Deal With: Politics, Style and the Post- Industrial City in Hip Hop” 2. Marina Terkoufari, “Introduction: A Fresh Look at Some Old Questions” in The Languages of Global Hip Hop 3. Songs: Master Scratch Band, “Computer Break,” 1984

April 6: Balkan Hip Hop & Dub Step I: It’s Burning

1. Vildana Muratovic, “Tupac in Sarajevo: The Rise of Rebellion Rap in Eastern Europe” 2. Artists: , Frenki, Dubioza Kolktiv, Blackout Project; Beogradski Sindikat

3.

WEEK 12

April 11: Balkan Hip Hop & Dub Step II: Antifascist Bi*ches

1. Gwendolyn D. Pough, “Bringing Wreck: Theorizing Rap, Race, Gender, and Public Sphere” in Check it While I Wreck it: Black Womanhood, Hip-hop Culture, and the Public Sphere, Northeastern UP, 2004 2. Artists: Sajsi MC, Sassja, Remi, Damjan Loš

April 13: Balkan Brass & Roma Music

1. Carol Silverman, “ as ” from Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and in Diaspora (Oxford UP, 2012) 2. Dorian Lynsky, “There is No Such Thing as Gypsy Music,” The Guardian (Nov 23 2006) 3. Artists: Boban Marković Orkestar, Taraf de Haïdouks, Goran Bregović, Beirut, New Cheers Brigade

WEEK 13

April 18: Workshop Digital Projects/Papers

April 20: Film Screening: , , 1988

WEEK 14

April 25: Guest Speaker & Readings TBA

April 27: Branding the Balkans

1. Joseph Kotarba et al, “Globalization and Social Change” from Understanding Society Through Popular Music (Rutledge, 2013) 2. Branislava (Brana) Mijatović, “The Musical (Re)branding of Serbia: Sounds Global, Guca, and ” in Branding Post-Communist Nations, 2012

WEEK 15

May 2: Balkan Sound

May 4: LAST DAY OF CLASS: Presentations of Digital Projects FINAL PROJECTS DUE