Staging Socialist Femininity Balkan Studies Library

Editor-in-Chief Zoran Milutinović, University College London

Editorial Board Gordon N. Bardos, Columbia University Alex Drace-Francis, University of Liverpool Jasna Dragović-Soso, Goldsmiths, University of London Christian Voss, Humboldt University, Berlin

Advisory Board Marie-Janine Calic, University of Munich Lenard J. Cohen, Simon Fraser University Radmila Gorup, Columbia University Robert M. Hayden, University of Pittsburgh Robert Hodel, Hamburg University Anna Krasteva, New Bulgarian University Galin Tihanov, The University of Manchester Maria Todorova, University of Illinois Andrew Wachtel, Northwestern University

VOLUME 1 Staging Socialist Femininity

Gender Politics and Folklore Performance in Serbia

By Ana Hofman

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 On the cover: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1987.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hofman, Ana. Staging socialist femininity : gender politics and folklore performance in Serbia / by Ana Hofman. p. cm. — (Balkan studies library, 1877–6272 ; 1) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-90-04-19179-2 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Music—Social aspects—Serbia. 2. Feminism and music—Serbia. 3. Politics and culture—Serbia. 4. Serbia—Social life and customs. I. Title. ML3917.S4H64 2010 781.62’91820082—dc22 2010036409

ISSN 1877-6272 ISBN 978 90 04 19179 2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgements ...... vii Abbreviations ...... xi List of Music Examples ...... xiii List of Audio and Video Examples on CD ...... xv List of Photographs ...... xvii List of Figures ...... xix

Introduction ...... 1

Chapter One Gender Performance in Southeastern Serbia ...... 7 Concepts of Femininity in Rural Serbia ...... 7 Portraits of the Female Singers ...... 12 Performing Femininity ...... 17

Chapter Two Village Gatherings: The Politics of Representation ...... 35 Creating the New Folk Culture ...... 35 The Ambiguity of Cultural Policy ...... 38 Village Gatherings in the Official Discourses ...... 45 Village Gatherings in the Personal Narratives ...... 54

Chapter Three Repertoire ...... 65 Official Music and Local Taste ...... 65 Indirect Intervention in the Repertoire ...... 69 Direct Intervention in the Repertoire ...... 73 Transgressing Gender Roles? ...... 78 vi contents

Chapter Four Singing Exclusion ...... 85 State Feminism ...... 85 Gender and Body Politics in Niško Polje ...... 89 Overstepping the Boundaries ...... 94 Dangerous Profession ...... 97 Stage Performance as Performative Negotiation ...... 100 New Concepts of Identity, Subjectivity and Self-Representation ...... 103

Concluding Remarks ...... 111

References ...... 115 Appendix One List of Villages and Interlocutors ...... 123 Appendix Two The Constitution of the Competition of Serbian Villages ...... 125 Pravilnik Takmičenja sela Srbije ...... 127 Pravilnik o radu ocenjivačkih komisija Takmičenja sela Srbije ...... 135 Appendix Three Villages – Winners at Republic Level ...... 141 Appendix Four The Programme of Donja Studena and Gornja Studena Villages (1994) ...... 143

Index ...... 145 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The initial idea for this book came from the results of the project ‘Research and Presentation of the Traditional Music and Dance Heritage of the Niš Area.’ The study was supported by financial aid from the city of Niš and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. The first phase of the fieldwork was carried out by a research team from the Centre for Balkan Music Research in Belgrade, which consisted of ethnomusicologists and students of ethnomusicology. Systematized materials were transcribed and resulted in the book, The Vocal Musi- cal Tradition of the Niš area, published by the Centre for Balkan Music Research in 2005 (Hofman and Marković 2005). I embarked on my personal fieldwork one year later, shifting my focus to elderly rural women, to reflect my fascination with the drastic change in their lifestyle over the past sixty years. In contrast to the initial project, my individual fieldwork was carried out in a more informal way. It became a long-term research project, consisting of many short-term trips over a period of two years (from February 2005 through to March 2007). A specific aspect of this fieldwork was the fact that my family lives in the city of Niš and that relatives, neighbors and family friends strongly supported my work. They introduced me to their relatives and friends who were active within the amateur groups from the Niško Polje villages. In addition, at the time I was working as an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Niš, and many of my students also contributed to this project by putting me in touch with their grandparents and their friends. While collecting the data, I also consulted resources from the Archive of Yugoslavia, written resources on the Village Gatherings (Susreti sela) and other state sponsored cultural events that were organized in this area during the socialist period, using personal archives of the participants and organizers, local newspapers and magazines. Systematized documentation and video recordings of Village Gatherings consisted of just a few recordings of the stage performances made by a local TV station, participants, and their relatives, which made work on this project more difficult. viii preface and acknowledgements

Since my relatives, friends and students were often indirectly involved in the research, I was presented as a cousin or a friend, which meant the relationship between my interlocutors and myself was closer and more intimate. Therefore, the present work has been created together with the people involved in the research, who have actively participated as collaborators and as co-authors of the project. I express deep appre- ciation to all of those involved in the research who made this work possible. Their warmth and openness inspired me both as a scholar and as a woman. I thank Aleksandra Marković, Iva Tarabić and Jelena Jelić, my colleagues who participated in the completion of the initial fieldwork and the systematization of the material. My gratitude goes to all the people who helped with the fieldwork: Milica Veljković from Niš, Dragiša Stojanović from Donja Studena village, Slaviša Mihajlović and Saša Milojković from Prosek village, Dragan Todorović from Vuk- manovo village, and Bata Belević from Niška Banja who kindly allowed me to use his personal video recordings. Most of the manuscript is a revised version of my doctoral dissertation, while the final draft of the book was completed during my postdoctoral Robert Bosch Regional Fellowship. I greatly appreciate the support of my dissertation advisers, Svanibor Pettan (Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana) and Mirjam Milharčič-Hladnik (Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana), for their encouraging suggestions and significant contribution to this work. I am very grateful to the dissertation committee members – Oto Luthar (Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana), coordinator of my study program, for all his support during my studies and Jane Sugarman (Graduate Center of The City University of New York), who enthusiastically agreed to be a committee member even though her schedule was already full of obligations. I am extremely grateful for the array of grants and fellowships awarded to me while working on the book. I am particularly obliged to the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts for awarding me a full scholarship for my doctoral studies, and the bilateral fellowship of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Slovenia in the period from December 2005 to June 2006; the Wenner-Gren Foundation of New York for granting me a Library Residency Fellowship in 2005; and the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center at the University of Illinois, which enabled me to participate in the 2006 Illinois Summer Research Laboratory and the Balkan Studies Workshop at the Univer- preface and acknowledgements ix sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago, and the libraries of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley. I am grateful to Philip Bohlman, my mentor during the fellowship at the Music Department of the University of Chicago, and the Petković family, my hosts and dear friends from Chicago. I also appreciate the resources offered to me by the New Europe College in Bucharest, Romania and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. I am very thankful to Naila Ceribašić, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb for insightful comments on an earlier version of Chapter Two of the book; my dear colleague Tanja Petrović for suggestions, conversations and comments on issues that have arisen in this work, but also for being my close friend and a strong support during my student life in Ljubljana; Martin Pogačar for inspiring talks; Dean Vuletić and Emira Ibrahimpašić for help in editing and improving my English; Marijana Đukić and Dejana Đurđević who helped in the editing process; Anita Knezy for technical support and Teja Komel for her patience, collegiality and administrative assistance. Special thanks go to the Editor-in-Chief for Balkan Studies Series in Brill publishing, Zoran Milutinović (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London), for his patient read- ing and critical and thoughtful eye, Ivo Romain, Editor for Slavic and Eurasian Studies Publishing Program for technical support, and to the anonymous Brill reviewer for constructive and inspiring suggestions for revision of the manuscript. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my family and particularly to my mother Svetlana, who was involved in the research from the very beginning. Special thanks go to Danilo, who understood what this research meant to me and gave silent support throughout the project.

ABBREVIATIONS

AGITPROP Komisija za školstvo Uprave za propagandu i agitaciju Centralnog komiteta SKJ or the Commission for Educa- tion of the Department for Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia AFŽ Antifašistički front žena Jugoslavije or the Anti-Fascist Women’s Front of Yugoslavia KPJ Komunistička partija Jugoslavije or the Communist Party of Yugoslavia KPZ Kulturno-prosvetna zajednica or the Cultural-Educational Association KUD Kulturno-umetničko društvo or the Cultural-Artistic Society SIZ Samoupravna interesna zajednica or the Self-governing Interest Society SKJ Savez komunista Jugoslavije or the League of Communists of Yugoslavia SSRNJ Socijalistički savez radnog naroda Jugoslavije or the Social- ist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia

LIST OF MUSIC EXAMPLES

Music example 1: Lazarica song, Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village (track 1) ...... 22 Music example 2: Kraljica song ‘on the road,’ Ruža Zdravković, Rujnik village ...... 26 Music example 3: Kraljica song ‘to bees,’ Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village (track 2) ...... 28 Music example 4: Đurđevdan song, Radica Zlatanović and Petrija Vučković, Gornja Studena village (track 3) ...... 29 Music example 5: Đurđevdan song, Svetlana Makarić, Jelašnica village ...... 30 Music example 6: Sedenjka song, Jagodinka Mitrović, Rujnik village ...... 32 Music example 7: Zapevala čobanica mlada, Miroslava Jovanović, Malča village ...... 72 Music example 8: Sedenjka song, Donja Studena village (track 4) ...... 75 Music example 9: Sedenjka song, Savka Milanović, Olga Stanković, Donja Studena village (track 5) ...... 75 Music example 10: Sedenjka song, Miroslava Jovanović, Malča village ...... 76 Music example 11: Ballad, Jelena Mitrović, Malča village ...... 77 Music example 12: Duet by Ljiljana and Sava Radonjić, Prosek village (track 6) ...... 78

LIST OF AUDIO AND VIDEO EXAMPLES ON CD

Track 1: Lazarica song, Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village Track 2: Kraljica song ‘to bees,’ Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village Track 3: Đurđevdan song, Radica Zlatanović and Petrija Vučković, Gornja Studena village Track 4: Sedenjka song, Donja Studena village Track 5: Sedenjka song, Savka Milanović, Olga Stanković, Donja Studena village Track 6: Duet by Ljiljana and Sava Radonjić, Prosek village

Video example 1: The Village Gatherings in Komren village, welcome party (1995) Video example 2: The Village Gatherings in Komren village, stage performances of Young folklore group and farewall song (1995)

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Photograph 1: Kraljice group from Lužnica, 1939/40 ...... 25 Photograph 2: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1983 ...... 48 Photograph 3: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1987 ...... 49 Photograph 4: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1987 ...... 51 Photograph 5: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1990 ...... 53 Photograph 6: The Krstonoše custom, Prosek village (1990s) .... 55 Photograph 7: Dance in front of the House of Culture in Trupale village, Village Gatherings, 1987 ...... 58 Photograph 8: KUD Vukmanovo, from Vukmanovo village at the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb, 1982 ...... 61 Photograph 9: Enactment of the sedenjka, Trupale village, 1990 ...... 67 Photograph 10: Folklore group from Prosek village at the Village Gatherings, 1978 ...... 71 Photograph 11: Duet by Srbijanka Stojanović and Miodrag Tasić, Jelašnica village, 1992 ...... 79 Photograph 12: The performance of two schoolgirl instrumentalists, Trupale village, 1983 ...... 81 Photograph 13: Thelejka ’s orchestra, Jelašnica village, 1992 ...... 81 Photograph 14: Women from the Mitić family, Kamenica village, 1944 ...... 91 Photograph 15: Enactment of the custom of Đurđevdan, Trupale village, 1990 ...... 93 Photograph 16: Vocal group from Trupale village, Village Gatherings, 1990 ...... 101 Photograph 17: Trupale village vocal group before the trip to Macedonia ...... 106 Photograph 18: KUD Vukmanovo in Zagreb, after the performance at the International Folklore Festival, 1982 ...... 108

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Map of Serbia ...... xx Figure 2: Map of Niško Polje ...... xxi Figure 3: The position of singers and dancers in thelazarica group ...... 22 Figure 4: The position of singers and dancers in thekraljica group ...... 26 Figure 5: Population statistics in the Niško Polje villages ...... 46 Figure 6: Changes in the textual structure ...... 73 Figure 7: Tonal structure of drone and syllabic drone singing style ...... 74 Figure 8: Female board members and female leaders of Syndicates of agricultural, food and tobacco workers – statistics from 1964 ...... 87 Figure 1: Map of Serbia Figure 2: Map of Niško Polje

INTRODUCTION

Around ten in the morning, the man from the village office (mesna kancelarija) called all the women to come immediately. They called us to go to the Village Gatherings. They told us that when we performed in Topola, people were amazed since they had not heard such songs before. The people were completely stunned, and they wanted us to perform again. This was how Ilinka Despotović from the village of Trupale near Niš began her story about the activities of an amateur vocal group. She and her friends, she said, were known for having the most beautiful voices – not only in the village, but also in the wider vicinity. She wistfully recollected their most striking performances and the most enjoyable tours. During the short breaks in our conversation, she proudly showed me the photographs of and press clippings about their performances. One photograph showed six smiling women dressed in folk costumes, with the obligatory scarf and peasant footwear (opanci), accompanied by seven men, standing in front of the bus before their trip to Mace- donia for the Balkan Festival of Folklore Heritage. This was the group that won the regional competitions in 1988 and 1989 and performed on the national TV show portraying village life called Znanje imanje.1 Ilinka’s story was a recollection of their most successful performances, the most beautiful songs, and many unforgettable experiences. This book presents the stories of women who were active in the amateur vocal groups in their villages from the beginning of the 1970s to the mid-1990s. Their stage performances at socialist cultural events, which were an important element in creating socialist femininity in a public arena, introduced new patterns of gender representation into the rural areas of southeastern Serbia. The female singers’ experiences of socialist gender politics reflect the dynamic relationship between the official discourse of gender and its everyday performance. Their accounts subvert the boundaries between the ‘authoritarian socialist state center’ and ‘local practices,’ transgressing the binaries usually present in thinking about socialism, such as official/unofficial, public/

1 This show, dedicated to farmers and the rural population in general, was widerly popular in the former Yugoslavia during 1970s and 1980s. A host village welcomed a village from another area (usually another Yugoslav Republic). 2 introduction private, ideology/practice. By telling their story (or more accurately stories), this book reveals the complex and contradictory experiences of socialism. It seeks to understand the ways in which people experienced social upheavals and transformations in their own lives and attempts to show the interplay of ideology, discourse and practice as reflected at the level of personal experience. Studies addressing gender politics in socialist societies generally aim to assess the success of the socialist policy of gender equality and determine the extent of socialism’s failure (see Ramet 1999b: 105). The most common claim is that, despite the formal rights they obtained, women remained subordinate.2 Scholars describe the ideology of equality as just “a thin layer over almost untouched patriarchy which did not correspond to social reality” (Duhaček 1993: 136). Katherine Verdery maintains that the socialist state had the position of a ‘par- ent-state,’ or ‘paternalistic state,’ transmitting patriarchal gender roles from the nuclear family to public discourse (Verdery 1996: 64). This so-called ‘socialist patriarchy’ was seen as an unsuccessful attempt to improve the position of women. Various studies of Yugoslavia argue that, despite the evident progress that women made under socialism, the results were disappointing, since the system only reasserted gender inequality, albeit ‘at a higher level’ (Magaš 1999: 279). My main goal in writing this book is not to prove or disprove a discrepancy between the official socialist narrative and local practices.3 Nor is it my intention to simply subvert the binaries present in the dominant scholarly narratives about socialism. Rather, I question the tendency to categorize and produce a fixed, static concept and interpretation of socialism.4 In my opinion, the complexity of gender relations under socialism requires a more nuanced interpretation than one limited to the manifestations of discourse–power relations. Accord- ingly, this study does not attempt to essentialize power relations and

2 For more on Yugoslavia, see: Duhaček 1993: 135; Milić 1993: 111; Morokvasić 1997: 72; Ramet 1999a: 105; Slapšak 2002: 149; for Czechoslovakia: Havelková 1993: 70; for Romania: Kligman 1998: 26; for Poland: Pine 2002: 103; for Bulgaria: Brunn- bauer, Taylor 2004: 285; for Eastern Europe in general: Funk 1993: 6; Occhipinti 1996: 14. 3 As Maria Todorova points out, “Do we blame socialism for what it has done, or for what it has not done?” (Todorova 1993: 31). 4 Newer studies challenge rigid boundaries between the totalitarian socialist state and citizens and question the monolithic interpretation of socialism, also pointing to diversity within socialist societies (see Goldman 2002; Crowley and Reid 2002; Haney 2002). introduction 3 ideas of authority (official or subaltern), but instead looks at experience as a concept that vindicates or challenges the very idea of authority.5 It highlights the potential of the female singers’ accounts to express the polyvocal nature of social processes by challenging the concepts of consistency and fixity. Its main idea, then, is to draw attention to the multifarious, contradictory, and creative capacity of personal experiences of socialism. The women portrayed in this study were born between 1914 and 19506 in the area of Niško Polje in southeastern Serbia.7 They belong to the last generation of women who actively participated in traditional customs but were also the protagonists of important changes in Ser- bian rural society, its discourses and practices. Their active involvement with amateur groups began during socialist times and they performed on stage at the events called Village Gatherings that were established in southeastern Serbia in the early 1970s. My interlocutors8 were all very talented female singers, well-known in their villages. They gave many public performances, mostly at exhibitions organized by various local cultural organizations (Houses of Culture – Domovi kulture, KPZ – Kulturno-prosvetna zajednica or Cultural-Educational Associa- tion). Some of them also participated in other local cultural activities, amateur theater, for example, and were recognized by officials as the embodiment of local culture. Since the main aim of this book is to explore the complex and polyvocal experiences of socialism, illuminating the often dissonant discourses of my interlocutors was of the utmost importance. Therefore,

5 For the concept of subaltern authority, see Michel Lambek 2007: 211. 6 In the course of my fieldwork I spoke to 55 people (mainly women) in 21 villages, all of whom were born prior to or during World War II (see the list in Appendix 1). 7 Niško Polje is a part of the larger region called the Valley of the Južna Morava River, with the city of Niš as its administrative center. The vast majority of the villages (73%) are located in the Niš and Aleksinac valley, while others are part of the mountain and sub-mountain area (Simonović 1995: 163). According to the last census, the population is ethnically quite uniform with a dominant Serbian population (360,941 citizens) and with the Roma community forming the largest minority (9,224 citizens) (the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/axd/en/osn. htm?#books). 8 Since I employ qualitative research methodology and a phenomenological approach, I avoid the term ‘interviewer’ or ‘informant.’ Neither does the term ‘nar- rator,’ which is usually associated with the oral history method, seem appropriate because of its static meaning. In my opinion, the term ‘interlocutor’ best describes the self-reflexive and dialogic research methodology employed in this study. 4 introduction

I have used the oral history method,9 which enabled me to access the women’s personal stories and their attitudes toward musical activity. Our conversations did not revolve exclusively around gender issues; instead, I simply provided them with an opportunity to speak freely about their lives. By focusing on the life stories of my interlocutors, I shifted the focus from the performer to the person performing (of a certain age, gender, and with a political attitude).10 I used the self- reflexive potential of experience as a key concept in researching the dynamics between socialist gender politics and its social performance. However, in employing the phenomenological approach, I do not argue for the romanticized view of individual experience as true or self-evident authentic subjective testimony,11 but as a concept shaped by the discourse in which it is narrated, expressed or conceptualized (Van Alphen 2004: 107). Therefore, following Scott’s claim that “there is no individual experience, but subjects who are constituted through experience” (Scott 1992: 26) and Jeff Titon’s concept of “the study of people experiencing music’ (Titon 1997: 96), I see women’s subjectivities as created through the discursive processing of their musical experiences. Their accounts thus illuminate the ways in which socialist power relations, inclusions and exclusions are perceived from a present day, post-socialist perspective12 (Cubitt 2008: 74). Since autobiographical testimonies contradict the holistic approach, I do not view the women featured in this study as necessarily representative of all Niško Polje rural women: their life stories, which are different from those of their female neighbors and other women in their villages, influenced their unique narratives and interpretations of

9 See Thompson 1978 [2000]; Lummis 1987; Douglas, Roberts, and Thompson 1988; Finnegan 1992; Stanley 1992; Ritchie 1995; Bolitho and Hutchison 1998. 10 The method, also called ‘narrative musical ethnography,’ ‘knowing people making music’ (Titon 1997: 91) or ‘subject-centered musical ethnography’ (Rice 2003: 152) contests approaches that do not consider the personal background of a performer as an important element when researching her/his musical activities. Instead, this method takes the experience of ‘people making music’ as the core of ethnomusicological method and theory (Cooley and Barz 2008: 14). 11 I do not argue for an essentialist approach to women’s experiences, as suggested by the concept of women’s oral history and which claims a particular ‘women’s history’ based on women’s specific voices and experiences (Berger Gluck 2002: 3). 12 In the new approaches in memory studies, the emphasis is on the capacity of personal memories to express the complex nature of social processes and challenge the authority of dominant narratives in understanding the past (Radstone and Hodgkin, 2007). introduction 5 the past. Indeed, my idea was neither to offer an overarching view of stage performance under socialism in Serbia nor a general scrutiny of gender relations in rural environments. I have concentrated on real musical situations involving specific people and their lives; both the methodology I used and the interpretation I propose therefore reflect this concept. Nevertheless, many quotations in this book, giving voices to people who were involved in the research, were included with the intention of encouraging potential further (re)interpretations. They illuminate many subjective positions and (often dissonant) voices, while at the same time providing narratives of not only women’s, but also men’s lives. This book is designed as a dialogue between the personal accounts of my interlocutors (including my personal voice, as well) and the official (state and scholarly) narratives, providing a framework for discussing and analyzing the complexity of socialist gender performance. In Chapter One, I portray the female singers, their personal lives and musical activities. The chapter reflects the lifestyles of the last generation of women who actively participated in old customs and be substantially influenced by the norms of rural society. It focuses on the dominant female cultural roles in rural society and depicts gender performance in the musical practices of Niško Polje. Chapter Two investigates official cultural policy and the creation of the concept of socialist folk culture in the light of the unique historical and social experiences of Yugoslav socialism. The focus is on the Vil- lage Gatherings, in both official discourses and the personal accounts of my interlocutors. These events are presented as a multidimensional phenomenon that influenced both musical and social life in southeastern Serbia at various levels, challenging the view that amateur stage performance belonged in the strict, state-controlled domain of cultural production.13 Chapter Three looks into the ways in which the institutionalization of cultural life in villages and the establishment of amateur groups brought about changes in music-making in Niško Polje. It concen- trates on the direct and indirect influence of the Village Gatherings on

13 Although the stage performance was widely explored during socialism, the scholars (ethnomusicologists, folklorists, ethnologists) were primarily concerned with the question of the value of stage stylizations of the performance, which were assessed as worthy or less worthy. They analyzed the way in which the process of staging changed – ‘improved’ or ‘spoilt’ – authentic musical practices (Petrović and Zečević 1981; Zečević 1968; Fulanović-Šošić 1981). 6 introduction musical practices. By revealing the complexity of their stage representations, it attempts to rethink the socialist ‘folklorization’ of local repertoire by calling into question the view that it was a one-dimensional process of transformation from tradition into folklore. Chapter Four provides an insight into Yugoslav gender politics by intertwining ‘official voices’ with the women’s personal accounts. It directs attention to the central issue of the study, focusing on personal experiences of socialism and on the negotiation of gender hierarchies in the rural environment of Niško Polje. By drawing on the concept of performativity, the female singers’ stage performances are examined as being representative of cultural practices that appeared to be an important element in the performance of socialist femininity in rural areas of southeastern Serbia. The chapter shows how these supposedly amateur displays enabled female singers to transfer their activity from the periphery to the center of social happenings. Their performance at the Village Gatherings is discussed as a performative act of re- examining their subject positions. The concluding section dwells further on the previous arguments, drawing attention to the dichotomies present in the considerations of socialist culture, such as official/unofficial, public/private, and ideology/practice. It proposes that differences in the performance of socialism among the countries of the former ‘Eastern Bloc’ should be emphasized, arguing for representations that would bring to light the multifaceted nature of socialism(s). CHAPTER ONE

GENDER PERFORMANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN SERBIA

Concepts of Femininity in Rural Serbia

Želim da ste nam svi živi i zdravi I wish you all good life and health, i veseljaci i mladi i stari. Merry fellows, both old and young. Ali želim da vam se u kuću But I wish that male children rađaju muška deca Will be born in your house, u svako ćošence po jedno detence. In each corner a newborn. (The drinking song –zdravica , Jelena Mitrović, Malča village) The organization of family life in Serbian villages was based until the end of World War II on the institution of a large, extended family, called kućna zadruga. The authority of fathers and husbands was piv- otal in this type of family as well as the patrilineal inheritance of all real estate (Antonijević 1971a: 113). Women occupied a subordinate position within the family and were under the command of their husbands (or the eldest male in the household) and his kin (Beissinger 2001: 412). These relations of power were expressed through ritualized norms of behavior such as, for example, table seating (women often had to remain standing during the meal), or the traditional obligation of women to kiss the hand of the male head of the family or wash his legs. Sometimes, they were even transmitted into the sphere of judicial practices: For a woman, it was strictly forbidden to cross a man’s path; they would usually have waited for him to pass (even if he was far away when she spotted him). However, if she had by any chance committed that offence, she would have had to go back. Honoring this tradition, the authorities in Šumadija sometimes punished women who were daring enough to do that. (Bandić 1980: 324) However, in the specific kind of age-based hierarchy (elder domi- nance), the mother-housewife,1 who was subordinate to her husband,

1 Married women in rural society in pre-WWII Serbia played two main social roles: the role of a mother and that of a housewife. 8 chapter one retained authority over her sons and daughters-in-law. Age was in general crucial for the social status of rural women: “At various stages of their lives, women take different degrees of social status within the family and the community at large” (Petrović A. 1990: 72). Nevertheless, only in two cases could a woman’s social status be equivalent to that of a man: as a widow, having taken over the role of breadwinner, and as a sworn virgin (tobelija or virdžina) – a woman assuming the role of a man in the absence of male heirs (Gremaux 1996; Pettan 2003: 293). In this regard, in Serbian villages there was a distinct preference for male children who could carry on the family name and inherit the farm. The birth of a daughter was greeted with disappointment, since her presence in the household was considered only temporary (Denich 1974: 261). Many folk maxims attest to this attitude: “Marry your son when you want, your daughter when you can” (Ženi sina kad ‘oćeš a udaj ‘ćer kad možeš), “A daughter is another man’s happiness” (Žensko je tuđa sreća). As Vuk Vrčević points out, all of the ritual acts dedicated to fertility were actually directed at securing male descendants (Vrčević 1883: 102). For this reason, on the wedding day, after the bride entered the groom’s household, she took a male baby (nakonjče) into her arms to ensure that she would bear sons (the bride would bring special presents for the child, usually consisting of a shirt, socks and a towel). On the other hand, no particular action was undertaken to procure the birth of female children because, consistent with the patriarchal superstition, “every female being possesses seven souls (like a cat), and she is (in herself ) more than a male child” (Svaka ženska glava ima sedam duša (kao i mačka), ona je više nego muško dete, Đorđević 1938: 93 and 1984: 318). Furthermore, in some areas of Serbia, families avoided having weddings on so-called ‘women’s days,’ such as Wednesday, Saturday, and even Sunday, in order to prevent the birth of female children (Bandić 1980: 346). In Serbian villages, gender hierarchies were strongly connected to pre-Christian beliefs and pagan concepts of female sexuality. Woman’s connection with the life-cycle rituals and the vital importance of her fertility reflect the special status of the female body in old religious beliefs, being an extremely powerful ritual symbol in rural society. Sexuality, reproduction and menstruation were recognized as phe- nomena in which women did not have full control over their bodies but considered ‘unclean’ having a special bond with the ‘other world.’ This being so, in the Serbian rural environment a variety of strategies, both practical and ideological, were developed to control female sexu- gender performance in southeastern serbia 9 ality.2 During her period, a woman was forbidden any contact with a man; she could not touch his personal belongings or speak with him (especially if the man was going on a trip, doing the first sowing or tillage).3 Another example of this type of taboo is that while giving birth, a woman had to sequester herself, so that she would be hidden from her husband and male members of the household. Very often she went to the garden or the basement (Đorđević 1938: 94, 95). In these cases, ‘uncleanliness’ was a signifier for cultural disturbance and instability. As Svetlana Slapšak argues, a woman’s body was without doubt the main symbolic site for ascribing different concepts and accordingly, for creating narratives and images in most cultures (Slapšak 2002: 152). Various taboos confirm that the female body was seen as having special, magical qualities. Customs described by Serbian ethnologists and folklorists (Bandić 1997; Đorđević 1984) included the naked female body as a crucial element for protection from or communication with the spirits of the dead and natural forces.4 Woman’s hair carried an important ritual meaning, as a symbol of the life-spirit and magical power (Zečević 1983: 93; Čajkanović 1994: 143). With the beginning of puberty, girls started wearing the scarf as a sign of their new social status.5 For the first public ‘display’ of a young girl at local gatherings, such as vašari, sabori, preslave (village festivities usually occurring on religious holidays), she put on new clothes, combed her hair and put on the scarf. This announced her initiation into the new status of a marriageable young woman:

2 Sexuality in rural environments presented no danger per se – it was a vital force, a requisite for the survival of society. Women were considered to be powerful and dangerous beings, and sexual segregation represented a way of controlling that power. 3 It was believed that a woman in menopause (no longer fertile), could not present any threat to men (Đorđević 1938: 31), which confirms that a woman who was no longer sexually active lost her ritual power. 4 The best way to prevent or stop epidemics in central Serbia (an area called Resava) was considered to involve a few old widows (čistih baba) visiting the sick men’s houses at midnight and taking off their clothes and scarves (Trojanović 1990: 99). In Niško Polje, there was a practice of having a woman take off her skirt and reveal her genitals to the clouds to ensure the prevention of downpours (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village). Also, on the 14th of May, a day called Jeremijindan dedicated to the snake cult, a naked housewife had to go round the house three times before sunrise, making rattling sounds using metal utensils. 5 The same ritual meaning had the scarf placed on the bride’s hair during the wedding ritual (sometimes after the wedding, Čajkanović 1994: 151) called ubrađivanje, zabrađivanje, which announced that the bride had lost her mystical power and was under the supremacy of her husband (Zečević 1983: 93). 10 chapter one

When she dances publicly for the first time, she is considered ready for marriage. After she finishes the dance, the others congratulate her and from that moment on she can dance in every dance (kolo). (Zečević 1983: 87) All of these acts were directed to improve the prospects for a girl’s marriage arrangement, which was perceived as the most important act in a woman’s life. Through marriage, the husband became ‘the master of his wife’ (gospodar svoje žene), a position effected through trade between the bride and groom’s families before the wedding. Accord- ing to various written sources, in southeastern Serbia up until the end of the nineteenth century it was customary for the groom’s father to pay a large amount of money to the bride’s father, and in this way to formally ‘buy’ a woman for his son (Antonijević 1971a: 39). The bride was very often older than the groom, as she was meant to be ‘mature,’ ‘strong’ and ‘capable’ of working hard, both in the fields and at home: Valued as sex objects, mothers, and workers, wives were acquired by the exchange of gifts, labor, and favors between men, which was seen as a payment for the rights to enjoy and to appropriate the products of women’s labor, sexuality, and reproductive capacity. (Woodward 1985: 237) All of the ritual acts included in the wedding ceremony were focused on the bride as the central figure of the ritual, crucial for the young couple’s fertility. Introducing a new member (the bride) into the groom’s domestic cult was realized through a complex structure of ritual activities performed between the mother-in-law and the bride as a symbolic passing of household responsibilities from the older to the younger woman (Zečević 1983: 91). This kind of ritual act, in which contact between the two women was paramount, confirms the crucial significance of female reproductiveness in rural society. According to the Serbian ethnologist Veselin Čajkanović, the mother-in-law was actually the most important figure in the wedding ritual, as she was responsible for ensuring the bride’s safe transfer to the new home and symbolical negotiation between the ancestors from both (bride’s and groom’s) cults (Čajkanović 1994: 157). Since marriage represented the girl’s main initiation into woman- hood, her sexual innocence was essential: “Virginity (‘a girl untainted by male hands’ – devojka još neomilovana) and marital fidelity were highly valued on the scale of morality” (Dvorniković 1990: 341). It gender performance in southeastern serbia 11 was extremely important for girls to remain virgins until marriage; therefore, they were under the constant vigilance of the elders. Virgin- ity was equally important to both families (the bride’s as well as the groom’s) and was prominently verified and announced at the wedding ceremony. After marriage, a woman’s status within the rural society changed completely, and many social activities became forbidden to her. The way in which the young wife and husband conducted themselves was regulated and involved some restriction – for instance, they were forbidden to use each other’s first names or to address each other directly, which particularly applied to the woman (she was expected to use such expressions as ‘my husband’, ‘my man’ – mužu moj, moj čovek).6 In many Serbian areas, the bride avoided using not only the groom’s name, but also the names of all the other members of the new family7 (Bandić 1980: 326). In addition, the possessive form of the husband’s name used as the wife’s name deprived a woman of her social identity. She became recognized within the community at large by the husband’s surname or first name (‘Pera’s wife’ –Perinica ; ‘Žika’s son of Pera’s son of Mile’s wife’ – na Žiku Perinog Mileta žena): “For community members who do not know the family well, his name is syn- onymous with the household” (Sugarman 1997: 170). In this regard, women had no prospect of inheriting real estate, usually relinquishing it to their male relatives. However, the concept of femininity in rural society excluded an open display of dissatisfaction. It was inconceivable for a woman to speak her mind and express her feelings freely, especially negative ones such as anger or frustration (Lanser 1993: 31, 32). These kinds of complaints were suppressed by the community, and women who

6 Andrei Simić, who conducted field research into Yugoslav families from 1966 through to 1978, observes that relationships between husbands and wives generally had a sex-segregated nature, especially in those regions that had remained longer under Ottoman rule (Simić 1983: 74). 7 Women’s stories also confirm that in Niško Polje, the young bride used nick- names when approaching her husband and his relatives, which was regulated during the wedding ritual, through a custom called ‘the christening’ (krštavanje). A bride gave special names to all the new family members: ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ for mother and father- in-law, dada for sister-in-law and bata or braca for brother-in-law (the nickname usually used for a sister and brother in Serbian). 12 chapter one disobeyed the given rules were considered to be at fault and punished accordingly.8

Portraits of the Female Singers

The female singers that I talked to belonged to the oldest generation of women in their villages, whose life style was completely different from that of younger rural women. They were the last generation of women who were born and spent most of their lives in the above-mentioned zadruga: When I first came to my husband’s house, I was the seventeenth member of the family: uncle, aunt, their three daughters, father-in-law, mother- in-law, two brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, girls, another aunt, my husband and myself and the daughter of my cousin – seventeen. (Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village) The female singers’ stories illustrated already presented gender hierarchies and concepts of rural femininity. They asserted that with the beginning of puberty a woman’s life completely changed, and there were numerous strict rules to control her appearance and behavior. It was shameful for a young girl to speak out or to sit beside or dance with a young man when not accompanied by elders in order to safe- guard her sexual purity: One old grandmother watched us. Our mothers were tired and sleepy. And that granny was so smart I still admire her. She told us: “Don’t! They (boys) will seduce you and after that they won’t have you. And if you go to another guy, they would beat you because you are not coming as a virgin to him.” (Milunka Đorđević, Jelašnica village) Their stories also illustrated strict rules regarding visual presentation of the female body. In Niško Polje, girls started wearing scarves at the beginning of puberty: When you are but a little child, they give you the scarf. When I go with the flock of sheep, the scarf gets dirty and I wear it with one side facing out one week, the second week the other one, so as not to have to wash it every time. (Ilinka Despotović, Trupale village)

8 This claim is supported by the record of some ritual acts the bride performed in order to avoid her husband’s violent behavior – e.g., if the bride sat on her wedding dress before the wedding ceremony began, her husband would not beat her (Đorđević 1984: 334). gender performance in southeastern serbia 13

According to the dress code, unmarried girls wore a flower on the left side of the head, married women on the right and young brides on both sides: A scarf is obligatory; also you have to put flowers on the head. Once you are married, you have to put a flower on each side of the scarf, because (it says) you are a young bride. (Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village) Marriage, as demonstrated in much scholarly writings, was seen by my interlocutors as the most important moment in a woman’s life. Almost all of the female singers underlined that their marriages were arranged and that they had barely spoken to their grooms before the wedding. Ljiljana Cvetković from Matejevac village gave me an account of her first encounter with her husband-to-be: “You will laugh; I met him on Thursday and married him on Saturday.” As she went on talking, I understood that she had no suspicion of her imminent wedding, since her cousin from the neighboring village – the ‘match-maker’ (navodadžija), had negotiated with the family of the potential groom without the knowledge of Ljiljana’s family. After the two families agreed on the marriage, Ljiljana went to town to meet the groom. She was given just a few minutes to talk to him, which was the first and last time she saw him until the wedding. She ended the story with a murmur, saying she already had a boyfriend from her village at that time but that she was obliged to obey her family and marry the chosen man. Ljiljana’s story further testifies that in Serbian rural society the primary function of marriage was to make connections not between two individuals, but between two families (houses or tribes). This was the reason why families were so engaged in the wedding preparations, which were seen as a final step in the complex process of ‘familiariza- tion’ (Bandić 1980: 344). Another intriguing story about arranged marriages was told to me by Nadežda Petrović from Hum village. She portrayed her cousin Ranka as a very free-thinking, headstrong girl who did not want to get married. Once her parents had found her an eligible man, they arranged for the wedding to take place at a church and appointed the registration day with the village administrators. As soon as Ranka realized what was happening, she escaped to a neighboring village and missed the registration. This act, very shameful for her family and unconven- tional in a rural environment, caused her father to punish her cruelly and force her into a loveless marriage. 14 chapter one

On the other hand, the story of Desanka Petrović from Donja Vrežina village shows a quite different situation: “I did not have any problems with him (the husband). We married for love.” She met her future husband at the village dance (kolo), when he came from another village to visit his relatives and meet marriageable girls. A cousin of his recommended Desanka and one of her friends as possible brides, and he decided to propose to Desanka. At first she was not interested, but his persuasiveness and persistence won her over. From Desanka’s account, I inferred that she, in contrast to Ljiljana, was allowed to choose her partner. In Niško Polje, all the agreements regarding a future marriage were made by men from both families. On the wedding day, when the groom’s family entered the bride’s house, the bride’s father and her future father-in-law broke bread and shook hands in alliance between the two families. In addition, it was usually the bride’s future brother- in-law who symbolically purchased the bride from her brother: when the suitcase of a bride’s trousseau (devojačka sprema) was put on the carriage, her brother would sit on the case and not allow the wedding feast to begin until someone gave him money. Upon the agreement being made, the bride was taken to the groom’s household where the mother-in-law welcomed her with a sieve and an apple, after which they exchanged presents prepared for the occasion. The customary practice required the mother-in-law to bring the bride into the house, where the bride oiled the entrance door, came to the hearth and sat in her mother-in-law’s lap.9 The ritual calledzaprevesuvanje, prevesuvanje (‘putting on a scarf’), symbolically announced the initiation of a girl to the status of a married woman: Everyone goes out, through the garden gate, and the godsister puts the scarf on her head and splashes her with a mixture of basil and wine. After that they part the ‘scud bread’ (grabena pogača) and the bride walks into the room, kisses all the guests and the meal can start. (Desanka Petrović, Gornja Vrežina village) After the marriage, it was forbidden for a woman to go around with uncovered hair or to comb her hair in front of male members of the family. The scarf became an integral part of her outfit until the end

9 The importance of the mother-in-law’s role during the wedding ritual is further emphasized by the fact that in some Niško Polje villages (Gornji Matejevac, Donja Vrežina), the bride even slept next to her mother-in-law on the wedding night. gender performance in southeastern serbia 15 of her life: she did not take off her scarf even in the presence of her husband.10 Ljiljana Radonjić from Prosek village emphasized that it was shameful for a woman if men saw her hair, arms or legs. Her mother-in-law, even though she was seventy-nine, still hid from her son when she washed her hair. This ritual restriction from being seen in an undressed state is strongly connected with cultural strategies of in/visibility of the female body (further discussed in Chapter Four). As mentioned earlier, virginity was the most important ‘gift’ that the bride brought to the new household. Female relatives on the groom’s side (usually the mother-in-law or godmother) were obliged to remove the bed sheet used on the wedding night in order to verify the bride’s ‘suitability.’ If everything was in accordance with expectations, then the bride’s virginity was publicly announced by serving warmed brandy, and the mother-in-law gave the bride a broom deco- rated with money to sweep the house. The bride’s purity having been publicly announced, she went to the village drinking fountain accompanied by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and sometimes even by musicians. This was her first public appearance in the community, and usually all the villagers came out to see her. On the other hand, if the bride was not ‘proper’ but a ‘broken vessel’ (slomljen čekrk), the brandy was served cold, and she was publicly put to shame. In the villages of Niško Polje, some very brutal customs were put into practice when the bride did not turn out to be sexually pure. The groom’s family could ‘return’ the bride, binding her to a donkey that would carry her back to her family. For girls who had some pre- marital sexual experience, it was very difficult to find a husband – they could only marry elderly men or widowers. Verica Miljković from Prosek village had problems with her mother-in-law as she (Verica) found it very stressful having to spend the wedding night sleeping beside the groom, and they slept “as if we were brother and sister.” Because of this, her mother-in-law declared her to be ‘improper’ and did not allow her to go to the village drinking fountain. Then, after the groom explained what had happened, the wedding ritual continued. Contrary to Verica’s case, Milunka Đorđević (Jelašnica village) and Desanka Petrović (Gornja Vrežina village) said that their husbands did not let their mothers, sisters or godsisters check the bed sheets or ask them about the bride’s virginity.

10 Another term used for a woman wearing a scarf was zabuljena, which refers to the term used for an Islamic woman: bula. 16 chapter one

The above-mentioned association of female sexuality with ‘uncleanliness,’ indicated in the scholarly writings, was also visible in the women’s testimonies about giving birth. As Grozdana Đokić from Leskovik village testifies, “I gave birth to my son Zvonko downstairs in the basement, yes, in the basement.” After giving birth, a woman was considered ‘unclean’ for forty days:11 Straw was brought in; not even a great bundle of it, then a mat. A mat made of rye was put on the ground and over that some sheets and I slept with the baby for forty days on the ground, to not be close to my husband. Not at all good for the baby. (Jelica Jovanović, Donji Komren village) As the women stressed, marriage inevitably entailed various difficul- ties in adjusting to the new environment. Bearing in mind the cultural notion of female sexuality, modesty was an inherently feminine quality, important not only for marriageable girls, but also for married women.12 A married woman’s bearing had to be demure, her voice low and her eyes directed downward. She had to appear duly bashful, especially in public: Once you are married, you are not free and you must comport yourself as if you were a blind person. That is true, my son! You have to. First, you do not look at others, you mustn’t. One young man told my cousin: “Listen to me, Violeta, you have to look at the tip of your shoes.” (Dobri- savka Janković, Hum village) A young bride could not participate in decision-making on important issues concerning the family, and her mobility was limited to paying family visits and going on short trips to town. For some time following the wedding, still being a young wife, Desanka Petrović from Gornja Vrežina village had to wake up first in the morning to light a fire, remain standing during meals, and wait for her father-in-law to come home every night in order to take off his boots: I woke up early in the morning to light a fire, at that time we had a furnace (kube).13 In the evening, my father-in-law came for me to take off his boots. And the third night he said to me: “Hey, my daughter-in-

11 Similarly a bride was ‘polluted’ for forty days after the wedding. 12 A wife behaving in an immoral way was dealt with severely. The data confirm that particularly in cities that had experienced lengthy periods of Ottoman influence, female adultery was punished by cutting off a woman’s nose and ears or pushing her into the water (river) to drown (Đorđević 1984: 248). 13 Kube is a wood-heated cylinder shaped metal furnace with one stovepipe. gender performance in southeastern serbia 17

law, let me tell you, my older daughter-in-law didn’t take off my boots, so you are not obliged to do that anymore. I stay out all night with my friends and come home late, completely full and drunk and you have to wait for me – that is not OK.” Procedures that the bride had to follow after the wedding, such as taking off her father-in-law and brother-in-law’s shoes, making their beds or kissing the father-in-law’s hand every morning, provide insight into the patriarchal hierarchical power relations: “This is a confirmation of the bride’s subordinate position in relation to her husband and his family” (Trojanović 1990: 48). On the other hand, some brides were warmly welcomed into the new household, where they developed good, close relationships with their spouses and their kin. Milunka Đorđević from Jelašnica village told me that she had been very content during her married life: “Yes. I had all complete freedom with him. We went to Pula many times. Also, we went to Holland three times, we flew. Then to Germany, we have traveled a lot.” To summarize the issues discussed in the previous two sections, the social position of women in Niško Polje was strongly interrelated with their cultural roles. In general, being female determined the social purpose of women’s existence. The bulk of women’s activities took place in the sphere of the household, while the governed public sphere was primarily under the control of men. Women were generally expected to abandon their personal activities in favor of the family and community. Gender norms were constituted in accordance with the socially dominant position of males, where women were positioned as socially inferior subjects. In the male-oriented society, cultural forms both openly and symbolically embodied the domination of women by men and hierarchical gender relations.

Performing Femininity

How are these gender roles performed in the musical practices in Niško Polje? The general claim of scholars is that gender segregation in traditional musical practices in Serbia has existed for many generations. They assert that old practices in music performance required that women and men always sang separately (Vlahović 1980: 16; Dević 1990: 70; Golemović 1997: 117), except in rare, specific cases, when close relatives could perform together on account of the harmony of their voices (Petrović A. 1990: 73; Golemović 1997: 117). Radmila Petrović, exploring folk music in central Serbia (Šumadija) writes: 18 chapter one

The social norms of musical behavior divide songs between boys and girls, or men and women, which proves that joint singing did not exist in the past. Depending on the type (men or women), the song is performed in a particular way. (Petrović R. 1990: 164) She also presumes that mixed-gender performance is a new phenomenon (ibid.). Dimitrije Golemović describes how, in Valjevska Kolubara (an area in western Serbia), the interviewed women refused to sing the ‘men’s tune’ (mušku ariju), but after a long hesitation, they finally consented to perform it (Golemović 1997: 125). He asserts that, in this part of Serbia, certain characteristics of a tune are gendered, e.g., the refrain i14 is considered to be female while koje is seen as male (ibid. 127). Ankica Petrović, examining the female musical tradition in the rural areas of the Dinaric area (which encompasses Bosnia, southeastern Croatia, western Serbia and northern Montenegro), classifies two separate genres of ‘male’ and ‘female’ folk music (Petrović A. 1990: 71). She also claims that certain features of musical performance, such as a specific pattern of melodic movement, particularly melismatic tones, stylistic sighs and exhalations, existed only in female interpretations (ibid. 72). The researchers generally based their claims on the idea of the different social position of women and men: Gender segregation in singing is just one in a row of similar particu- larities in the relationship between men and women, which they (themselves) have been creating through their common history and should be viewed in that context. (Golemović 1997: 117) The stories from Niško Polje also revealed that gender segregated performance in the field of vocal practices remains vivid in the memories of the female singers. The terms ‘men’s songs’ and ‘women’s songs’ were present in the women’s accounts, and were mainly used in their internal communication or in attempts to categorize parts of the vocal tradition: “You sing in the women’s tune. After that you shift to the men’s tune” (Grozdana Đokić, Leskovik village). The phrases ‘men’s tune’ (muški glas) or ‘men’s song’ (muška pesma) were mentioned in the female singers’ narratives predominantly in connection with the custom of sedenjka for songs that largely belong to the short musical form and the new singing style (further discussed in the last section of

14 This refrain is an exclamation performed on the vocal i – pronounced as [ee] – at the end of the verse in the very high falsetto register as a specific kind of signal. In Niško Polje it is called cikanje or rucanje. gender performance in southeastern serbia 19 this chapter). Another context in which these terms were used involved music on TV or radio, as Ruža Zdravković from Rujnik village states: “I sing all of the men’s songs that are actually being sung now.” Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that such terms were used in their narratives without clearly distinguishing between these two categories: Well, the men’s tune is not like ours, I mean the high tone when we sing out . . . men’s songs are different, a different tune. Men are different from women. (Grozdana Zlatković, Vukmanovo village) The female singers performed the songs they had learned, as I was told, from their fathers or male relatives, without any awareness of their belonging to the category of men’s songs.15 Desanka Petrović from Gornja Vrežina village spoke about the songs she learned from her father. She explained that people were so delighted by her performance that she sang at all the private parties and celebrations she attended: “My father taught me. I sang that when I was going with my father to a slava.”16 Furthermore, in a few villages, certain women were presented to me as experts on male songs, particularly epic songs and ballads:17 “Aunt Ljubinka sings these men’s songs, epic songs. Usually men sing these songs, but you see, women also have a knack” (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village). Scholars affirm that women were active in the vocal sphere while men were associated with the playing of instruments: In the field of music, men are the ones who use the instruments of culture to produce art, while women produce it naturally, as it were with the unaided voice. (Coote 1977: 334) They mention that there were some transgressions, but these were seen as rare exceptions.18 During the course of the research, I found only a

15 Numerous folklorists have discerned instances of women appropriating genres normally reserved for men with no recognition that they were going beyond their domain (Young and Turner 1993: 13). 16 Slava, also called krsna slava or krsno ime is a celebration of family patron saint’s day, celebrated annually by each household separately. It is inherited from father to son, while married women normally celebrate their husbands’ saint. 17 Epic songs belong to the narrative type of songs, sometimes with over a hundred verses in ten-syllable lines, usually accompanied on the gusle, a one string chordo- phone instrument. Ballads are considered a ‘borderline genre’ between epic and lyric songs, also with a large number of verses (Dević 1970: 35, 36). 18 Dimitrije Golemović mentions that the best male singers he met were effeminate and that the women who played instruments usually appropriated male cultural and social roles in the society (Golemović 1998: 54). 20 chapter one few cases of female instrumentalists mentioned in the literature. They were not presented as ‘real’ players, but as social subjects who dis- turbed existent norms and gender hierarchies.19 According to my interlocutors, both girls and boys made seasonal instruments that belonged to the idiophone type or free aerophone- type (so-called children’s instruments): Pištugaljke, on the holiday called Mladenci, you know, in the spring- time.20 I am a shepherd and I chip off wood and make cuts at some places and play a whistling song like a train coming to a halt. We were capable of everything. (Ljiljana Radonjić, Prosek village) They played a repertoire that was based on the adult repertoire, but, as the women asserted, this activity ceased for girls at the beginning of puberty. This practice illustrates that among pre-pubescent boys and girls, segregation in the field of musical practices did not exist. However, after childhood, a strong division between male and female domains became apparent, and women did not have access to instrumental performance. In Niško Polje, I did not encounter any well- known female instrumentalists, nor was I given any account of one. I heard of only one female gusle-player21 from Malča village, and this example was given to me as a rare exception to the rule, since playing was considered to be an exclusively male province. On the other hand, in all the villages I visited people talked about legendary local bagpipe, flute dvojnice,( frula, duduk) or accordion players – all male. These were semi-professionals who learned how to perform from relatives or older colleagues and usually played at weddings or local celebrations. Since some of them were well-known in the wider region, they traveled to neighboring villages to perform. Even though they were not professional musicians, they usually received some kind of payment for their performance.

19 See Antonijević 1971b: 107; Rihtman 1971: 97; Petrović A. 1990: 73; Pettan 2003: 296. As Naila Ceribašić observes, the female instrumentalists often remained invisible in the scholarly accounts, since these focused on the dominant practices and not on the alternative ones (Ceribašić 2004: 161). 20 Mladenci is celebrated on 22th March as the day dedicated to young couples married during the last year. That day was also connected to the snake cult and many of the ritual acts were performed as protection from a snake – for instance, it was forbidden to do any needlework on that day. 21 In the Serbian language there is no term for a female instrumentalist (svirač is a noun of masculine gender, while expressions like sviračica or svirkinja are not in use). gender performance in southeastern serbia 21

In the relationship observed between sexuality and female social roles, I detected a connection between particular musical activities and the women’s age and social status (e.g., some song genres were performed exclusively by marriageable girls, others by married or older women). In general, the girls’ freedom to express themselves musically stopped with marriage, and their repertoire was reduced (Petrović A. 1990: 78; see also Pettan 2003: 290). In the same way, a married woman in Niško Polje was not permitted to participate in certain dances or in customs such as collecting flowers the day before St George’s Day: “Women went to pick flowers, which was great. When I got married, I was not allowed to go” (Jelica Jovanović, Donji Komren village). Since my interlocutors had been musically active within the bounds of customary practice in their youth, I noticed that in their narratives some genres were more connected with ‘femininity’ or considered exclusively female. From their perspective, these musical activities belonged to a separate female reality, by which women expressed their thoughts, feelings and emotions. They represented a significant element in the performance of their female identity, and marked all the important stages of a woman’s life in a rural society. In the following sections, I will present four song genres associated with the customs which appear to have been an important part of women’s cultural role in Niško Polje.

Lazarice Lazarice (Lazar’s Day, one week before Easter) is a custom that was traceable in all parts of Serbia. As a part of the spring ritual cycle, the lazarice pageant consisted of six young girls (aged eight to twelve) who walked around the village on Lazar’s day, also called Vrbica. Lazarice visited every house in the village, danced and sang the appropriate songs dedicated to household members and collected gifts (usually eggs). The most important member of the group was thelazar , a girl who wore men’s clothes and the lazarka, her female spouse. Each member of the group had her own task: four sang and two danced (the lazar and lazarka). As leaders of the group, the lazar and lazarka usually walked first. Following the strict rules of the custom, lazarice kept to the same ritual pattern in every house: the four girls stood divided into two groups and sang in an antiphonal style, while the lazar and lazarka danced. 22 chapter one

Singers

Dancers Figure 3: The position of singers and dancers in thelazarica group

There are various textual patterns oflazarice songs belonging to different phases of the ritual. One pattern was used when the group of girls sang along the open village road: Cveće, cveće crveno, Red flowers, pored druma sađeno. Planted along the road. Tu prolaze lazarke, Here the lazarke pass by, pa si cveće bereju, And gather them, pa pitaju lazara. And ask the lazar. Oj lazare, lazare, Hey, lazar, lazar, lazarice devojko. Lazarice girl. (Zagorka Igić, Gornji Matejevac village)

The second pattern was used when the group of girls sang outside the front door of the house to announce their arrival:

Music example 1: Lazarica song, Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village (track 1) gender performance in southeastern serbia 23

Otvarajte kapije, Open the gate, evo idu lazarke The lazarke are coming da vi sreću donose. To bring you luck. In the house, the lazarice first sang a song honoring the house or the master of the house, and then the other members of the family: a boy, a girl, and a baby. While leaving the house they sang a farewell song: Ovuj kući idomo, We visited this house, što ne lepo daruva. Which gave us a good gift. (Grozdana Đokić, Leskovik village) A few women mentioned songs that the lazarice performed in front of a house where somebody had died, usually many years before: Majka Jovu u kutiju čuva, Mother keeps Jova in the box, da ga kiša ne zarosi, To keep the rain from wetting him, da ga vetar na zapiri, To keep the wind from blowing him, da ga slnce ne ogreje. To keep the Sun from touching him. Jer je njemu večna kuća Because his eternal house nije prozor, nije vrata. Has no windows and doors. (Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village) When people did not let the lazarice enter their house, the lazarice sang particular songs to condemn this: Ovaj kuća lipova, This house is awful, u nju kučka drpova. With a dirty dog. Ona rži, a mi beži! He is barking, we run away! (Grozdana Đokić, Leskovik village) Girls learned lazarice songs from their mothers or female relatives, mainly older women. I came across various melodic and textual patterns in different villages with identical times of performance and ritual acts. After World War II, in the spirit of the social changes, the lazarice gradually stopped performing; however, today they represent a custom of great emotional significance in the memories of the women. As was evident from the female singers’ stories, the lazarice was one of the most joyful activities. Since the performers were children, villagers anticipated their arrival with joy. Women explained to me that all the villagers came out of the houses to wait for the lazarice. During the first few years after World War II, the lazarice went from Niško Polje villages to the city of Niš to perform the custom. Desanka Petrović from Donja Vrežina village and Milica Cvetković from Brenica village 24 chapter one told me that they went to Niš accompanied by their mothers or an older woman. Although sentimentally attached to memories of their childhood performances in the period up to and immediately following World War II, the women have mainly forgotten the melodic patterns of lazarice songs. Interestingly enough, during the past five years attempts have been made to revive this custom in the villages of Brenica and Malča. Several older women have tried to teach their grandchildren to sing lazarica songs and re-establish the custom.

Kraljice The custom of kraljice (‘Queens’) in the Niško Polje villages was performed regularly until the middle of the last century.22 It had many elements in common with the observation of lazarice, and the songs associated with the two customs were often mixed up in the women’s accounts. The kraljice was performed on St. George’s Day (6th May, in the Orthodox calendar). In written records, the most common name was kraljice (in the region of Lužnica it was called kralj). As a ritual group, kraljice had a strictly defined role for each participant, and consisted of eight ‘mature’ girls, aged between sixteen and twenty-three. As with the lazarice, each girl in the group had a particular role – there was a king and a queen, two more girls who danced (“king, queen, and two dancers; two dance and another two dance across” – kralj, kraljička i dve igravačke; dve igraju, a dve preigruju) and four girls who sang (“four of them dance and four sing” – četri šetu, a četri poju). The king was the central figure in the custom. He led the group, carrying a banner (barjak), or in some villages a kerchief. Unlike other areas in southeastern Serbia, where the king was dressed in men’s clothing, in Niško Polje the girl who played the king was dressed in the same way as the other girls in the kraljice group (“everything is the same, only the king carries the banner” – sve je isto, ženska nošnja, samo što se ukite i to je kralj koji nosi barjak). The king was responsible for conducting communication with the household members and for choosing the songs that would be performed. The

22 Traces of this custom are found in the area of Podunavlje (Bačka and Đerdap), Posavina (Slavonija, Srem, in the vicinity of Belgrade), Pomoravlje, south and southeastern Serbia (Aleksinačko Pomoravlje, Nišava, Lužnica, Leskovačka Morava, Vra- njsko Pomoravlje) and parts of northeastern Serbia (Homolje, Negotinska and Timočka Krajina). gender performance in southeastern serbia 25

Photograph 1: Kraljice group from Lužnica, 1939/4023 queen was the main dance-partner of the king during the performance (“King and queen change places, change in the cross” – Kralj i kraljica se menjaju, u krs, tako se prominjuju). In some villages the other two girls who danced with the king and queen were called ‘banner carriers’ (barjaktari). Girls practiced for a few weeks before participating in the custom. Usually, one older woman taught the girls to sing the kraljica songs.23 As in the custom of lazarice, the kraljice went around the village visiting each house. The data confirm that the custom consisted of ritual phases: walking around the villages, entering the houses, singing and dancing for the household members and finally, leaving and saying farewell. A special song accompanied each ritual phase. When the kraljice began their walk from the king’s house, they sang songs throughout the village:

23 The photographs used in this study were borrowed from the personal archives of my interlocutors and from the Cultural Center in the village of Trupale, thanks to Vukašin Mitić. 26 chapter one

Music example 2: Kraljica song ‘on the road,’ Ruža Zdravković, Rujnik village

Ušini se, kralje, Stand aside, the King, kralje barjaktare. The King, the Banner carrier. Kraljice da projdu, Let the Queens pass by, kralja da provedu, To carry the King, kralja barjaktara. The King, the Banner carrier. Once they had arrived in front of the house and entered the court- yard, the dancers formed the characteristic ‘cross’ figure while the two groups of singers stood one on each side:

Singers

Dancers Figure 4: The position of singers and dancers in thekraljica group gender performance in southeastern serbia 27

In the kraljica dance, the two pairs of dancers (including the king and queen) constantly switched places. First they sang the song dedicated to the house or the host. It was the text of these songs that remained most vivid, and survived in the greatest variety in the women’s memories: Kralje barjaktare, The King, the Banner carrier, otvorte mi porte. Open the gate. (Zagorka Igić, Gornji Matejevac village) Ovaj kuća bogata, This house is rich, na nju ima troja vrata. It has three doors. Prva vrata od dukata, The first door made of ducats, druga vrata od zlata, The second door made of gold, a taj treća od šimšira. The third one made of flowers. (Rusanda Arsić, Donja Vrežina village) Those songs meant to be performed for other household members were performed only “if and when the host bids it” (pevalo se isključivo kada i šta domaćin naredi). Especially numerous were songs with love themes dedicated to young boys and girls: Oj, devojko, materina brigo, Hey, the girl, the mother’s care, sve se brineš, udati se nećeš. You worry that you won’t get married. Udaćeš se i pokajaćeš se, You will get married and you will be sorry, steć ćeš svekra, venućeš ko cvećka, You will get a father-in-law, steć ćeš muža, venućeš ko ruža, You will fade like a flower, steć ćeš dece, kajati se nećeš. You will get a husband, You will fade like a rose, You will have children, You will not regret thus. (Ruža Zdravković, Rujnik village) The songs ‘to bees’ na( pčele) were danced in a different manner: all the girls danced together in a circle dance (kolo). As the women told me, this was to prevent the bees from escaping, and to cluster them for the housewife:24

24 Singing ‘to bees’ was charactetistic of other parts of southeastern Serbia as well (in the neighboring area of Lužnica and Zaplanje within the custom of lazarica). 28 chapter one

Music example 3: Kraljica song ‘to bees,’ Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village (track 2)

Tuku, tuku rojići, Fly, fly, swarm of bees, dojdete mi pčelice, Come to me, bees, doneste mi ćupence, Bring me a bowlful of honey. sa med da ga napunite, In every leg, one piece, na nožicu po lovnicu, In the bum, one bowl. na dupence ćupence. After the ritual ended, the kraljice left the house, singing a farewell song. Thekraljice were given money for their performance, which they later shared among themselves in the king’s house, during a joint dinner. Community members believed that the kraljice should visit all the houses in a village; otherwise, it would be a bad omen for both the unvisited household and for the whole community. The stories from the field reveal that the kraljice were honored guests in all the households in Niško Polje (“You look forward to them coming to your house” – Jedva čekaš da ti dođu u kuću) and that it was one of the most revered customs. Some women, like Vera Đorđević from the village of Brenica, believed that the kraljice were so important that if the group broke up or the custom ceased, one of the girl members would die. Their testimonies underlined the important role of this ritual for girls’ initiation: it was believed that when a girl had spent three years in the kraljica, she could be considered as ready for marriage. My impression was that the symbolic significance of this custom was still very strong in the women’s recollections, particularly taking into account that it was banned by the socialist authorities after World War II (this is further discussed in the following chapter). Regardless of the minor variations in their individual narratives, in all of their minds the memory of kraljice lingered as a custom that had marked their youth. gender performance in southeastern serbia 29

Đurđevdan Đurđevdan (St. George’s Day or ‘the collecting of herbs and flowers’ – kad se viju venci) was another custom practiced exclusively by women. Đurđevdan songs were among the songs most frequently performed by female singers. This custom was connected with raising farm animals, i n particular the raising of sheep, a practice often found in the mountain villages of Niško Polje. On the day before St. George’s Day, girls and women went into the hills to gather herbs and flowers. I received varied information about the ages of the women participants. In some villages, both girls and married women were included, in others only girls and newly-married women. Following the prescribed activities, they left for the hills before dawn to gather herbs that would be used as stock food on Đurđevdan. Women sang to announce that the custom was just starting and to invite other women to join them. I found a few variants of songs performed on this occasion: Dizajte se, malo i golemo, Wake up, people, da vijemo tri venca zelena: To make three wreaths: prvi venac za to belo stado, The first wreath for the white sheep, drugi venac za vedro šareno, The second wreath for treći venac za domaćina. the colorful copper pot. And the third one for the householder. (Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village) Mi idemo u goru zelenu, We are going to the hill, da beremo svakojake travke, To gather the various plants, ponajviše zdravac merišljavac. The sweetzdravac the most. (Grozdana Đokić, Leskovik village)

Music example 4: Đurđevdan song, Radica Zlatanović and Petrija Vučković, Gornja Studena village (track 3) 30 chapter one

Pošle devojke u cvejke, Girls went to gather da beru cveće svakakvo, The various plants. ponajviše zdravac zeleni. Green zdravac the most. As can be inferred from numerous stories, young wives had a special role in the observance of the custom. They had to participate in it during the first year of marriage, clad especially for this day in full-dress for a joint breakfast or lunch in the hills. During the lunch, brides had to kiss each other and other women on the cheek (preljube se). This act denoted the initiation of young women and their integration into the female community. One widespread textual variant of the songs sung during this custom is as follows:

Music example 5: Đurđevdan song, Svetlana Makarić, Jelašnica village

Venče zdravče beru li te mome? Girls, are you gathering the zdravac? Beru, beru, kako da ne beru, They gather, they gather, of course, od dve kite tri venca izviše. From two bouquets, they made three wreaths. Prvi venac za veliko vedro, The first wreath for the big copper pot, drugi venac za ranićku ovcu, The second wreath for the first sheep, treći venac za malo jagnje. And the third one for the small lamb. The most important part of the custom, in all of its local varieties, was the sprinkling of water. In some villages, after they had finished gathering the flowers, the women went to the banks of a local river, where they made the wreaths for the evening part of the custom. In the process of making these, the women sprinkled themselves with water and put wreaths on their heads or around their waists, while trying to push each other into the river. Women told me that the purpose of this immersion was to ensure that the sheep produced enough milk. In some variations of the custom, girls and women danced the kolo across the river (the village of Rujnik). When they returned to the village they adorned the houses with wreaths. It was required that one wreath be put above the main entrance. Usually all the family members washed their faces using water in which the wreaths had been placed. gender performance in southeastern serbia 31

The second part of the custom, calledMuzigrudva (in some villages Muzigrud), was practiced individually. In the evening, a woman milked sheep through the wreaths and usually put a hair comb in the copper milk pot (bakrač) so that the sheep would give more milk. She also made the bread (kravajče) especially for this occasion and prepared plants for the sheep to eat. The women seemed to have fond memories ofĐurđevdan. Milunka Đorđević from the Jelašnica village told me that she had never been able to sleep the night before Đurđevdan because she wanted to be ready for the beginning of the custom. She said that for girls, it was an opportunity to spend time together laughing, singing and enjoying themselves: While we are gathering in the village to go to the mountain, we just laugh and make jokes. As we pass through the village, everybody watches. (Ljiljana Cvetković, Gornji Matejevac village)

Sedenjke Sedenjke (‘Spinning bees’ – prela, sedeljke, sedenće in southeastern Ser- bia) were female gatherings devoted to doing handwork as a kind of ‘female socializing.’25 They were informal parties that were both a form of work-gathering and a form of entertainment. These gatherings were not part of the wider annual ritual system, being informal and more spontaneous. Women usually gathered around a fire, brought their handwork and spent the time weaving, knitting or doing needlework. In Niško Polje, sedenjke were organized up until the end of the 1960s, when following changes in living conditions (primarily electrification and the appearance of radio and TV), women stopped gathering in this way. They usually started in the autumn (after the holidayPreobraženje , 18th August) and carried on until the end of winter. Women met in the evenings at the main crossroads or in front of a house if it was too cold in a room. There were no strict rules about who could participate – girls and women of all ages were included. Usually, grandmothers, mothers or mothers-in-law brought their daughters and daughters-in- law. At the beginning of the sedenjka, the women performed a song to announce that the gathering had begun:

25 In Bulgaria the same custom is called sedenki or tlaki (Buchanan 2006: 84). 32 chapter one

Music example 6: Sedenjka song, Jagodinka Mitrović, Rujnik village

Koja mi gu ovde nema? Who is missing here? Milica gu ovde nema. Milica is missing here. Da dođe da ne dođe, To come or not to come, da dođe pa da prođe. To come not to pass by. Singing was essential here, and the women also joked and discussed ‘women’s topics.’ Unlike the other customs presented, which totally excluded men, sedenjke allowed male participation to some degree. They usually came at the end of the event to chip with the women. Their presence was an important part of the custom, particularly for unmarried girls. This was a great opportunity for them to meet boyfriends in a more informal way, without being restrained by the elders: And boys come while we are in the middle of the spinning, pretending that they want to put wood on the fire. But they extinguish it and we are left in the dark. We scream, run away. But when our parents hear what has happened, boys run away, nobody is left. And after, you know we have problems with the parents. They do not allow us to dosedenjka , but we slip out and do it anyway. Youth is crazy! (Milunka Đorđević, Jelašnica village) The central elements of this custom were lascivious behavior and gender roles transgression. Certain erotic elements appeared in the crude joking (e.g., playing with the hemp as if with the phallus). However, the songs called pripojke, pripevaljke, pripojanje or pripevuvanje were the main sources of sexual innuendo. The lyrics of the songs performed often contained lascivious elements and an imaginary dialogue gender performance in southeastern serbia 33 between a man and woman. Because of this ‘specific’ content, some women were ashamed to talk about these songs. Dragan Todorović, explained why his neighbor did not want to sing: “Dene does not want to talk about that, she is a decent housewife.” The most important aspect of performing these songs was that it gave women an opportunity to voice their emotions publicly, which was not something commonly practiced. The content of the songs referred to the symbolic coupling of girls and young men from a village: Krca, krca, nova kolca, Klick-klack new car, koji mi se u nji vozi? Who is riding inside? Jela mi se u nji vozi, Jela is riding inside, a Boba mi po nji ide. Boba is following behind. (Grozdana Đokić, Leskovik village) Lenjir mi se klati, klati, The ruler is staking up and down, devojka mi se mlati, mlati, The girl is shaking, koj li će mi u ruke dopadne? Who will come to my arms? Evo mene ja sam pored tebe. Here I am next to you. (Desanka Petrović, Gornja Vrežina village) Pipa pipa, pa napipa, dragi bre, Fumble, fumble my dear, punu šaku sitnu dlaku, Jelena. A full hand of pubic hair, Jelena. (Mladenka Živković, Gornja Vrežina village) Women referred to some of these songs with explicit erotic content as ‘men’s,’ ‘rakish’ or ‘to the men’s tune’ (muške, mangupske, na muški glas), as has already been mentioned in discussing the female singers’ discourses on gender segregated performances. This transgression at the level of discourse revealed that the songs belonged to the ‘other’ sphere of men and were taboo in regular settings. Thus the songs were an outlet for women’s free, uninhibited spirit, made possible by their special status during the sedenjka: In this particular performance context, they appropriate and subvert male genres to gain power in a new way, by inverting the situation so that it is the males who are stereotyped as these jokes become vehicles for portraying women’s views on male language usage. (Young and Turner 1993: 13, 14) Through their activities during thesedenjka , women negotiated the boundaries between gender segregated performances and challenged 34 chapter one boundaries between male and female domains. Transgression is also visible in the practice where the female participants masked themselves, thus playing with existing gender roles. They usually donned masks of men and bears, or blackened their faces: We put on the masks. Vera and I go in through the window, and roll over women and scratch them. And we get their hemp off, wonderful! Wonderful! (Ljiljana Radonjić, Prosek village) These acts can be perceived as a subversion of dominant cultural categories and ‘prescribed’ gender roles. Through such behavior, women played with social norms and ‘appropriate’ female behavior. Froma Zeitlin, in her examination of antique female rituals, argues that these were performed to demonstrate that boundaries were slight and weak: All those relations are unstable and reversible; they cross boundaries and invade each other’s territories, erase and reinstate hierarchical distances, reflecting ironically upon each other and themselves. (Zeitlin 1995: 377) In my view, all these customs functioned to allow women to express their individuality freely without compromising the rural society. Regarding their significant role in the construction of ‘femininity’ and women’s subjectivity, the ritual songs contain personal attitudes and feelings. During enactments of these customs, women occupied their ‘own space’ beyond ‘regular time’ and beyond the control of men, which offered them a chance to enjoy all the freedom they did not have in their daily lives. Nevertheless, while women felt free to express their opinions and feelings during the sedenjka custom, they were occasionally afraid that their husbands might hear them sing the lascivious songs, which proves that their behavior was still regulated by the existing norms: “Aye, our husbands stood there in front of the door, do not sing that” (Desanka Petrović, Donja Vrežina village). Taking into account that these customs emerged as a part of the wider system of cultural practices in rural society, they represented a space for the articulation of female power. These events confirm women’s ‘internal’ authority (women’s power ‘behind the throne’) compared to the real social power of men. Regarded in this way, they cannot be seen as subversive activities, but rather as outlets for female expression. Through constant repetition, these practices actually maintained the established social roles and protected the existing order. CHAPTER TWO

VILLAGE GATHERINGS: THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

Creating the New Folk Culture

Igra kolo sve partizan, All partisans dance the kolo, Srbin, Hrvat i Musliman. A Serb, a Croat and a Muslim. Svi narodi veselo, All nations are merry, veselo je sve selo. All the villages make merry. Socijalizam mi gradimo, We are building socialism, ničju pomoć ne tražimo. And do not ask for any help. (Nedeljković, unpublished manuscript) The Village Gatherings, an event at which female singers began performing on stage and which played an important role in the representation of socialist femininity, were a part of the larger project of Yugoslav cultural policy. The political agenda of progress and modernization was directed at eliminating national differences, by building a concept of a shared Yugoslav identity based on economic development and equality, tolerance among nations, gender balance and equal laws and rights for all citizens (Sekulić, Massey, and Hodson 1994: 95). Official narratives claimed that existing differences would vanish under the “supremacy of the proletariat” (Echols 1981: 4). Official cultural policy also aimed to achieve a balance among the ethnic and regional diversities by creating a multicultural canon of culture, which was represented as a joint product and reflection of all working people (peasants, workers and the intelligentsia). Party officials emphasized that the term ‘national’ had a different meaning from that of the past when it referred more specifically to the peasants.1 The socialist notion of the term narodno (which actually means ‘people’s’ or ‘popular’) included the rural population, workers and so-called ‘honest intelligentsia’ and therefore the inhabitants of both villages

1 In contrast to the connotation that this term had in the nineteenth century, especially in relation to romantic nationalism, during the socialist period it was used to propagate the homogeneity of the people and the ‘undifferentiated’ masses (Buchanan 2006: 35). 36 chapter two and cities (Marjanović 1959: 108; Nedeljković 1962: 100; Nedeljković 1968: 45). In this way, the concept of national culture changed, since the ‘new folk culture’ (narodna or pučka kultura) now included all people (all working masses). The concept of musical folklore was conceptualized in the same way: Musical folklore is the music created and passed on from generation to generation by wider layers of working people, who do so in accordance with their natural artistic instinct, disregarding the learned conventions of music theory. (Žganec 1962: 6) The creation of new folk culture was part of the broader ‘modernization project’ that was characteristic of socialist societies in general. The socialist ideology was based on Marxist-Leninist notions of ‘progress’ and ‘improvement’ of the entire society, economically as well as spiri- tually. As Deema Kaneff claims, the development program needed a display to show that social transformation had occurred, and the field of folk culture was one public field where the state commitment to progress was demonstrated (Kaneff 2004: 140). On the other hand, the traditional heritage was seen as an amusement and a form of popular entertainment, and not as a real threat to the state’s multicultural politics. Customs, music and dances were regarded as part of people’s everyday lives, deeply rooted in their lifestyles and mentality: But church gatherings (crkveni sabori), slava, and various entertaining village dances from ancient times are not only the outcome of backward influences or the result of a wider agenda for their presevervation, but in great part a desire for amusement and expression. (Archive of Yugosla- via, League of Communists of Yugoslavia, hereafter: AJ. 142, The Report on the Plenary of SSRNJ – Socijalistički savez radnog naroda Jugoslavije or the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia 1959, F-616) As Mirjana Laušević also points out, since it had a local rather than a national (ethnic) character, traditional rural music had never been considered dangerous to Yugoslav supracultural ideology and so was not placed under strict control (Laušević 1996: 119). The officials’ main intention was to offer new, ‘contemporary’ content created in accordance with socialist demands, but in connection with the ‘existing cultural forms.’ The ‘artistic’ presentation of folk heritage was intended to improve traditional culture and society as a whole. Party leaders asserted that the new folk culture should be represented in a ‘cultured way’ as confirmation of the society’s overall development village gatherings: the politics of representation 37 and the “natural process of the development of folk heritage in the future development of the nation” (Zečević 1968: 219). The concept of amateurism amaterizam( ) was the most important feature in the creation of the new folk culture in the official discourses. Amateurism was presented as a spontaneous collective expression and “a basic necessity of each individual subject in the aspiration to be part of the ‘wider social community’ ” (Supek 1974: 8, 9). As emphasized in the official narratives, this concept of culture emerged as a response to the old traditional cultural life, on the one hand, and the elitist oriented activities of high culture, on the other. It was conceptualized as the culture of all working people, spontaneous mass cultural activity (ibid. 11). Shared cultural activities and their voluntary character were particularly presented as a symbol of the new enthusiasm: “Amateur- ism connected volition and creativity with the new ideology and the true belief in a better future” (Đorđević 1997: 230). As part of the process of creating the new folk culture, the state established new institutions and agencies to suit the demands of the new cultural policy such as Houses of Culture, Collective Houses (Zadružni domovi), KPZs, and various amateur associations and groups. Among the main protagonists in policy making and bearers of amateur cultural activities were the state-sponsored KUDs – Kulturno-umetnička društva or Cultural-Artistic Societies, established or reconstituted across Yugoslavia after World War II.2 These usually consisted of junior and senior dance groups, singing groups and folk music orchestras. Depending on the level of the KUD’s ranking, it performed at various state (Federal), Republic3 or local events, but also traveled to international festivals.4 The ideology of ‘brotherhood and unity’ was advo- cated through KUDs’ repertoires based on the folk songs and dances

2 Professional state KUDs were established in the capitals of each of the six Yugoslav Republics. The most prominent ensembles in Serbia were KUDBranko Krsmanović, KUD Žikica Jovanović Španac and KUD Kolo from Belgrade. These top-ranking ensembles, led by professional choreographers and experts in the field of folk heritage, were and still are considered to be the ‘folk-ballet’ ensembles (http://www.krsmanovic .co.yu/files/main_en.php). 3 The term Republic referred to the constituent federal unit of Yugoslavia –Republika. 4 For instance, KUD Kolo, founded in 1948, gave concerts in more than thirty countries in its first twenty years of work: Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Soviet Union, China, Burma, Canada, USA, Israel, Poland, Tunisia, Japan, Australia, Indo- nesia, India, Egypt, Morocco, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Ireland, Hungary, Finland etc. (www.kolo.rs). 38 chapter two of all the nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia,5 apart from the local (national) repertoire. Practicing each other’s folk songs and dances provided a sense of unity and a first-hand experience of multiculturality. The officials particularly insisted on close cooperation between village and city KUDs among the Yugoslav Republics (Fulanović-Šošić 1981: 268). Through the inclusion of dance and music heritage from all the Republics, diversity was displayed as a positive aspect of Yugo- slav society (Laušević 1996: 119). Apart from presenting the equality of all Yugoslav national cultures, KUD performances were considered the most ‘artistic’ representation of cultural heritage (Petranović 1988: 319). They represented each nation or ethnic group by its most characteristic folk pieces, creating a highly standardized version of folk culture. These ‘stylized performances’ were used as the main elements in the battle against ‘backwardness’ associated with the old forms of folklore performance. Creating the ‘highest quality of interpretation,’ would, in the opinion of the policy makers, affect the further development of folk dances and music (AJ-507, Materials of Commission for Ideological-Educational Work, 47–165).

The Ambiguity of Cultural Policy

On the ground, the policy regarding folk culture was often applied controversially and changed in accordance with the overall socio-economic transformations of Yugoslavia. In the first years after World War II, the centralized system of party committees supervised all aspects of social activity: civil organizations, the economy, international relations, education and culture (Petranović 1988: 72). The state’sAgitprop services6 were aimed at ‘channeling’ all spontaneous behavior of the people and sending it in the ‘right direction’ (AJ, Central Commit- tee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, Minutes from the

5 Yugoslavia was a multinational and multiethnic society, consisting of six constituent nations (Croats, Macedonians, Muslims/Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slo- venians) and nationalities (Albanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Italians, Romanians, Roma, Slovaks, and Turks). Nations were recognized as full citizens, while nationalities had a highly developed level of minority rights. 6 The Ideological Commission of the Central Committee of the League of Com- munists of Yugoslavia (Ideološka komisija Centralnog komiteta komunističke partije Jugoslavije) and the Commission for Education of the Department for Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Komisija za školstvo Uprave za propagandu i agitaciju Centralnog komiteta SKJ) were called the Agitprop services. village gatherings: the politics of representation 39

Commission Meetings, 507, VIII-1). The cultural department of the Agitprop provided prospects for the organization and development of culture by establishing theaters, orchestras, literary and various music groups. The development of mass culture was asserted as the principal goal of official cultural policy. By the end of 1947, more than 400 Houses of Culture and Collective Houses had been built in villages in order to spread the mass cultural activities. Their main aim was to implement the state’s program of education and propaganda about ‘positive norms and values.’ In the newly opened cultural institutions, ‘responsible party comrades’ (odgovorni drugovi) organized cultural and educational activities, “propagating the ideas of brotherhood and unity, Slavic solidarity and Marxist theory” (Đorđević 1997: 73). Artis- tic freedom and domestic and international cultural cooperation were presented as the main cultural policy goals. At that time, the first folklore festival was organized in Belgrade.7 With the beginning of the 1950s, political relations with the West grew progressively warmer, which resulted in the further liberalization of certain segments of political, public and economic spheres of life in Yugoslavia (Naumović 1996: 56). The period of ‘revolutionary romanticism’ when culture was evaluated on the basis of socio-political criteria, was broadly criticized in dominant discourses, and the strong state-party cultural policy model was sidelined (Đokić 1974: 95). In rural areas, the process of collectivization was abandoned in 1953, owing to its divergence from the dominant ideology of ‘self- management’ (samoupravljanje).8 The post-war project of establishing Collective Houses in villages around Yugoslavia began losing momentum by the early 1950s, as a result of the changes in policy regarding collectivization. The dominant narratives criticized the invasion of amateurism (also called ‘folkloromania’), particularly the ‘low’ quality of the repertoire and the absence of contemporary, realistic topics: The performing of folk dances today in culturally developed environments represents an artistic event for neither the audience nor the performers

7 Folklore festivals do not have a long history in Serbia. Before World War II there had been only one event of this kind in Belgrade (that was in 1938, organized by the Association of Journalists) (Petrović and Zečević 1981: 283). 8 The concept of ‘self-management’ was introduced in the 1950s as a way of reduc- ing state control over the economy and enabling decision-making by the workers themselves. Socially owned companies were supervised by worker councils, which were made up of all employees, who decided on issues concerning division of labor, general production methods, scheduling, customer care, etc. 40 chapter two

themselves. This kind of widespread activity emphasizes negative aspects of folkloromania as a phenomenon in our social life, which represents the rural influence and the retrograde past. A dominant orientation toward folk song and dance ensembles suppresses other, more appropriate forms of amateurism, which makes for poor results and causes the decline of culture and entertainment (kulturno-zabavni život) in general. (AJ-142, Report on the Plenary of SSRNJ 1956, F-616) The second half of the 1950s was particularly marked by ideological tensions between mass culture, on the one hand, and artistic ‘high’ culture, on the other. The policy makers insisted on the ‘modernization’ of peasant culture by importing ‘high culture’ elements into culture and entertainment in villages (for example, modern dances at village dance gatherings).9 The importance of close cooperation between village and city KUDs and their joint contributions to various cultural events combining rural/urban repertoires was especially emphasized (AJ-142, Materials of Commission for Ideological-Educational Work, 47–164). From the 1960s, various councils for culture or cultural funds were established, with the aim to achieve more centralized institutionalization of cultural activities. The Council of Cultural-Educational Asso- ciations of Yugoslavia (Kulturno-prosvetno veće Jugoslavije), which was established as a joint Yugoslav institution in 1954, reactualized its activities. In Serbia, the most important was the network of KPZs and the state-supported festivals and reviews, which represented crucial elements in ‘channeling’ amateur cultural-artistic activities (AJ-142, Materials of Commission for Ideological-Educational Work, 47–164). With the establishment of brass band festivals and corresponding events,10 the re-actualization of discourses of amateurism began, along with a new phase of revival of local heritage (Lukić Krstanović 2004: 57). Amateur bodies were the main organizers of cultural pre- sentations, together with individuals from local communities – writ- ers, ethnologists, composers, and journalists, and local authorities and party administrators.

9 Dancing the waltz or other ‘modern’ dances together with folk dances at dance gatherings in villages was asserted as an extremely positive practice (AJ-142, The Report on the Plenary of SSRNJ1956, F-616). 10 The first Balkan Festival of Folk Dance, Music and Song was organized under the aegis of the First Belgrade Tourist Fair in Belgrade in 1960 (AJ-142, Materials of Commission for Ideological-Educational Work, 47–165). Guča, today one of the most famous brass band festivals was founded in 1961. village gatherings: the politics of representation 41

The period up to the mid-1960s was marked by economic reform and extensive industrialization. The dominant trend was mass migration from villages to cities,11 and the main goal of the young rural population was to obtain non-agricultural employment (Puljiz 1989: 11). Cooperation with the West increased even more. The tourist industry that developed in Yugoslavia called for the establishment of new regional folklore festivals. In 1968, after the intervention of the Cul- tural Council of the Socialist Republic of Serbia (Savet za kulturu Socijalisičke Republike Srbije) and the Cultural-Educational Council of the Parliament of Serbia (Kulturno-prosvetno veće Skupštine Srbije), a relatively new phase in cultural policy began. Rural culture was presented as the key issue in the cultural policy in general. With the revived interest in village culture and increasing scholarly work in the field of traditional heritage, different courses of action for the preservation of traditional musical genres were undertaken, not only at state level, but also in local settings (Petrović and Zečević 1981: 283). This shift in official policy resulted in the foundation of new state- supported cultural events dedicated to rural culture at the Republic level, and one of them was the Village Gatherings. The 1970s were marked by significant political and economic transformations, which made the social climate in Yugoslavia more complex. The Constitution adopted in 1974 introduced a concept of cooperative relations among the Yugoslav Republics as independent entities within the Federation (Petranović 1988: 415). Solving the ‘peasant question’ continued to be presented as the ultimate goal of the new socio-economic policy. The Constitution contained the Asso- ciated Labor Act, which regulated the position of private farmers, and the position of the peasantry and its rights in general (First-Dilić 1986: 355). The Act stated that private farmers had “fundamentally the same rights as workers,” assuring an improvement in living conditions for people working in agriculture. The urbanization trend in rural areas continued, and the mechanization and modernization of agricultural work particularly expanded (Puljiz 1989: 19). In the field of culture, the Tenth Congress of SKJ –Savez komunista Jugoslavije or the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (held in Belgrade, from 27th to 30th May 1974) brought about the most significant shift in the general course of official cultural policy. A struggle

11 It is estimated that in the period from 1949 to 1971, 5.5 million people abandoned agricultural work (Puljiz 1989: 24). 42 chapter two against all features of nationalism and all kinds of cultural ‘kitsch’ was declared,12 as a response to the overall intellectual crises and national tensions (Đokić 1974: 174). Insistence on the equal treatment of all national and ethnic cultures, and restraints on competition and all kinds of ‘social anomalies,’ were intended to prevent further conflicts between Yugoslav Republics. Party authorities particularly criticized the intellectual elites for their bourgeois and nationalistic culture- oriented attitudes, which were recognized as subversive of Yugoslav multiculturality. They presented the lack of cultural exchange and the low level of cooperation among the national cultures as the main problem.13 Cultural cooperation between Yugoslav Republics was proclaimed to be beneficial for all national cultures, by insisting on the plurality of Yugoslav cultural traditions and their interlinkage. Administrative forms of cultural cooperation, highly formalized and based on professional contacts between institutions and cultural organizations, were asserted to be an inadequate model for the multicultural nature of Yugoslav society (Majstorović 1974: 185). The policy makers claimed a huge gap between the working class and artists (i.e. ‘cultural producers’). The concept of mass culture was no longer positioned in opposition to elite culture, but the latter was instead considered to be part of the mass activities. Thus, emphasis was now on direct, first-hand experience and cooperation realized through direct contact between working people and the ‘cultural producers.’ In order to support more direct cooperation, institutions called SIZs – Samou- pravne interesne zajednice or Self-Governing Interest Societies were founded, aimed to mobilize people into taking an active part in decision-making processes. A new concept of ‘joint work’ (udruženi rad) was introduced, as an alternative element of social unity and cohesion. Official narratives propagated the new concept of Yugoslav culture

12 The phenomenon of ‘kitsch’ in the local context included all kinds of artistic works considered aesthetically impoverished and morally dubious. In the field of music, the newly-composed folk music – NCFM (novokomponovana narodna muzika) was particularly criticized as kitsch, a musical form of the lowest quality. NCFM emerged in the mid-1960s in the former Yugoslavia as the genre which combined the local folk music with Western production and technology. Its emergence is situated within the process of the migration of the rural population to cities, visible in its aesthetic duality which converged in pop culture and the idealization of peasant ‘roots’ (Vidić Rasmussen 1995: 241). 13 During the 1970s and 1980s, the Republics became more and more independent and increasingly isolated from each other, which enabled the sub-elites (Republic elites) to obtain more power (Morokvasić 1997: 70). village gatherings: the politics of representation 43 created as a result of joint work and ‘self-management free cooperation’ (samoupravna slobodna saradnja) (Dretar 1981: 117). The main idea was to overcome all national and regional differences by creating an alternative method of cultural production through “the social-productive everyday activity within the local community and joint work organizations” (ibid.). The official rhetoric supported decentralization of cultural policy, transferring responsibility from regional or Repub- lican cultural institutions to local SIZs, which had their own working plan and budget. The centralized system of supervision was changed in favor of greater engagement of predominantly local authorities and local Houses of Culture or KPZs. As part of the main narrative of the ‘democratization of cultural relations’ or the ‘socialization of cultural policy’ (Hadžagić 1979: 167), the old administrative-bureaucratic way of financing culture was abandoned, announcing the end of cultural policy ‘from above’ (Gavriš 1981: 113). As a result, a certain number of events still remained under the authority of the Republican ministries, but many of them were now organized by local cultural bodies (Lukić Krstanović 2004: 57). It was asserted that this process would erase national differences and usher in the new concept of unity (Gavriš 1981: 119). This radical shift in the course of cultural policy revealed the increase in nationalistic forces across Yugoslavia and growing conflict between national cultural elites. The cultural climate of the time was marked by conflicts and tensions, and the predominance of nationalist discourses over concepts of multiculturality and Yugoslav supra-culture. The battle against rising nationalism was the dominant narrative in public discourse, particularly visible in the field of culture, which became the main arena for struggle over problematic identity issues. The same policy was continued during the 1980s, when the centralized system of supervision was further transformed in favor of the greater engagement of local initiatives. However, the concept of national culture remained the focus of public debate. After Tito’s death, in the 1980s, processes of privatization and economic re-structuring started, followed by an overall economic and political crisis, which culminated in the breakup of the country at the beginning of the 1990s. The narratives of the official cultural policy presented above illustrate the concepts and goals of the intellectual and political elites, while in practice their application was, as stated, often controversial. The discrepancies between official narratives and their social performance seem to be particularly visible in the field of rural culture. 44 chapter two

Despite the ideological emphasis on progress and modernization, slug- gish agrarian reforms, industrialization and low investment in agriculture showed that the rural areas were largely neglected by official policy in Yugoslavia (Hoffman 1959: 562). As a result of the post-war project of ‘de-agrarianization,’ the role of agriculture in the Yugoslav economy gradually diminished.14 In the case of village cultural life, the situation was essentially similar. Even though official representatives propagated development away from ‘traditional cultural backwardness,’ in practice few concrete actions were taken in the field of village culture. In his article on the impossibility of village cultural development, Ivanišević argues that the treatment directed at village cultural life actually revealed the marginal position occupied by rural culture in the overall policy in Yugoslavia. He points out that the village has always been designated as a retrograde force in society and a symbol of backwardness, neglected by official policy and the authorities (Ivanišević 1977: 173). Taking into account the generally low level of investment in rural culture in Yugoslavia,15 cultural activities in Ser- bian villages were dependent on the level of regional development, with visible inequalities between areas. A strong bureaucratic structure and centralized budget resulted from the fact that more than 90 percent of the money went to financing cultural institutions in municipalities, and just 10 percent to the villages. As a result, cultural life was mainly in the hands of local cultural workers and enthusiasts, who usually worked as volunteers, which was the case with Village Gather- ings. Unlike state spectacles at the Republican or Federal level, with their highly formalized structure and supervision by party leaders and policymakers,16 local village cultural events in Serbia were free from strict supervision by state authorities. Events such as Village Gather- ings, which were focused on local rural culture, were rather considered marginal and neglected by the policy makers and party authorities. Regarding this discrepancy between official policy and its application in practice, in the following sections I will present both the official

14 In the period 1948–1971, the total number of the agricultural population declined by 26.1 percent, and their proportion in the total population by 33.7 percent (First- Dilić 1986: 344). 15 In 1978, from the entire budget of the Republic of Serbia’s Cultural Association (Republička zajednica kulture), only 4 percent was dedicated to rural areas (Ivanišević 1977: 171). 16 The most important and biggest ones were organized on Federal holidays such as the Celebration of 25th May – Marshal Tito’s Birthday and 29th November – Day of the Republic. village gatherings: the politics of representation 45 discourse of Village Gatherings and the personal accounts of my interlocutors, in order to offer a multi-sided interpretation of cultural life under socialism in Niško Polje.

Village Gatherings in the Official Discourses

With the beginning of the 1950s, Niš became the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern Serbia. The re-establishment of the National Theater and National Library and the foundation of the Symphonic Orchestra in 1952 made for a rather rich cultural life in the city (Milovanović 1975: 425). Together with the cultural institutions, the work of the city’s KUDs was revived; these were established within the newly-founded factories.17 In 1958, the Cultural-Educational Asso- ciation of the Niš Municipality was founded, while in 1965 the Minis- try of Education established the University of Niš (ibid. 431, 423). In the 1960s and 1970s, the policy of industrialization and recruit- ment of employees for the new factories produced rapid mass migration from the neighboring villages to the city of Niš. This resulted in a significant decrease in the agricultural population, from 53.7 percent in 1931 to 7.49 percent in 1981. On the other hand, an increase in the mixed population – daily migrants or commuters18 – occurred (Simonović 1995: 83). These people remained active in agriculture and continued to live with their families in the countryside while also working in industry. As a result, many of the agricultural households were transformed into mixed-type households with two kinds of income (from and beyond agricultural work). The immediate consequence of the rural-urban migrations was that the number of Niš citizens doubled in the first thirty years after World War II.19 In the period from 1961 to 1991, several villages became part of the Niš sub- urban area, while others joined the city (the villages of Donji Komren, Donja Vrežina, Brzi Brod and Novo Selo). Hence, migrants from poor

17 Such as KUD Stanko Paunović within the Syndicate of the Railway Section and KUDs of the Mechanical and Tobacco Industry of Niš (Mašinska industrija Niš and Duvanska industrija Niš). 18 Donna Buchanan uses the term ‘urban villagers’ for the same phenomenon in Bulgaria (Buchanan 2006: 39). 19 According to the last census from 2002, this area has 381757 inhabitants: in the city of Niš 250518 and the surrounding areas 131239 (The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/axd/en/osn.htm?#books). 46 chapter two and distant villages migrated to villages closer to Niš, which influenced changes in the population of the villages in Niško Polje.20

Village 1948 1981 1991 Brenica 767 596 600 Brzi Brod 568 2939 3665 Čukljenik 562 357 318 Donja Vrežina 552 2262 2696 Donja Studena 730 464 384 Donji Komren 589 4204 4919 Gornja Studena 523 443 433 Gornja Vrežina 1531 1301 1290 Gornji Komren 606 840 722 Gornji Matejevac 4058 3086 2924 Hum 1270 1435 1497 Jelašnica 1817 1778 1724 Kamenica 2044 1017 900 Leskovik 485 415 347 Malča 1692 1344 1249 Novo Selo 607 2973 3689 Prosek 287 438 470 Rujnik 723 642 585 Trupale 1667 2128 2223 Vukmanovo 633 469 406

Figure 5: Population statistics in the Niško Polje villages

In the area of Niško Polje, electricity, running water, sewage systems, and asphalt roads contributed to a lifestyle transformation. They also influenced changes in village cultural life. Considering the state’s attempts to institutionalize the cultural activities in villages, in the mid-1960s, the regional authorities, along with cultural workers and village enthusiasts, started to organize amateur folklore groups. Mar- jan Radaković, writing about cultural life in his village of Donji Kom- ren, comments that during the late 1960s and 1970s the cultural life in the villages of Niško Polje flourished (Radaković 1997: 5). The local cultural centers established various sections: folklore groups, a dance school, literary groups and others. Marjan Radojković had this to say about amateur activities in his village of Gornji Matejevac:

20 However, people from the rural areas not only migrated to Niš or neighboring cities, but also to Vojvodina (the northern province of Serbia) or emigrated abroad, becoming ‘guest workers’ or Gastarbeiters (predominantly in Austria, Germany and Switzerland). village gatherings: the politics of representation 47

Today’s village, a village of socialist relationships, maintains only the socialist culture. This requires that the amateurism in a village should be, in its true meaning, a part of the overall amateur and cultural life in our society. (Radojković 1974: 7) Village Gatherings, as the first organized annual cultural activities, were established in 1973 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.21 There were some corresponding events in other Yugoslav Republics, but overall the focus was predominantly on Serbia and its two prov- inces, Vojvodina and Kosovo. The formal leader was the KPZ of Serbia situated in Belgrade, but the real organizers, as well as the last link in the bureaucratic chain, were the KPZs and the Houses of Culture at the local level. These institutions were established as part of the above- mentioned overall project of the ‘enlightenment of villages,’ with the function of educating the village population and developing the culture of rural areas after World War II (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616). The official name for the event was ‘The Competition of Serbian Villages,’ but in a local variation in Niško Polje as well as in colloquial language, they were called Village Gatherings. The competitions were organized at four levels of territorial governance: the local (lokalni-seoski), the municipal (opštinski), the regional (regionalni) and the Republican (republički). All activities were assessed by a jury appointed by the Regional Board, comprising five to seven qualified cultural and educational workers, medical doctors, agricultural experts, architects, ethnologists, music teachers and journalists (from the Regulation). Local competitions were organized within one region as specific gatherings of villages, where one village hosted its rival. Local winners were given an opportunity to compete at the regional level, and, if successful, at the final show organized at the Republic level. The so-called final parade was organized in the village that won the final competition (see the list of village winners in appendix 3). The program of the final competition was broadcast by the media (usually the Second Channel of National Television), and winners at all levels were awarded various prizes (which were given to the village and ranged from books for the local library to television sets for the local House of Culture).

21 In the same year the Regulation was also ratified, functioning as the main official document of this event (see the adapted version of the Constitution from 1990, appendix 2). 48 chapter two

Photograph 2: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1983

Owing to the socialist ideology of modernization, the principal objective of the event was, according to the Regulation, “enhancing the development of villages, providing better living conditions and upgrading their cultural life, as well as improving production, health, communal and other services concerning village populations” (clause one of the Regulation, see Appendix 2). The socialist agenda of raising the educational and cultural level of the rural population was directed at improvements in the cultural life of rural areas.22 The villages competed in five domains:

– Organization of agricultural production and the results accomplished in this field – Development of education – Building and settling of the village – Cultural activities – Protection and development of the environment

22 The socialist project of ‘modernization’ was particularly directed toward groups that were associated with ‘backwardness,’ such as peasants and women. Donna Buch- anan points out that peasants became the backdrop against which ‘progress’ was mea- sured, at the same time as being its source (Buchanan 2006: 41). village gatherings: the politics of representation 49

Photograph 3: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1987

In the field of culture and entertainment activities, villages competed in the following disciplines:

– Usage and popularization of books – Usage of press, radio and television – Organization of amateur cultural activities and mass-participation of children, teenagers and adults in different areas of creative activity (theater, music, dance, literature, visual arts, photography, etc.) – Collecting, systematizing and preserving cultural heritage – Knowledge of local history – Collection of oral folk heritage and data for the book series ‘Village Chronicles’ (Hronike sela) – A variety of cultural events (literary and musical shows, theatrical performances, exhibitions, movie shows, etc.) – Sports activities

These kinds of communal activities were greatly encouraged by the authorities. The activities within amateur groups and collectives were seen as crucial in reinforcing sociability, a sense of responsibility and 50 chapter two organization and many other positive qualities of young people (AJ- 142, Materials of Commission for Ideological-Educational Work, 47–164). More extensive participation in Village Gatherings was recommended, which could include all villagers regardless of their age and occupation: We had here all generations from pre-school children to people a hundred years old. They were united by the cultural-artistic life, some through folklore, others through ‘genuine’ songs (izvorne pesme),23 all were united. We had around five generations and all of them stayed on the stage – including those singers who sang the old, ‘genuine’ songs, that is to say, the folk songs. (Velibor Stanković, Prosek) Education, as the most important element in the new Yugoslav peasant family ideal (Woodward 1985: 244), was promoted through Vil- lage Gatherings as having a crucial role in creating ‘healthy’ socialist subjects and suppressing ‘retrograde’ ideas and ‘old’ attitudes towards life and culture. Local schools were therefore particularly involved: apart from the performances of local folklore and vocal and instrumental groups, the required part of the program comprised school choir performances. The concepts of modernization and emancipation were embodied in the structure of the repertoire through the import of ‘high culture’ elements such as the music school students’ performances, or a modern dance. By the 1980s, pop and rock music with electric instruments were also included in the program of Village Gatherings (Radaković 1997: 11).24 Village Gatherings represented the rural social milieu but also an attempt to reconcile the ‘old’ with the ‘contemporary,’ which was a feature of the socialist lifestyle in general. The above-mentioned inclusion of contemporary urban trends in the program was part of the overall agenda to modernize and develop rural areas. Diverse elements in the program of the Village Gatherings enabled this perfect relationship, since different generations who participated in the program provided the connection between contemporary trends and ‘tradition.’ This concept offered equal significance and the desired harmony between

23 The category of ‘genuine’ songs was discursively associated with the ‘authentic’ and ‘pure’ traditional folk music and conceptualized in opposition to the above- mentioned newly-composed folk music – NCFM, which were perceived as a hybrid product, folk music appropriated for the mass-market. 24 See the programme of the Gornja and Donja Studena village in appendix 4. village gatherings: the politics of representation 51

Photograph 4: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1987 rural and urban cultures, as an integrating process of all social subjects in building a classless, socialist society. Nevertheless, since Gatherings were focused on rural life and achievements in local culture, the urban public was not particularly interested in these events.25 The minority cultures kulture( nacionalnosti) were represented at Village Gatherings through the participation of villages from Vojvo- dina, a multi-ethnic province of Serbia. In the case of Serbia proper, the Republic organizers confirmed the active participation of the Vlach community from villages in northeastern Serbia. According to their statements, the Roma, the biggest minority community in southeastern Serbia, was not well integrated into peasant society, and for this reason did not take part in the event.

25 As Rudi Supek wrote in his article about amateur activities and public practices in Yugoslavia during the 1970s, the events focused on village culture were not promoted and propagated in the public sphere. Not only the authorities, but also the media considered them irrelevant and did not pay enough attention to these types of activities (Supek 1974: 15). My interlocutors also emphasized that at the regional reviews, which took place in the city of Niš, the audience consisted mainly of the participants’ relatives and villagers, while the urban population was not interested. 52 chapter two

The 1990s and After The attitude toward Village Gatherings varied over the years, according to political and economic changes in Serbia. The event began to lose momentum after the breakup of Yugoslavia but still continued to exist during the leadership of Slobodan Milošević.26 Milošević’s controversial politics of flirting with both socialist and nationalist ideas (propagating at the same time both Serbian nationalism and the Yugoslavian identity) (Jansen 2005: 21), resulted in the survival of many socialist cultural practices, in addition to the new ones created in accordance with the new political demands. The policy of continuity with the socialist past allowed the preservation of several socialist manifestations and holidays.27 Paradoxically, in the rural environment, which was at the same time proclaimed to be the main force supporting nationalist politics, cultural life functioned just as it had for the past thirty years. As has been mentioned, during Milošević’s rule, Village Gatherings continued to be held in many areas. However, with the beginning of the 1990s, the weakening of the administrative system of the KPZs and the generally volatile political climate caused a loss of interest in the Gatherings among the villages themselves. Interlocutors emphasized that the multi-party system, which brought about a strong polarization of political orientations, was the main obstacle to organizing the event. One of the members of the board of the KPZ of Serbia and Editor-in-Chief of the book series ‘Village Chronicles,’ Petar Marković, emphasized that, after the democratically oriented parties won the local elections in Niš municipality in 1996 and with the dissension between the Republic and local authorities, organizing Village Gatherings became increasingly difficult. Frequent changes in local governments and party conflict were the principal reasons why it was very difficult to find people willing to cooperate on the same project in the 1990s. After the end of Milošević’s rule and with the democratic changes which began on October 5th 2000, the network of KPZs was recog-

26 Marija Bišof, the current secretary of the Serbian KPZ, states that some leading administrators of this organization during the 1990s were closely connected to Milošević’s Socialist Party of Serbia. 27 For instance, 7th July, a socialist holiday celebrating the Uprising Day against Fascistic Occupations (Dan ustanka protiv fašističke okupacije) continued to be celebrated during Milošević’s regime, and was abolished in 2001. village gatherings: the politics of representation 53

Photograph 5: Village Gatherings in Trupale village, 1990 nized as inappropriate due to its association with socialism and connection with Milošević’s policy, and stopped being supported by the state. As a result, what had been the most important cultural institution in Serbia for more than forty years, with more than eighty local branches, lost its official status and financial support. As a specific kind of substitute for the KPZ, the Ministry of Culture established an institution called ‘The Agency for Cultural Production’ Agencija( za kul- turnu produkciju). Today, the main KPZ in Belgrade is one step from closing, with just two employees (including the director), and without financial support, awaiting an official decision about its formal status. As for KPZs at the regional level, almost all of them were shut down, transformed into Cultural Centers or making way for existing ones. Only six of them are still active under the same name. In Niško Polje the KPZs are closed, their property has been stolen, and most of the villages’ libraries and Houses of Culture have been abandoned. The closure of the state institutions that made up its institutional framework meant that Village Gatherings were no longer organized and deemed irrelevant and frivolous. In general, the event was criticized because of its ‘old fashioned’ concept, which was not in accordance with the current social and political moment, and the new demands of the post-socialist market economy and entertainment industry. Apart 54 chapter two from political changes, other factors that caused the discontinuation of Village Gatherings included the lessening of the once crucial role of schools. Because of the absence of state support, the active participation of local schools in its realization was no longer required, and teachers stopped being involved in the organization. Although Village Gatherings were considered irrelevant by the ‘Democratic parties’ bloc, the attitudes of the local authorities varied, regardless of their political orientation: in some municipalities, the Socialist Party of Serbia, the main supporter of KPZ activities during the 1990s, came out against the Gatherings, while some local authorities belonging to the ‘Democratic parties’ bloc backed both the KPZ and the event. As a result of such a policy, the Gatherings still have continuity in certain regions of Serbia (predominantly in eastern and central Serbia in the municipalities of Zaječar, Jagodina, Kruševac, Kraljevo, Kučevo, Leskovac, Požarevac and Petrovac na Mlavi), but only as an independent project of the local cultural institutions, without governmental support.

Village Gatherings in the Personal Narratives

How did the female singers, other participants and local organizers perceive Village Gatherings? Talking about the socialist period sometimes triggered contradictory emotions in my interlocutors. Taking this into account, their stories unveiled the strategies of remembering and reconstructing the past, but also the ways in which current economic, political and cultural changes have shaped their narratives of the socialist past. As I mentioned in the Introduction, the women’s stories about musical experiences during the socialist period contain the current social climate. In this way, post-socialism entered the focus of this study as a moment in which memories about the past are constructed and narrated, as the interpretative standpoint of people’s personal accounts.28 Recollecting the past, my interlocutors stated that after World War II many customs were forbidden by the new authorities. They con-

28 Mojca Ramšak, a Slovenian ethnologist who uses the biographical method in her research, asserts that personal memories and life stories are crucial for understanding the way people connect personal experience and an interpretation of the past with their social environment (Ramšak 2000: 30). village gatherings: the politics of representation 55

Photograph 6: The Krstonoše custom, Prosek village (1990s) firmed that party officials sanctioned celebrations which were seen as contradictory to the Communist Party’s ideology. Deemed especially ‘dangerous’ were the collective rituals connected with religious holidays and the Orthodox Church, first and foremost the custom of Krstonoše (a village custom dedicated to the fertility of the fields, led by an Orthodox priest). Similarly, the kraljice, discussed in Chapter One, whose name was reminiscent of royalty, was also strictly proscribed. In some villages, girls tried to rename this custom Titovke (instead of saying Kralj – King, they used Tito in the refrain of the songs): Text: Reci, kralju, kraljice gospođo. Tell, the King, the Queen lady. Da podigne barjak u visine, To raise a banner high, da vidimo vojsku devojačku. So we can see the girl’s army. became: Reci, Tito, titovke devojke, Tell, Tito, Tito’s girls, da podigne barjak u visine, To raise a banner high, da vidimo vojsku devojačku. So we can see the girl’s army. However, this altered version in practice did not take firm root: 56 chapter two

With titovke, it was like that. And just when it should have been done, they did not allow us. In the municipality, in the villages, they did not allow us to organize kraljice and mention the word Kralj. And we changed it so that instead of kraljica we turned the words into Tito, Tito’s girls. (Rusanda Arsić, Donja Vrežina village) Moreover, I heard from Vera Đorđević from Brenica village that in the first few years after World War II, her father was punished and fined for allowing her to be kraljica. Životka and Zorica Stanković from Brzi Brod also told me that as young girls still in primary school, they were flogged by their teacher because they participated in the custom of lazarice. Kostadin Gocić from Donja Vrežina village was impris- oned and questioned by the Intelligence service (Uprava državne bez- bednosti – UDBA) as to why he had participated in the custom of Krstonoše. Furthermore, local authorities punished disloyal villagers who practiced customs such as Slava, Orthodox holidays – Mother’s Day (Materice) and Father’s Day (Oci) or the celebration of the Ortho- dox New Year (Vasuljica). However, villagers told me that while there were many punishments for practicing the old customs in the first few years following World War II, the authorities later became more lenient, and many people practiced religious holidays, though mainly in the domestic sphere. On the other hand, new holidays were established such as the 1st May – International Worker’s Day, and 29th November – Day of the Republic or the New Year, with the intention of replacing existing holidays.29 Replacement of existing community rituals and celebrations by the new tendency to institutionalize cultural activities was not met with approval in the villages. Organizers of Village Gatherings emphasized that in the first few years of holding the event, it was very difficult to introduce this new way of cultural consumption to villagers. Velibor Stanković complained that it was a struggle to present new activities to the villagers: “You know, that was all a difficult struggle, I needed great patience. That could not be worked out so easily.” Dragan Todorović

29 In the first years following World War II, the establishment of new village holidays connected with the revolutionary past, supposed to be substitutes for the old religious ones, was insisted upon, such as the day of the village, the day of the foundation of the local school, the day of the village’s electrification or the building of a canal for irrigation (AJ-142, The Report on the Plenary of the Socialist Alliance of SSRNJ 1959, F-616). There is an interesting data about introducing the new custom called communist slava, in fact the family’s slava used in the new political context (Antonijević 1978: 91). village gatherings: the politics of representation 57 from Vukmanovo village explained to me that he had experienced serious problems in persuading people to participate in Village Gath- erings. He decided to apply for participation in the regional competition in the name of his village by himself. Yet Vukmanovo was a very poor village, and there were not enough people interested in supporting this idea: No, they did not know what was good. I told them: People, we are expanding our society, but we are stuck here, we have closed ourselves off and do not talk with anyone, living just between field and house (njiva-kuća) and that’s it. We are blind, here we are blind even though we have eyes. Let’s open up to neighboring villages, to see how they live, what kind of people they are, what they drink, eat, wear, what they think. And to get to know this, let’s apply. He encountered obstacles in organizing vocal and dance groups in the first years of the event, as villagers considered his work flawed and irrelevant: I went from house to house to ask the master of the house first: “Would you allow your wife to sing in the group, we want her to perform at the Village Gatherings?” He responded: “No chance, to go there to waste her time, go away, you do not have more important work than to go around the village gathering women.” My God, they told me something like that, like I was a loser. He started preparations without support, or a proper place for meeting and training. In the beginning the group had rehearsals in a big room, performed in the old school or built stages out of benches and carriages. This kind of improvised stage was not convenient for dancing as it was very unstable and precarious for the dancers. However, after the first difficult years, his village obtained a House of Culture, which made operating conditions much better. As a result, a few years later Vukamanovo became one of the best participants in Vil- lage Gatherings: We were debutants, you cannot imagine, a man would rise from the grave to take part in the program, the kids also said: “Uncle Dragan, when will we perform?” Not to mention the boys and girls who wanted to prove themselves. That was really euphoria. This quotation, along with the other stories of my interlocutors, illustrates how, as a new cultural activity in the rural environment of Niško Polje, Village Gatherings became very popular among the villagers after the first years of adjustment. All members of the village community 58 chapter two were delighted by the opportunity to welcome people from other villages and promote their village to the best advantage. They stated that, even though in many villages of Niško Polje the halls of Houses of Culture were still under construction and in some cases lacked windows and heating, during the performances they were always crammed with people. Vukašin Mitić explained that they sometimes even made a temporary hall: Until Trupale got a House of Culture, we did not have a hall. We made it from planks, made a shack, since it was winter and held the Gatherings there. We also held them in the open air; we had just the white walls of the future hall, which was under construction and without a roof. As Velibor Stanković from Prosek village also noted, everyone was prepared to help in making the exhibition successful. Someone offered a room for practicing; others assisted in setting up the stage or clean- ing up the village: We prepared everything, there were the tables, we served lunch, and people ate and drank. Everyone brought what they had. And there people do not bring just anything. From food, drinks, roasting. And also barrels of beer, these big schooners.

Photograph 7: Dance in front of the House of Culture in Trupale village, Village Gatherings, 1987 village gatherings: the politics of representation 59

Program participants were also dedicated to preparing for the competition, and amateur groups from the villages of Niško Polje often won at the regional Gatherings.

Nostalgia or Subversion? As has been pointed out, the discourses of my interlocutors regarding Village Gatherings expressed significant ambivalence. Their stories acknowledged the present post-socialist reality, showing the dynamics of sentiments regarding the socialist past – denial of the past, on the one hand, and nostalgia, on the other: “The grey phase of transition, as a jump between past and future constructed multiple images of the past, positive and negative, difficult and improving” (Creed 1999: 224). The distinction between ‘bygone times’ and a current moment defined as ‘new times’ was particularly apparent in their narratives. The ‘bygone time’ is remembered as a period of suffering because of the difficult lifestyle (compared to today’s mechanization and technology), but also as a time of harmony, cooperation and unity: “Anger, resignation and selective nostalgia for the socialist era seem more significant in defining the new subjectivities” (Hann 2002: 93). People glorified village life as idyllic, a time marked by friendship, togetherness and generally good relationships between people. As Olga Stanković from Donja Studena village recalled, “We lived differently at that time. Lots of things happened, my son, lots of things, it was wonderful.” They particularly emphasized good social relationships, seeing the strong relationships between relatives, neighbors and among the peasant community in general as the most important ben- efit of bygone days. In their stories, the past was portrayed as a period marked by joint singing and dancing, which involved all members of the community in common social activities. As Životka Stanković from the same village lamented: We were walking down the road, walking and singing. People sang. Now there is no love, children, no sorrow, there is nothing now, no help, nothing. Now there is only spite. The Gatherings had a significant position in the villagers’ memories of the past as a joint activity of all community members. It was presented to me in a highly positive light, as an event that was extremely beneficial to village development. The villagers emphasized that the Gather- ings were an excellent opportunity for young people to engage in extra activities, to learn the old songs, dances and customs, and to meet their 60 chapter two peers from neighboring villages. For older people, it was a good way to revive memories of the past and have a great time together. These occasions thus functioned as new ways of socializing and a specific ‘outlet’ in the villagers’ everyday life. According to their stories, they especially enjoyed traveling with local amateur groups, and participating in various exhibitions across the former Yugoslavia.30 For instance, groups from Donja Studena, Komren and Vukmanovo performed at the Festival of the Folklore Heritage of Serbia in Topola (Sabor narodnog stvaralaštva Srbije), the Folklore Groups Review (Smotra narodnog stvaralaštva izvornih grupa), the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb (Međunarodna smotra folklora u Zagrebu) and the Balkan Festival of Folklore Heritage held in Ohrid (Balkanski festival narodnog stvaralaštva u Ohridu). In remembering the Gatherings, my interlocutors particularly emphasized that people involved in the organization were enthusiasts who worked for no pay. They recalled how close contacts and even intimate relationships and marriages arose from these competitions, and that it was often through joint amateur activities that people who did not get along gradually overcame conflicts and became friends again. They expressed disappointment at the disappearance of Village Gatherings as important events that had provided a sense of unity and cohesion. In their minds, although people today have a much better quality of life, their social relationships have seriously deteriorated: “Young people have everything but know nothing” (Ilinka Despotović, Tru- pale village). In contrast to the ‘bygone times’ when people sang and danced at local community gatherings (‘dancing every Sunday’ – oro svaku nedelju), people today spent most of their time watching TV, ‘locked’ in their houses. The people I talked to stated that they did not visit their neighbors and relatives as often as they had done in earlier times. In addition, local organizers stated that young people were not interested in village cultural life. The female singers expressed disap-

30 Mobility had an educational function in socialist ideology: apart from rural-urban migration for schooling or work, traveling was seen as important for the emancipation and widening of the villagers’ horizons. According to Stef Jansen, the sense of mobility is generally present in the memories of the former Yugoslavia. A longing for the ‘big country’ and free travel is the result of the post-Yugoslav restriction in mobility caused by war, difficult economic circumstances and visa policy (Jansen 2005: 224). village gatherings: the politics of representation 61

Photograph 8: KUD Vukmanovo from Vukmanovo village at the International Folklore Festival in Zagreb, 1982 pointment at the fact that no one was interested in performing the old songs anymore. They regarded the period after Village Gather- ings stopped being organized as a time when old songs and customs completely vanished from the everyday lives of villagers. As Verica Mitić lamented, “Now there is no lazarica, no kraljica, there is nothing.” They said that young people and particularly their grandchildren seemed to be averse to the old style of singing, which they disparaged as ‘howling’ (zavijanje). Local cultural workers and organizers added that nowadays there was no entertainment suitable for young people in villages, apart from that provided by local clubs and cafes. They stated that villages were empty, abandoned by young people, and that only primary school children were interested in the cultural activities of the villages, but that after they sampled city life for the first time, they became embarrassed by those kinds of festivities, seeing them as ‘rustic’ (seljački). In general, villagers expressed serious disappointment at the discontinuation of Village Gatherings after the ‘democratic changes’ had taken place in Niš. They professed that these events had contributed greatly to village life, especially during long winter days when there was little 62 chapter two to do. In their opinion, the new authorities gave preference to urban culture, neglecting cultural activities in rural areas. Some of them even told me that the policy makers aim was to build up an urban-based society (građansko društvo),31 and thereby distance themselves from their rural origins. People generally felt abandoned both by the local administrators in Niš and by the Republic authorities who had let cultural life in their villages die out. As Vukašin Mitić commented, “Vil- lage Gatherings lasted a long time, until 1996, or maybe 1995. And then the politics started, the war and it all changed, shut down and changed.”32 They explained to me that individual ideas and energy did exist, but without municipal or state support, it was not possible to realize any project. Observing my interest in the Gatherings and village cultural life, many of the ex-local organizers asked me to help them in reviving this event. This reveals the lack of connection and relative mistrust between the institutions and authorities, on the one hand, and the rural population in Niško Polje, on the other.33 While working on the organization of Village Gatherings, community members shared common duties, interests and goals, which provided cohesion in the rural community. This was a significant feature in creating the image of the sociable past, where everyone tried to help and contribute to community development. To quote the people I spoke with, the main life qualities of those times were socializing (druženje), helpfulness (pomaganje) and unity (zajedništvo). At this point, I find Gerald W. Creed’s study of the erosion of ritual practice in post-socialist Bulgaria particularly useful in demonstrating the role of public displays as an important forum for sociability during socialist times (Creed 2002: 64). The case of Niško Polje confirms a similar practice whereby social relations under socialism were strengthened

31 Which in the very etymology of the phrase excludes peasants. 32 It is important to emphasize that the collapse of socialism and the subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia were not represented by my interlocutors as the major turn- ing point in their narratives. For them, the most important discursive boundary was not 1991, the year of the dislocation of the former Yugoslavia, but 1996 (the year of the first significant political changes at local level since World War II) and 1999 (the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by NATO forces). This attitude is probably a result of the feeling among many rural people in southeastern Serbia that the war was happening far away and that they were not personally involved in it, while the NATO bombing had a completely different meaning for them and was recognized as the first ‘real war’ since War World II. 33 This phenomenon of misinterpretation and tension between the state and institutions, on the one hand, and citizens and social actions, on the other, is broadly present in post-socialist societies (Giordano and Kostova 2002: 89). village gatherings: the politics of representation 63 not only by informal family festivals and gatherings, but by the state- supervised spectacles as well. Their accounts contradict the attitude that all socialist state-sponsored occasions represented artificial forms of communal activity in rural society, events wholly meaningless to those who participated in them. In the life stories of my interlocutors, Village Gatherings were recognized instead as a significant part of their everyday life strategies and were genuinely meaningful, thus challenging the dominant attitudes about state-sponsored cultural activities under socialism as imposed and rigid public forms.34

34 Scholarly writing about socialist culture takes the stance that socialist cultural events were an ‘artificial,’ ‘falsified’ and ‘unnatural’ form of cultural presentation, which differed very much from ‘real life’ (see Olson 2004: 13; Kaneff 2004: 141; Habeck, 11, unpublished article). They consider performance in small groups – within informal settings and among well-known people, and without a strong division between performers and audience – as a ‘natural’ context for traditional musical performance. The claims that in contrast to the notion of traditional performance as ‘pure,’ ‘spontaneous’ and ‘naturally developed,’ the stage performance was considered ‘adapted,’ ‘non- spontaneous’ and ‘channelized,’ will be particularly discussed in the Conclusion.

CHAPTER THREE

REPERTOIRE

Official Music and Local Taste

Apart from expressing positive attitudes towards Village Gatherings, my interlocutors also stated that, as local events, these were not strictly supervised by party authorities. Organizers said that officials were not interested in the program content, and that their function was merely to attend in order to underline the show’s formal nature.1 They told me that the regional organizers and the leaders from the regional KPZ in Niš did not insist on socialist or political content for the program (e.g. revolutionary songs). The village vocal groups sang the traditional repertoire they had performed previously in annual or life-cycle celebrations, now with the new purpose of displaying them on stage.2 As one of the main reasons for this absence of strict state control over the program, organizers cited the lack of a firmly established institutional framework for music-making and the representation of traditional music. Petar Marković, the previously mentioned board member of the main KPZ in Belgrade, was of the opinion that the Gatherings were established with a specific purpose, as a free, unsupervised space, an outlet for subversive activities, allowing people to express their feelings and opinions: “People could talk about everything without repres- sion and fear of imprisonment.”3

1 The state of the acquired materials on Village Gatherings illustrates that these kinds of events were perceived as marginal cultural activities. No archive of recordings of Village Gatherings exists. As the director of the Archive of Radio-Television of Serbia, Mileta Kečina, explained to me, these competitions were usually transmitted live, and the video recordings were temporary. 2 This forms a contrast to other socialist countries such as the Soviet Union, Bul- garia or Romania, where the rural people were highly involved in the creation of new folk songs with explicit political content. New texts mainly concerned agricultural collectivization (see Radulescu 1997: 208; Stere 2003: 85; Olson 2004: 41; Buchanan 2006: 135). In Bulgaria these songs were called ‘songs for the new socialist village’ (Buchanan, ibid. 136). 3 A good illustration of this claim is the song ‘Heroes dance on the ground of Serbia’ (Igrale se delije na sred zemlje Srbije) written by Milorad Mitrović-Seljančica during the inter-war period, which was often performed at Village Gatherings even though it was forbidden by socialist authorities due to its overt national connotations (Lopušina 1991: 246). 66 chapter three

Even though strong censorship of the repertoire did not exist, and officials did not insist on ideological content, a certain degree of guidance was given: Vukašin Mitić from Trupale village and Velibor Stanković from Prosek said that some villages (they mentioned Hum) prepared plays based on the adaptation of important events from the revolutionary past, which always got the highest assessment grades. Furthermore, it was not appropriate to adapt old customs with religious content as, for example, slava. These kinds of performances were not explicitly forbidden but received extremely low assessments. On the other hand, certain customs were more appropriate for stage adaptation (e.g., the wedding ceremony, sedenjka, lazarice, etc). In this way, amateur groups were encouraged to perform certain songs, while others were considered to lack the proper content to be included in the repertoire. The program requirements usually comprised one dance performance (so-called folklor), a stage enactment of one custom, a performance of ‘genuine’ songs and a musician playing a traditional instrument. The repertoire mainly reflected the choice of local cultural workers in the villages, but they were given formal propositions and program requirements by the deputies of the regional KPZ: every year they held a meeting with the regional organizers, who forwarded them instructions concerning the content of the program. According to statements from the field, the regional organizers’ demands were based on a concept of authenticity in repertoire selection and a more ‘original’ style of performance. Dragan Todorović and Velibor Stanković described how they tried to adjust their requirements: They asked for traditional customs or rituals. Yes all that, but to be adapted for the stage. And furthermore, they asked for songs, music, groups, duets or solos. That was a rule for both sides, female and male. Regarding dances, they asked for old dances and original costumes. We had original costumes. For example, these yellow scarves. They were, as folk say, folded, not under the chin, but around the head. Well, we looked for that. Old traditional peasant footwear, we even made them of pigskin. According to the stories from the field, regional organizers generally insisted on the local (village) heritage. The jury’s imperative of ‘positive aesthetic criteria’ allowed only stylistic adaptations, but not in terms of melody or rhythm. The jury members asserted that new genres, for example newly-composed folk songs (NCFM) or genres of popular music, could not be included in the repertoire. They said that repertoire 67

Photograph 9: Enactment of the sedenjka, Trupale village, 1990 there had been attempts to introduce these kinds of genres into the main repertoire, but they would not relent. They added that it was very interesting that after the official program, at a dinner party, the participants indulged themselves by singing the newly composed popular hits. On the other hand, when I asked the village organizers about NCFM performances, they confirmed that they sometimes included singers or instrumentalists who performed this kind of genre: They asked for a ballet group, for example. They also asked for newly- composed folk songs, and also for modern instruments such as the accordion, synthesizer and so on. (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village) Contradictions in the statements of the jury members and local organizers illustrate differences between the ‘official’ and the ‘unofficial’ discourse: the jury members obviously wanted to present the Village Gatherings to me (as an expert, an ethnomusicologist) as a event that was dedicated to the preservation of ‘authentic’ musical forms, where any kind of ‘kitsch’ was unacceptable. While conforming to the prescribed criteria, every local organizer of Village Gatherings had to make a decision about the performance that could bring them a better chance of winning: 68 chapter three

As this modern trend came, the program was more and more arranged in accordance with contemporary requirements to gain the attention of the audience. (Vukašin Mitić, Trupale village) Taking into account the competitive nature of the event and the important role of the jury, the main aim of local organizers and amateur group leaders was to create the most striking performance. Amateur groups practiced for a few months in advance with rehearsals at the village’s House of Culture or in group members’ houses. They tried to create a distinctive program for each year. As Jagodinka Mitrović from Rujnik village confirmed, “We changed the songs anyway, because it was part of the competition, that you could not sing the same songs every year.” Aiming to present an attractive program and get better assessments at the Gatherings, local organizers employed professional musicians (instrumentalists, singers), music teachers, choreographers or directors: We did not have a gusle-player, so we brought in a Montenegrin man who works here, he is a colleague of mine. Unfortunately, he passed away. He had a gusle and we brought him to contribute to our program. But there were people who worked; sometimes we could not do it alone, if we wanted to produce something of good quality. I am not skilled enough for that, I can organize a program, but I did not have enough quality and I am not qualified and knowledgeable enough to do that. But we engaged people from Niš to do that. Mića Verić was the director of that program, maybe you have heard of him; he is now the director of the Puppet Theater. So, for example, we brought choreographers from Abrašević, Stanka Paunovića and Din (all city KUDs). (Vukašin Mitić, Trupale village) Recently, we began engaging a professor. If I may say it more artificially, this was not really traditional, but the program demanded such a concept. The professor who prepared recitals came, and for folklore, a man who teaches dance and who knows about that. Also, a man came for the plays. (Velibor Stanković, Prosek village) With this in mind, every village had its ‘stars’ who were widely popular. Velibor also told me that they had a pumpkin orchestra (orkestar lejki)4 and an old man, Grandfather Mika, both of whom were real attractions on stage. The village of Komren and its bagpiper Kostadin Cvetković, as well as its vocal group Komrenka, were among the most

4 Thelejka is a simple aerophone instrument, made from a pumpkin. This type of instrument was common all over Serbia, but it is usually not considered a ‘real’ instrument. repertoire 69 distinguished in the wider region (Mladenović 2002 and Radaković 1997). Village Gatherings also facilitated a specific form of communication and interaction between people from different villages and regions. The important changes in local repertoire influenced by participation in this event were visible in the practice of ‘borrowing’ repertoire. Organizers confirmed that they included songs from neighboring villages which they had heard from individuals, groups or at informal village gatherings. Dragan Todorović explained, “I have taken something from Suvi Do, from Prva Kutina. For example, I have one song from Matejevac” (all villages around Niško Polje). In this way, apart from the village repertoire, the program also contained some ‘neighboring songs,’ which resulted in both the mixing of local repertoires and styles of performance and their unification.

Indirect Intervention in the Repertoire

Local authorities, organizers and amateur group leaders had an important role in program selection but also in shaping the personal repertoire of the female singers. As has been established, the amateur groups prepared themselves for the stage performance through organized rehearsals. Since the jury insisted on a ‘pure, traditional style,’ at these meetings women refreshed their memories of the songs they had performed in their childhood and youth (mainly before World War II): Well, we practiced, gathered at one woman’s house. We usually went to Dina’s house. To put our voices together. We were alone, we needed no help. With music what is important you have to know by yourself. (Ilinka Despotović, Trupale village) Since these women often came from various villages (many of them moved to a new village after marrying), they combined different memories about the song repertoire. This resulted in a process of adjusting their individual repertoires to a common sound. Dobrisavka Janković from Hum village told me that she learned songs from other women from amateur groups, since she came from a distant village. Other women retold the songs’ lyrics to her: “They recited the songs to me – and then they would tell me to sing this word here, that word there.” Her village repertoire was performed differently in style and melody, and she affirmed that now she knows neither which is theirs, nor the 70 chapter three songs from her village. For Jagodinka Mitrović, who moved from the distant village of Kravlje to Rujnik, it was particularly difficult to sing in a different style, so she had problems when it came to stage performance: Here, they have different tunes. Completely different. As if they distort the tune a little bit. We sing differently. When we went to the Gather- ings, I could not sing, even if you killed me, I could not. Mladenka Ristić from Vukamnovo village stressed that older women taught young ones, but at the same time they learned from each other. In this way, mixed-generation ensembles, where younger singers learned old songs from the older ones, enabled the passing down of the local repertoire. Since practicing customs was no longer a part of everyday life and there was no possibility of refreshing memory through practice, performing at Village Gatherings enabled specific preservation of ‘old’ repertoires. This affected the process of the ‘individualization of performance,’ the practice where one woman (usually a leading singer with the best vocal abilities and the best knowledge of songs) became the main source for the songs. A particular song was often considered to be part of the repertoire of that one woman (e.g. Vera’s song). Almost all the female singers remembered which woman in the village sang the ‘old songs’ and who continued to sing them after she had died. This individualization of performance became exemplary for the ideal performance style, especially to younger performers, and a pattern to follow when passing the song on. For Zlatković Grozdana from Vukmanovo village, her cousin Anđa was the main source of the songs: “Anđa sang these songs. Anđa, and after her Mara, but no one could sing as Anđa sang them.” On the other hand, this kind of practice of ‘learning’ the old songs did not include such a variety of repertoire and left no space for improvization. Owing to the standardized structure of cultural pre- sentations at the Gatherings, the musical diversity of local repertoires was expressed in different tune patterns. Songs were practiced and performed to fit a required pattern, without the possibility of free improvization and spontaneity. Since the songs previously connected to customs were recontextu- alized by stage performance, women transgressed social taboos connected to certain genres of song, performing them regardless of the ritual prohibitions that had existed when they were performed within repertoire 71

Photograph 10: Folklore group from Prosek village at the Village Gatherings, 1978 everyday practice. For example, lazarice or Đurđevdan, which were forbidden to some categories of women (e.g., the performance of the lazarice custom excluding older girls, married or old women), were challenged. Therefore boundaries between song genres became blurred. Female singers presented certain songs that could be performed within several customs (e.g., kraljica’s song in the harvest celebration or for sedenjka). The stage performance probably affected these new inter- genre relations in general. In particular, I found that female singers in the villages of Donja and Gornja Studena had created their own terminology in the classification of songs. They divided the songs into four groups depending on the season – spring, summer, autumn and winter songs. To them, the main parameter for classification was the song’s textual content (if the theme dealt with winter, cold weather or fire, they considered it to be a winter song). By performing on stage, the female singers also gained more freedom in performing different genres without shame or hesitation. They started to perform ‘newer,’ ‘widespread’ or ‘urban’ musical genres, songs that they heard from other amateur groups or on the radio: 72 chapter three

After we got electricity, we had radio, and I bought a gramophone and gramophone records, and after that the cassette and now a CD player. I turn this on and they sing. I had lots of songs. My mother gave me money to buy lunch, but I bought records, and as soon as I came home, I immediately turned the radio on and went to chop wood. (Mladenka Ristić, Vukmanovo village) Consequently, some of the newly-composed folk songs were presented to me along with the ritual songs as part of the stage performance. These are diatonic, with a more developed melody compared to the two-part singing or songs associated with the customs. The tonal structure is based on a minor or major scale:

Music example 7: Zapevala čobanica mlada, Miroslava Jovanović, Malča village

Zapevala čobanica mlada, A young shepherdess starts singing, jasno peva, ovde gora ječi She sings brightly, the mountain echoes da Jevrope ljute rane leči. To heal Europe’s sore injuries. Widening their personal repertoires was also a result of coming into contact with performers from other villages. Village Gatherings created a base for the popularization, distribution and adaptation of songs, particularly because of the authority this event had gained among the local population. repertoire 73

Direct Intervention in the Repertoire

The direct intervention of staging concerned the adjustment of the local repertoires in accordance with the program’s rules and timetable. Taking into account a precise schedule, organizers told me that it had been extremely difficult for them to organize a good quality program that would not overrun its allotted time: The program lasted precisely two hours, and if you had a performance of more than two hours they (the regional KPZ) would cut a part of your program. Sometimes, I went so far as to bring a stop-watch to reduce something that was surplus. (Velibor Stanković, Prosek village) The vocal groups usually performed three songs in accordance with the jury’s requirements.5 The time limit was three minutes for each performance, so songs had to be cut and the text pattern was usually adjusted to two or three stanzas: They did not allow us to perform the whole songs. The program was not long. A song can last three minutes, it was not only us who performed, there were many people there. (Ilinka Despotović, Trupale village) As a result, one of the most significant characteristics of the two-part style in this area, the antiphonal style, was abandoned in stage performance. The singing style, where two groups repeat verses without a break (Jedna peva, druga raspojuje) was subject to shortening. Because of time limits, these songs were reduced, and each strophe was performed only once:

AB AB BC CD becoming CD E DE

Figure 6: Changes in the textual structure

5 Sometimes the jury even chose the songs and dances that would be performed, in order to avoid repetition and to make the overall program more attractive. 74 chapter three

As has been said, the jury’s demands left little space for adapting and reworking the songs,6 but in the manner of singing style there were some interventions. Two-part singing, which was characteristic of the female performances in this area, underwent the biggest changes. The characteristic of this singing style is the drone or syllabic drone singing based on non-metric or parlando-rubato rhythm. It belongs to the two-part singing practice which, together with heterophony and a combination of heterophony and drone singing, represented the dominant singing practice in rural areas of southeastern Serbia. The upper voice sings the melody while the lower voice accompanies on the tonic, making the intervals of a major or minor second. The accompanying voice is passive in text articulation and usually pronounces only vow- els. The melody scope is very narrow (up to a fourth), in a chromatic and usually non-tempered tonal structure:

Figure 7: Tonal structure of drone and syllabic drone singing style

The rhythm is predominantlyparlando-rubato with defined metrical pulsation – it is a syllabic style similar to speaking, with simple rhyth- mic figures. The singing style is loud, with open throat.7 For almost all songs it is typical to have a refrain i at the end of each verse, sometimes at the caesuras. During the stage presentation, instead of the usual three singers, the leaders of amateur groups in some villages introduced two singers performing, finding it more attractive. Velika Jovanović from Gornji Komren village remembered this practice, “Well, it was more attractive if we sang in pairs. Two sing, two sing after. We gained lots of points in that way, and won a couple of times.” In addition, women emphasized that the jury paid particular attention to the ‘harmony’ of their voices. For this reason, they diligently tried to sound ‘like one’ or ‘to sing at one tone,’ and generally became more sensitive in recognizing what would be a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ performance, taking the jury’s standards

6 Unlike in other socialist countries, where the songs were usually arranged for choir performance (Rice 1994: 176; Olson 2004: 54), the songs performed at Village Gatherings did not undergo such drastic transformations in performing style. 7 Guttural singing style. repertoire 75 as an aesthetic norm. Two-part singing was gradually replaced by singing in unison, one of the main reasons being that the women who usually sang together were no longer alive. Therefore, the majority of songs in the field were recorded in a monophonic version, although some of them were remembered (though not performed) in a two-part style. The next two examples give a good illustration: the first was recorded in

Music example 8: Sedenjka song, Donja Studena village (track 4)

Music example 9: Sedenjka song, Savka Milanović, Olga Stanković, Donja Studena village (track 5) 76 chapter three

1978 in Donja Studena village in a two-part version,8 and the second twenty-seven years later in the same village in a monophonic version: The singers’ stories and recorded musical material reveal some generational changes in interpretation, mainly in the style of singing. As they said, for younger singers it was particularly difficult to learn the specific (guttural) style and ornaments. Textual changes are also noticeable, since older singers more often used local dialects, while younger ones usually mixed dialect with the standardized language. The modifications at the end of a word typical of the caesura were not present in younger singers’ performances (for example, instead of the modification of the last vocal Šta se ono na planini belejo, they used the grammatically standardized version Šta se ono na planini beleje). In addition, the usage of extra syllables by adding j or ǽ was more common among older female singers:

Music example 10: Sedenjka song, Miroslava Jovanović, Malča village

Koliko je slnce ogrejalo, How the Sun shines bright, još toliko vojska pretisnula. It is even the biggest army on the way. Konj do konja, junak do junaka, Horse to horse, soldier to soldier, zarosila sitna letnja rosa. The light summer showers have started. Barjak Stojko, družbina mu Friends tell the Banner potijo govori: carrier Stojko: “Uvij, Stojko, barjak da ne kisne.” “Stojko, wrap up the flag Barjak Stojko barjak ne uvija, and don’t get it wet.” nego njima odgovara: The Banner carrierStojko “Mi smo bili devetina braća, does not wrap up the flag, svi smo devet pod njeg poginuli.” But tells them: “We were nine brothers, All of us died under this flag.” Yet the younger ones did not use extra syllables, as visible in the performances of the same song by Jelena Mitrović from the same village:

8 The record was borrowed from the Phonoarchive of the Department for Ethno- musicology of the Faculty of Music, University of Belgrade. It contains no data about either the performers or the ethnographer(s). repertoire 77

Music example 11: Ballad, Jelena Mitrović, Malča village

Koliko je sunce ogrejalo, How the Sun shines bright, nisko greje visoko se vije. It shines low but can be seen higher. On the whole, in the process of staging, musical elements such as tunes, rhythms and timbre did not change, but performance style, ornaments and genre were transformed. On the other hand, amateur groups, because of their visibility in the public sphere, modeled suitable music styles and aesthetic criteria. The best performances from villages all around Niško Polje were presented at a joint show organized at the Military Club in the city of Niš. The winner of the regional contest usually earned the honor of having a special performance in their home village. Radio Niš recorded the local competitions every year and broadcast the chosen pieces on Saturday night shows. In other words, as described above, the presentation of music practices was selective, which opened a possibility for cultural policy to influence music-making in local settings. Even though Village Gatherings did not have highly politicized settings, they created the acceptable pattern of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in the representation of local culture. Therefore, Village Gatherings institutionalized and canonized musical practices in Niško Polje, creating more static and homogeneous representations of the local music culture, but also keeping a good part of the repertoire vivid: “Such manifestations and festivals supported by cultural policy continued transition and enabled preservation of folk culture” (Czekanowska 1996: 93). As a result, the stage performance largely influenced the selection of songs that would be remembered and reinterpreted as ‘representative’ within the field research: according to the information obtained, this event now epitomized the ‘authentic’ and ‘pure traditional style,’ not only in the eyes of the performers themselves, but also in the eyes of the wider community. 78 chapter three

The female singers mostly chose to perform songs from the repertoire of amateur groups which were prepared for the Gatherings as ‘the oldest’ and ‘the most authentic’ musical heritage. Through these events, the canonized repertoire itself was created, but the local repertoire was also updated, which enabled certain songs to stay fresh in the memories of the female singers.

Transgressing Gender Roles?

The most significant changes at the level of repertoire were visible in joint performances by women and men.9 Women started performing alongside their husbands and other male relatives, especially in situations where the women with whom they had previously sung were no longer alive or when, for the purpose of a stage performance, they needed a substitute: This practice emerged at the beginning of the 1980s. I do not know if it was some kind of fashion, or what. Something like – we are married so why not start singing together. (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village) Kosanka Krstić from Hum village started to sing with Branko when her best friend Javorka died: “This Branko, he sang ‘in a female way.’ I sang in Belgrade with him, when we went to compete.” Sava Radonjić explained to me how he began to sing with his wife Ljiljana. Since she wanted to take part in Village Gatherings, when local organizers asked her with whom she would sing, she suggested her husband, which was very unusual. Although the organizers were surprised by this idea, they allowed the two to sing as a duo.

Music example 12: Duet by Ljiljana and Sava Radonjić, Prosek village (track 6)

9 In contrast, in the Soviet Union, the stage folklore affected gender segregation in musical performance. As Julia Olson reveals, owing to changes in village practice, public singing has been associated with women, since their repertoire was considered authentic and more ‘representative’ in comparison with the men’s repertoire, which was recognized as ‘national’ (Olson 2004: 51). repertoire 79

Photograph 11: Duet by Srbijanka Stojanović and Miodrag Tasić, Jelašnica village, 1992

This practice further destabilized the boundaries between gender- segregated performances. Even though categories of male and female songs still existed, the boundaries between them became less restric- tive.10 This practice of appropriating the ‘other’s’ genres influenced negotiation at the level of repertoire.11 In a few villages I heard stories of male singers who performed ‘women’s songs’ at the Gatherings: One man sang them, but he moved to Aleksinac. Milan is his name. The samesedenjka song, something like that, he sang as a woman. Not in a man’s way, but slowly, as women do. (Sevlija Stanković, Trupale village)

10 It is interesting to note that Dragan Todorović avoided performing the refrain i at the end of the verse (da rucne). He claimed that he was ashamed to perform it, since this refrain was considered female. His act illustrates that even though the boundaries between the two categories were transgressed, some musical attributes were still strongly gendered. 11 Women’s appropriation of repertoire which previously belonged to men and vice versa is noticeable in various societies in the second half of the twentieth century, such as Kosovo (Pettan 2003), Corsica (Bithell 2003), and Greece (Holst-Warhaft 2003). 80 chapter three

In this way men, like women, had the opportunity to expand their musical activities and perform genres which were usually reserved for women: No woman can sing that song, because it is very difficult and specific. It is a very old song. It was sung by my grandmother to my mother, and she taught me that song. I have learned it perfectly. I sang that song at Bemus. (Belgrade Musical Festival). (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village) On the other hand, despite contributing to the higher visibility of rural women in public, the representation of women at Village Gatherings maintained the construction of gender relations that were based on a traditional matrix. First, there were no drastic changes in the field of musical activities: women remained in the field of vocal practice, performing the ‘women’s songs’. For them, the predominantly male domains such as playing instruments still remained a non-legitimate sphere of activity. Data from the mid-1980s on female instrumentalists does exist, but with reference to school children who learned to play in music classes or went to music school. They usually performed as part of school orchestras in the segment of the program reserved for ‘children’s folklore.’ In Jelašnica village, I found one instance of female instrumentalists being included in a male orchestra. Miodrag Tasić, a local musician who played several instruments such as different types of flute ( frula, duduk), the accordion (harmonika) and the lejka, made an ensemble of eleven lejkas, whose performances represented a special attraction.12 The repertoire mainly consisted of folk dances kola( ) but also included some original compositions (such as the Jelašnički merak dance). Another attraction of this orchestra was two female lejka players – Miodrag’s neighbors, who were included not as performers, but as an entertainment, since they did not actually play, but simply pretended to do so. He told me that the audience was thrilled by their appearance. Moreover, despite the official narratives of women’s active participation in village cultural life, both the leaders of amateur groups and the main organizers of Village Gatherings were men. Women did not decide about the songs they performed because the final decision about the repertoire was usually made by the local organizers. A few days before their performance at Village Gatherings, women would go

12 Miodrag made lejkas in different sizes, shapes, and tonal structure himself. repertoire 81

Photograph 12: The performance of two schoolgirl instrumentalists, Trupale village, 1983

Photograph 13: Thelejka ’s orchestra, Jelašnica village, 1992 82 chapter three to the House of Culture, the local KPZ or another local administrative office to give a presentation of the prepared repertoire and get the opinion of the organizers: We went down to the Center and started. They told us to get on stage, but without microphones; they just listened to us. And we started to sing one song, and after that another song, and then the third. After that they said: you will sing this song. (Sevlija Stanković, Trupale village) This could be why some women, influenced by my presence, endeav- ored to perform in a way they thought appropriate to a ‘researcher’s ear.’ Since they did not get the opportunity to take responsibility for creating their own performances at the Village Gatherings, they were not sure of the ‘proper’ way to perform and tried to justify it according to my expectations: “Do you want me to sing i at the end of the song?” (Mirka Jovanović, Malča village). That said, women were still dismissed and marginalized as ‘just’ performers, rather than amateur group leaders or show organizers. It was not possible for them to enter into the world of ‘real’ instrumentalists, and they were presented as ‘fake’ players.13 Thus although they were displayed in the public sphere in the new role, women’s musical activity essentially did not transgress existing norms and remained in the traditional domain of music-making. In such a way, the socially constructed matrix was transmitted on stage, and the representation of women still retained the same framework. This kind of dualism, the dynamics between an official identity politics and its performance, illustrates the general presumption that their increased public and cultural visibility did not essentially impact on dominant discourses of rural women’s cultural roles. Donna Buchanan’s illustration of the stance of the leader of the most famous professional ensemble ‘Kutev’ in Bulgaria, who told her that displaying female instrumentalists on stage meant violating the traditional style, since women did not play in traditional settings (Buchanan 2006: 147), supports that claim. Julia

13 Naila Ceribašić points to the same practice among Croatian female instrumentalists, who were not considered ‘serious’ performers until the middle of the twentieth century. They were included in orchestras just as a ‘funny’ replacement for the absent male musician, or played children’s and other ‘non-real’ instruments (Ceribašić 2004: 159). Veronica Doubleday writes about a similar phenomenon in Afghanistan, where the frame drum, as an instrument played exclusively by women, was considered a ‘non-instrument’ (Doubleday 1999: 125). Sean Williams, in his research into gamelan degung performances, points out that for the Sudanese, the quality of the music is diminished when women are included in ensembles (Williams 1998: 79). repertoire 83

Olson also points to the staged representation of traditional gender segregation in Stalin’s Soviet Union: “Women sang in the chorus, while men largely played in the accompanying orchestra” (Olson 2004: 54). Staged representation of gender at Village Gatherings was based on the traditional matrix, due to the jury’s demands for authenticity, which also illustrates the contradictions in the construction of socialist femininity in the public realm. As Occhipinti argues, despite the ideology of gender equality, rural women were still presented in the public sphere as protectors and bearers of the family and household, the preservers of values and virtues (Occhipinti 1996: 15).

CHAPTER FOUR

SINGING EXCLUSION

State Feminism

The gender politics of equality in Yugoslavia was introduced as an integral part of the socialist modernization project: the creators of the new ideology claimed that economic changes would eventually improve women’s social position. At the Anti-Fascist Congress of the National Liberation of Serbia (Antifašistička skupština narodnog oslobođenja Srbije – ASNOS) held from 22nd to 24th February 1944, the ‘new woman’ was proclaimed equal to men, not only in battle and the socialist revolution, but also in the construction of the new society (Božinović 1996: 151). The Constitution of 1946 guaranteed women political, economic and social equality with men for the first time in history. Women were granted the formal right to vote, and to be educated and employed without discrimination (Woodward 1985: 240). By 1946, civil marriage had become obligatory in the whole of Yugoslavia. Customs regarded as discriminatory toward women, such as dowries or the ‘selling of the bride,’ were forbidden (Božinović 1996: 151). Women were permitted to choose between keeping their surname or adding the name of their marital partner’s family after marriage. State law safeguarded the reproductive rights of women and various aspects of social protection (such as maternity leave or caring for the elderly) (ibid.). The legal emancipation of women was realized through employment, since economic independence was represented as a crucial factor in women’s emancipation. Employed women were recognized in public discourse as the main driving force behind the modernization of Yugoslav society. Activities of the newly founded women’s and feminist organizations (the most important state organization was the Anti-Fascist Women’s Front of Yugoslavia, Antifašistički front žena – AFŽ) particularly tried to reach women in rural areas: The first and basic interest is that women, through modernization in agriculture and participation in the communal movement, improve their cultural level and get involved in the socialistic transformation of the village. (ibid. 171) 86 chapter four

The association called the Union of Women’s Societies of Serbia (Savez ženskih društava Srbije) established branches in villages with the purpose of supporting women’s emancipation1 (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616), while rural women were also encouraged to take part in particular committees.2 The crucial acts the feminist activists singled out were the ban on the wearing of veils and scarves (which was directly related to the visibility of the female body in public, as discussed in the first chapter) and the rooting out of illiteracy among the female population in villages3 (Božinović 1996: 171). A crucial long-term objective of agrarian policy in Yugoslavia was asserted to be improvement of the socio-economic, self-management, and political position of rural and farm women, so that they could achieve equality with their male farming and female non-farming fellow citizens (First-Dilić 1986: 342). These changes provided new possibilities for rural women, but the state strategy for gender equality in Yugoslavia found numerous obstacles in putting the ideas into practice. First, the essentialist ‘we’ of socialist feminism considered women as a homogeneous social group, propagating their equality regardless of all regional, ethnic, religious or other differences (Kligman 1998: 26). The ‘gender question’ was reduced to a ‘class question,’ represented as part of the system of ‘higher priorities,’ and thus the emancipation was only seen in terms of class struggle (Funk 1993: 5; Duhaček 1993: 133; Ramet 1999a: 103, 104). In contrast to the individually-oriented Western feminism, socialist gender politics was holistic and collectivist, with no emphasis on individual rights (Funk 1993: 5). Therefore, the rapid economic transformation in Yugoslavia after World War II and women’s equality did not keep pace – while economic reforms were rapidly carried out, customs and patriarchal relationships changed very slowly. Even though the emancipation of women was realized through employment, paid work was still considered less important for a woman’s social identity than the performance of domestic duties. Despite the ideology of equal employment opportunities and equal pay, women’s actual work

1 SKJ founded around two thousand societies at the Federal, Republican, provin- cial, district, and communal levels in Yugoslavia. In 1961 this organization merged with the SSRNJ women’s committees, forming the Conference for the Social Activity of Women (Ramet 1999b: 94). 2 The Committees of Women’s Co-operatives Komiteti( žena zadrugarki) and the Committees of Rural Women (Komiteti seoskih žena). 3 In 1961, the proportion of illiterate women in Yugoslavia was reduced to 28.8 percent over the age of 10, and 75 percent of those over the age of 35 (Đurić and Dragičević 1965: 10). singing exclusion 87 was either clerical or manufacturing (particularly in the textile industry, but also as nurses or primary school teachers).4 Official records also confirm that, despite the formal commitment to gender equality, women remained unrepresented in leadership positions. For instance, in 1957 women represented just 17.2 percent of all members of SKJ (Ramet 1999b: 100). Data from the beginning of the 1960s show that, although women were formally members of SSRNJ and other organizations, they did not participate in elections, celebrations, workplace actions and so on. Instead, their husbands, considered to be the ‘heads of the family,’ participated in Alliance meetings and other activities, in accordance with the prevalent opinion that women were not capable of taking part in political and social life.

Total Women Total Women Functionaries Women number number of of board superior members council members Municipality 1071 146 131 21 5 – Regional 167 32 20 6 6 – Republic 255 37 20 1 16 – Main board 78 7 5 – 3 –

Figure 8: Female board members and female leaders of Syndicates of agricultural, food and tobacco workers – statistics from 1964

These data show the scarcity of women in executive positions. The records confirm that even wives and female relatives of active Com- munist Party members very rarely took part in political meetings and cultural events (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616): Party leaders frequently opposed giving governmental or economic leadership positions to women. The household of party members frequently included women still illiterate, still wearing the veil5 and still forbidden from taking up jobs outside of the home. (Woodward 1985: 242)

4 In 1988 a very low percentage of women pursued engineering careers – electri- cal engineering numbered 13.4 percent female professionals, mechanical engineering 10.2 percent as well as physical and biological engineering. 90 percent of women were students of secondary textile schools, while 84.1 percent were studying to be teachers and nurses (Massey, Hahn, Sekulić 1995: 363). 5 This refers to Muslim women. 88 chapter four

Consequently, the post-war admission of women into the labor force did not seriously revise power relations and long-standing gendered cultural roles. The new ways of socialization outside the narrow circle of household activities enabled women’s self-recognition on two levels: as mother/daughter/wife and as productive individual. The discourse of ‘woman – mother’ was transformed into ‘mother – worker’ (Brunn- bauer and Taylor 2004: 299), for which women paid the price of a ‘double burden,’ by taking on responsibilities at both work and home. Rural society, far from the centers of power, was particularly ignored: “Opportunities reached only a very small number of women: the urban middle class predominantly in the northern regions” (Wood- ward 1985: 240). An increasing fragmentation of the extended family after World War II resulted in the division of land and the establishment of the nuclear family. The above-mentioned way of life in the zadruga was abandoned. The introduction of electricity and mechanization into the working process not only made agricultural work much easier and improved the position of women in many respects but also brought about big changes in people’s lives and their value systems (First-Dilić 1986: 345). As a consequence of the rapid process of industrialization, men who obtained employment in factories moved away to town, which altered the existing distribution of labor.6 Much of the agricultural work fell on women’s shoulders: in addition to household and childcare duties, they were obliged to do the farm chores formerly done by men. This phenomenon of the increase in the number of women directly engaged in farm production was called the ‘feminization of agriculture’ (ibid. 341; Puljiz 1989: 20). Women became the main agricultural labor force, but this ‘job’ was masked by kinship, inseparable from the kin’s joint work or kin obligation in general; it was simply considered a part of rural women’s lives.7 Their activities in production did not include the rights to education or vocational training, taking part in decision-making in Farm Co- operatives or political participation and representation:8

6 Unlike their husbands, women rarely obtained employment in local factories. Official narratives highlighted that men and women in villages were equal, but it was also emphasized that female work was still not valued in industry (Stamenković 1975: 6). 7 According to Maria Todorova, rural women’s double burden was deeply embed- ded in rural life and culture, due to the long tradition of their active participation in the labor process (Todorova 1993: 33). 8 In 1972, of the total number of 865 Farm Co-operatives, only 0.8 percent were directed by women and just 5.3 percent of them were members of the co-operative management councils (First-Dilić 1986: 356). singing exclusion 89

But the man’s influence on the family farm does not weaken with his departure: although physically absent, temporarily or long term, the man remains the head-of-the-family and the head-of-the-farm. (First-Dilić 1986: 353) Official reports concerning women’s position in rural society also illustrate a tension between official narratives and the situation in the field, where women still existed in an almost slavish subordinate position.9 Results reported in the book Family in Transition: A Study of 300 Yugo- slav Villages (Erlich 1971) illustrate how rural women remained in a very difficult position within families, particularly in relation to their husbands and mothers-in-law. The author highlighted that such women did not complain about their problems; moreover, they did not express any demands to change that inferior position (ibid. 227). According to Somerville, many women, despite having been offered the opportunity to be equal to men, for a long time expressed negative attitudes toward their own potential (Somerville 1965: 352). Even though young women were strongly against ‘old patriarchal norms,’ such as arranged marriage, they were rarely supported by the wider community or local institutions (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616). To summarize what has been said so far, as less mobile social subjects, rural women began to receive fresh opportunities (in education and employment). On the other hand, the improvement of their position was by and large symbolic, reflecting an operative quota system for their participation in leadership roles (Slapšak 2002: 149).

Gender and Body Politics in Niško Polje

How did the changes in the official gender politics affect the lives of women in Niško Polje? As has been stated, urbanization and industrialization influenced changes in the structure and functioning of the family. On the other hand, the practical non-existence of welfare services in villages meant that women’s life in rural settings fell further behind city standards. In Niško Polje, just a few of my interlocutors started working after World War II, but quit because of the minimal social support for employed women in rural environments:

9 For example, in 1965, husbands and fathers obstructed the enrolment of rural girls in high schools, since they did not want them to take any female social role other than that of housewife (Đurić and Dragičević 1965: 14). 90 chapter four

I worked in the company ‘The 22nd December’ for four years and six months. We sewed in the sewing-factory. I have also worked as a schoolgirl. I quit the job a long time ago; I did not have anyone to take care of my children. (Mladenka Ristić, Vukmanovo village) Some of them were also active in the Working Co-operatives (Radničke zadruge) established in villages, within special sections of Women Co- operatives. However, for a long time after World War II, employment outside home activities was still considered inappropriate for women. The women I spoke with remained housewives, but this situation changed over the generations, and most of their daughters started to work outside the home. Nonetheless, even some of these had problems because of ambition in their professional lives: Ljiljana Radonjić from the village of Prosek told me that her daughter could not get married in the village because she was working in a company situated in the city of Niš. The main problem was finding a husband who would accept her night shift working hours.10 Ljiljana added that her daughter eventually married a man from Niš, and that they were very satisfied with their son-in-law. As established in Chapter One, the female body in rural society was considered to be a ‘ritual body,’ which had to be under constant supervision by the authorities (supernatural forces or patriarchal social norms). It was qualified, unqualified and analyzed as a body suffused with sexuality, a social body that had to provide the expected fertility (Foucault 1990: 104). The authority of male ‘disembodiment’ over female ‘embodiment’ was realized through different sanctions, taboos and proscriptions, which were part of the cultural practices in rural environments. The body in socialism was conceptualized in a different way, as a classless body, a worker’s body that could erase any differences between social layers. As many authors point out, clothing is one of the most extraordinary indicators of social and cultural change, a communicative device through which the relations of power are constituted, articulated or negotiated (McCracken 1988: 61). The politics of dress in socialism played an important part in the gender politics agenda and in the creation of the ‘new men’ and ‘new women.’ Representation of the body in public discourse was based on unification – the sameness of dress codes at schools, factories and other state institutions, with the intention of bringing rural and urban areas into

10 Interestingly enough, a special meeting dedicated to women’s night-shift work was organized by the SSRNJ in 1979 (AJ-142, List of the Archive Material of the SSRNJ). singing exclusion 91

Photograph 14: Women from the Mitić family, Kamenica village, 194411 line (Kligman 1998: 33). A new image of socialist women was created through a more urbanized and less differentiated regional dress style (Somerville 1965: 359). Women’s dress became the epitome of the modernization of society and their liberation and emancipation.12 In the reports of the SSRNJ, changes in female clothing were presented as an important indicator of rural development. Changes in the clothing of younger generations of women who started wearing new tex- tiles such as buckskin, silk and cotton instead of home-made (woven materials) were identified as a positive tendency (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616). In the socialist discourse on femininity, a village woman in traditional dress with a scarf was the epitome of backwardness, a social subject incapable of making use of the newly established rights and obligations.

11 Thanks to Jeremija and Čedomir Mitić who lent me this photograph. 12 The new femininity was created as an amalgam of worker, peasant and soldier (Neuburger 2000: 174). 92 chapter four

Socialist body politics caused changes in rural areas, changes which depended on the age and social status of a woman. In the first years after World War II, older women in Niško Polje still maintained their dress style with the mandatory scarf. As a result of the new body politics, post-World War II generations of women started to change their style of dress in great numbers. First they stopped putting flowers on their scarves and decorating their hair (kititi se): “They wear them; women wore scarves in our village. But they quit putting flowers as they were ashamed. Girls also quit putting flowers” (Sevlija Stanković, Trupale village). As a next step, women gradually abandoned the practice of wearing a scarf, cut their hair and replaced traditional clothing with urban i.e., ‘fashionable’ clothes.13 Dobrisavka Janković from the village of Hum told me of her problem of becoming socially integrated after she got married. Since she did not have the same traditional clothing as other women in her new village, but wore a new, fashionable skirt instead, they made fun of her and refused to communicate with her. Even though this caused her great pain, she continued wearing the same ‘modern’ clothes until community members adopted the same style. These transformations were also visible in the representation of the female body on stage. Bearing in mind that musical performance is manifested bodily: “to hear a voice, a musical sound, is to ‘have knowledge’ of the corporal and somatic state which produce it” (Sheperd and Wicke 1997: 180), the visual element of the stage performance appears to be extremely important, as a special kind of ‘visual narrative’ or ‘bodily discourse.’ The female singers were specially dressed for the show and usually wore folk costumes (nošnja). By the late 1970s, younger women were gradually becoming embarrassed by the ‘old’ style of dress in everyday settings and started wearing such apparel only for the purpose of cultural events, but the older ones still retained the traditional style with a scarf. Some of the leaders of the female singers’ groups, wanting to make performances more attractive for the jury and audience, persuaded the older women to take off their scarves:

13 However, it is important to bear in mind that individual and family differences caused by a family’s financial status were closely connected to the level of liberalization. singing exclusion 93

Photograph 15: Enactment of the custom of Đurđevdan, Trupale village, 1990

It was at the regional competition in Kamenica. In Kamenica Vule Vukašin Vojinović, the secretary of the Cultural-Artistic Association was also present and he saw our women wearing ručnici (special hats). He did not know what that was. Yet, they wore yellow scarves (šamije) over them, because I had to behave in accordance with the women’s wishes. They did not want to reveal their hair, as they were ashamed, and they always wore scarves over the ručnik (hat). First, they wore the ručnik and on top a scarf and underneath an additional scarf (vrzoglavka). They came to Kamenica fully dressed in the old way, as Turks, really. I said to them that this way of dressing reminded one of the Ottoman influences, the 17th century period. And then, I told them, “Women, take off the scarves!” “Which scarves? Go to hell, you rascal” – they told me. And I said, “If you do not do this, you will not dance and sing and we are going home.” They told me, “Maybe you want us to take off our skirts as well. If we have bare heads, why not go undressed too?” And I told them, “Please, if you want us to develop, let’s make a sensation.” And then, I took the scarf off my aunt first. She said, “Velibor (her husband) will be mad at me.” I said, “Let him be mad. He will not be mad at me, he is my uncle.” When I took off the scarf, I asked the women: “Is it pretty?” And they answered: “Yes, it is. If Grozdana can do it, why can’t we?” And all of them took off the scarves and I put them in my bag. When we appeared on the stage with red hats, that was a sensation. Immediately, the jury, the team which evaluated, started to ask: “Who are they? What is this?” (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo) 94 chapter four

At the same time, this act contributed to the challenging of the stage representations of gender and signified a change in the body discourses and visibility of women as social subjects in rural society. The socialist body politics thus introduced a new representation of the female body in the public sphere, at the same time challenging the cultural meaning of women and the existing gender relations in Niško Polje: “Relations are often mediated through body, as one of the primary media in which sociopolitical relations of power are inculcated and reproduced” (Foucault 1977: 25).

Overstepping the Boundaries

As part of the proclaimed gender equality and socialist modernization agenda, state authorities tried to foster women’s active participation in village cultural life, decrying women’s under-representation in various types of state-supported cultural activities. The official records of women’s contribution to cultural and educational activities in Serbian villages from the beginning of the 1960s highlight the low number of female participants in local cultural-artistic events and cultural life in general.14 As the main goal, the policy makers emphasized the establishment of cultural and entertainment forms suitable for women, since their cultural activity was “still strongly connected with the old and primitive types of entertainment such as religious customs, weddings, and internal informal gatherings (prela, slave)” (AJ-142, Materials of committee for ideological-educational work, 1956, 47–164). The active participation of women in all aspects of social life was emphasized as an important aspect of their emancipation and a reflection of a newly established ‘freedom’ (oslobođenje žena): A girl’s participation in a theater or folklore group represents her entrance into social life, liberation from conservative family restraints, and significant widening of her personal horizons. (ibid.) On the other hand, regarding the resistance toward official attempts to institutionalize village cultural life (described in Chapter Two), the statements of the local organizers and amateur group leaders in Niško

14 It is asserted that only 20 percent of young rural women in Serbia were members of KUDs (AJ-142, The status of women in villages, materials from 1959–1962, F-616). singing exclusion 95

Polje prove that it was very difficult to find women willing to perform on stage when these cultural activities were first introduced to their villages. Dragan Todorović revealed that when he visited each house in his village of Vukmanovo to ask husbands if they would allow their wives to sing, he found that husbands were very often resistant to let- ting their wives perform in public, saying, “Why go there and waste her time? I did not bring her to my house so that she would doll up for everyone else. She has to be beautiful only for me.” Women had to ask for their husbands’ permission for every performance. Generally, they agreed to let their wives perform when accompanied by male supervi- sors, but in some cases they insisted on being there too. Therefore, the female participants at Village Gatherings also had a male chaperone, who was accountable to their husbands for their safety and proper behavior. Dragan mentioned that his godmother, who performed on various occasions over the years, still had to ask her husband for permission to perform, even though she was under his patronage. For this reason, it was easier for the organizers to persuade their family members, sisters, cousins or wives, to perform. What are the possible reasons for considering the stage performance inappropriate and dangerous? Apart from the above-mentioned general resistance to institutionalized cultural activities, it seems that the local understanding of the public/private distinction was crucial. Michael Zimbalist Rosaldo developed a theory based on the work of Meyer Fortes, in which women are always and everywhere identified within the private sphere, while men are related to the public sphere of social activities (Zimbalist Rosaldo 1974: 24, Ivanović 2003: 422). This approach was strongly criticized as unhistorical and feminist theorists have successfully shown the mistake of assuming that the boundaries between public and private are stable. Despite the presumption of ‘separate spheres,’ most social practices and relations are not limited to the principles associated with one or the other sphere. Scholars emphasize that historical changes in the ‘content’ of what is officially or conven- tionally meant by public and private largely affected this discursive distinction in social theory: “The use of the conceptual vocabulary of ‘public’ and ‘private’ often generates as much confusion as illumina- tion, not least because different sets of people who employ these concepts mean very different things by them – and sometimes, without quite realizing it, mean several things at once” (Weintraub and Kumar 1997: 1). Drawing from Susan Gal’s definition of the public/private distinction as a communicative phenomenon that is a product of a 96 chapter four semiotic process (Gal 1997: 261), I have explored how these categories were employed in personal discourses of my interlocutors who used them to demarcate other important ‘official/unofficial’ and ‘visibility/ invisibility’ interrelationships. The notion of the stage/non-stage performance remained closely connected to a public/private distinction in the light of socialist cultural policy, and the creation of the new state-supervised village cultural life.15 According to the stories of my interlocutors, community celebrations and parties associated with the annual and life cycle, as well as informal festivities were associated with a different type of publicity and the stage performance was seen as public activity par excellence, entirely different from other performance situations.16 Stage performance at state-organized events, which occurred in different cultural contexts and where performers were displayed outside the local community, was perceived by the villagers in Niško Polje as a completely new way of practicing culture and seen as real musical shows.17 Although the performers and audience at such events mainly belonged to the same social milieu, stage performance included a strong division between performers and spectators. In addition, the formal nature of the exhibition embodied in the presence of a jury and officials added new elements to the performance. The notion of ‘public’ actually refers to an extension of state control to activities, spaces and relations considered ‘private.’ Where this is concerned, the idea of performing music restricted to local customs and internal gatherings in front of a wider public within an institutional framework was entirely new, and not appropriate for rural women which social public activities, as presented in Chapter One, were limited.

15 Marc Garcelon suggests that the division official/unofficial is more appropriate for understanding everyday life under socialism than public/private (Garcelon 1997: 317). 16 For example, singing to accompany dances at local gatherings such as sabori was not understood as a musical performance. Dancing and singing at these occasions was not regarded by the community as real music-making, but primarily as a way of establishing social ties. These occasions served as meeting places for young people, providing an opportunity for them to talk and dance together, as a specific way of initiation of boys and girls into the status of marriageable persons, as discussed in the first section of Chapter One. 17 In both official discourse and everyday narratives the stage performance was called ‘public performance’ ( javni nastup), which highlights the specific visibility and the institutional arrangements associated with it. singing exclusion 97

Dangerous Profession

Apart from local perceptions of ‘public performance,’ the relationship between professional music-making and stage performance seems to be very important in understanding why the women’s activities within amateur groups were not accepted with approval. As presented in Chapter One, in the eyes of the community, women’s musical activity within custom practices and informal gatherings was not seen as ‘real musical performance.’ These performances were not discursively framed as ‘songs’ or ‘music’ but were contextualized mainly through ritual practice: “It is not a song. It is lazarica (or dodola)” (Golemović 1997: 123). Women who sang within celebratory practices were not considered ‘real’ performers and consequently were not seen as musicians. These discourses of recognition of female performances were strongly linked to the professional/unprofessional distinction in which women’s musical activities belonged to the private, unpaid (domestic) sphere, while the paid performing in public (away from home) was done by men.18 This kind of distinction in the field of musical performance in the rural environment was particularly emphasized. There- fore, for women in rural society, singing within a close community was seen as a desirable gift: Accomplished dancers, and especially singers, are more successful at attracting the attention of young men, and find marriage partners more easily than those lacking the necessary artistic talents. (Petrović A. 1990: 76) Yet performance beyond the domestic environment was not regarded with approval.. It was absolutely inconceivable for a woman to exhibit her musical talents in public. Miodrag Vasiljević, in his book Folk Tunes of the Leskovac Area (1960), quotes the statement of the female singer Nasta Denić from the village of Babičko, who explains that singing beyond private, household settings was not proper in the rural environments: When I was young, women did not sing men’s songs. A girl in the house, in front of her parents or elder persons, could not ever sing any other song except a ritual one from that season. Young singers could find love

18 The distinction between professional and unprofessional performance turned out to be a common cross-cultural characteristic of women’s performances. The practice was well-known to many cultures where women’s performances were considered ‘non-musical’ and female-associated genres not ‘real music’ at all (see Susan Auerbach, Patricia K. Shehan, Hiromi Lorraine Sakata and Karen E. Petersen in Koskoff 1987). 98 chapter four

excitement only in the ritual songs they performed for young people. Only these songs contained love inspiration and that was it. Even these songs we sang alone in the mountains, when nobody could hear us, with stock and in the fields. (Vasiljević 1960: x) I received similar testimony from Milunka Đorđević from the village of Jelašnica: “At that time we did not sing, that was very shameful”19 (Milunka Đorđević, Jelašnica village). Dragan Todorović from the village of Vukmanovo also emphasized that women “sang exclusively in the field during agrarian work in the ritual practice without their husbands’ permission.” In some villages of Niško Polje I heard stories about extremely talented female singers who could not embark on a professional singing career. They told me that it was not possible for them to start singing professionally, since their husbands and family would not approve of this. When I asked why they decided not to try, given the fact they were gifted, Dragan Todorović answered: I do not know. People were afraid of that, as they say here, not to go astray, not to get into trouble. We were introverted people; we were not in the habit of being outspoken with others. We were placed here and there was no chance of moving, that was strong patriarchy. For a long time professional music-making was perceived as a vocation that was inappropriate for women.20 Being musicians was a hobby, not an occupation, and making a living in that way was not something a self-respecting villager would do (Buchanan 2006: 147). The musical vocation in general was strongly identified with the Roma population who were the main musical performers in Serbia.21 After the end of World War II, the women who performed in public were mainly Roma women who usually danced or sang in urban environments. They were much freer in expressing their musical activities,

19 The concept of female musical shame has been examined by numerous authors including Susan Auerbach (Auerbach 1987) and Jane Sugarman (Sugarman 1997 and 2003). 20 Women who performed publicly were recognized in many cultures as ‘immoral’ or ‘lustful women,’ equivalent to prostitutes or concubines. Some of them achieved some level of social dignity as independent women and won social freedom denied to other women, but in general, they remained on the margins of society (Kapchan 1994: 88). 21 Historical records on the Balkan Roma confirm that as early as Ottoman times they were registered within the ‘city garrisons’ as ironmongers and musicians (mehter). Scholars asserted that Roma in Serbia differed by their trade – they were predominantly ironmongers, potters, horse dealers, bear tamers, and musicians (Zirojević 1976: 73; Gojković 1994: 87). singing exclusion 99 but were “often seen as dangerous because of their imputed sexuality and freedom” (Silverman 2003: 120). The female Roma professional musicians were regarded as women of lower moral character – ‘loose’ women, sometimes even as prostitutes. This attitude was associated with the public display of female sexuality and its connection with the market: the tips female singers received when performing in pubs or taverns were seen as a ‘selling of the body’ and as a form of prosti- tution (ibid. 132). Another element that appeared important was the place of performance, since in public discourse the pub (kafana)22 was considered an exclusively male space and a center of men’s entertainment. Women had no right to visit such haunts, and those who did so were considered improper. Professional Roma singers, by displaying their body in this predominantly male space, were seen as having low morals and being socially incapable. Such a practice of stigmatizing professional female musicians is also visible in the attitudes toward the first professional female singers who appeared in Serbia after World War II. These women were identified with Roma and characterized as immoral and shameless. A good illustration of this attitude is a statement given by Lepa Lukić,23 a famous female singing star, who performs newly-composed folk songs, on her singing origins: I participated in local village competitions and almost always won the first prize. I remember the manager of Hotel ‘Jugoslavija’ personally approaching my mother and asking her to let me sing at the Hotel Lounge. At that time, it was considered shameful to sing in restaurants. The female singers’ image was shaped by public opinion, as they were compared with homeless and immoral persons. (from her interview in the Sabor magazine, no. 2, 16.1.1984) The only way for a woman to start a professional career was to have a strong male figure as support. For this reason, professional singers usually married musicians or managers who made public exposure ‘legitimate.’24

22 Thekafana (a pub, tavern, café) has been a central spot for informal socialization, networking and entertainment in rural, semi-urban and urban environments. Offering a specific form of sociability, thekafana is the place where people can eat, listen to music, dance and generally have a good time in the company of their friends. 23 Lepa Lukić started her career at the beginning of the 1960s. 24 The same was the case with female instrumentalists. Radojka Živković, one of the first and most highly regarded female accordion players, performed together with her husband Tihomir. 100 chapter four

Given the above discussion, the female singers’ stage performances at Village Gatherings were obviously comparable to a professional musician’s activity, since the women were exposed to an audience and often traveled to various places to perform, going away from home and domestic duties.25 By performing on stage, rural women challenged the existing norms in the same way as the professional singers. They transgressed the social boundaries, becoming active in a domain predominantly reserved for men, and for this reason their behavior was considered shameful and ‘inappropriate.’

Stage Performance as Performative Negotiation

The female singers’ stories also revealed that villagers viewed their stage performance as frivolous and shameful, making them targets for gossip and labeling them as shameless and immoral: They told us: where are you going, they will make fun of you. Oh, we suffered her and me. They were gossiping and saying all kinds of things. Our neighbors did not understand that. (Ilinka Despotović and Sevlija Stanković, Trupale village) The story I heard from Ilinka’s husband Milorad precisely illustrates that attitude toward stage performance. Ilinka was invited to perform at an event in Macedonia together with her vocal group, and the local cultural worker asked them to prepare a suitable program. How- ever, influenced by the neighbors’ comments about the immorality of women active in amateur groups, her husband did not allow her to perform. Telling this story, Milorad admitted that he had made a big mistake and that today he regretted paying too much attention to other people’s opinion. He told me that he had ruined the opportunity for his wife to push her career further and perhaps go abroad to perform. Since women in rural societies usually shared a collective social identity with their family and kin (Abu-Lughod 1986: 156), the female singers’ activities were particularly supervised by family members, whose reactions to their performances varied. In some families they

25 Carol Silverman’s research on female singers’ state ensembles in Bulgaria shows the same practice of women who sang professionally being considered morally defi- cient and not respected. Her work reveals that many families did not allow their daughters to join the state ensembles in the 1950s (Silverman 2004: 220). singing exclusion 101

Photograph 16: Vocal group from Trupale village, Village Gatherings, 1990 (Ilinka Despotović and Sevlija Stanković are third and fourth from the right) were well accepted, but many women experienced problems, not only with their husbands but also with their sons and sons-in-law: He [my son] did not allow me to sing, he was ashamed, he said: “What will you do there, you just open your mouths like fools.” He threat- ened me: “Just show up on stage, you’ll see what will happen!” (Sevlija Stanković, Trupale village) It was particularly important not to disgrace a family by performing in public. As Sevlija said, “They were afraid I would shame myself.” As a result, many female singers did not feel comfortable enough to accept the organizers’ invitation to participate. As Mirka Jovanović from Malča recalled: Yes, I was young and we were ashamed to go. Four out of five of the officials from the local authorities came to ask my husband to allow me to sing. I wanted to participate, but the household was big and it was different from now. 102 chapter four

On the other hand, their stories confirm that they were very proud when the representatives of the local authorities came to their houses to insist on their participation in organized cultural activities. Mirka also precisely describes this ambiguous attitude concerning stage performance: when a local organizer from the House of Culture in her village of Malča sent her a note to come to the local office, Milka was very concerned: “I was thinking, why me, why is he asking me?” The local organizer wanted to know from whom she had learned the old songs, and then he asked her to participate in the Village Gatherings. When she returned home, her husband was curious about why the local authority was interested in his wife, and Milka told me that she was worried. She had a big house and many obligations, and to her it was not a good idea to agree to participate in the competition. After much persuasion, she finally agreed to take part, but they still had to ask her every succeeding year. She told me very proudly that sometimes even four or five men came to ask her to sing. At some point Milka wanted to quit, but they were insistent, and she kept on performing. At the end of the story, she told me that singing at Village Gatherings was a very pleasant experience for her. Now she remembered great times spent in travel, and often talked to her grandchildren about them: “Well, it was OK for me, too, I had a good time. Traveling and having fun, we went to Đerdap; I was there for three days.” After the first years of adjusting, community members became more tolerant toward the female singers’ stage performance. Women told me that in time, their husbands grew accustomed to watching them perform in public: When they saw that it was all right, all became well. This is not anything special, they just ask: will they pay you for this? (Ilinka Despotović, Tru- pale village) Gradually, as organizers confirmed, women who were ashamed to sing started joining in by themselves: I went to the village fountain and a woman asked me: “Dragane, can I sing? I see that it is very beautiful.” And I said: “Yes, but would your husband allow it?” And she answered: “I will ask him to let me, but if he doesn’t, you come and ask him.” There were women whose husbands agreed when they talked to them and everything was OK. (Dragan Todorović, Vukmanovo village) Through stage performance, by importing new elements to the usual social behavior, the female singers challenged the patterns of ‘propri- singing exclusion 103 ety’ and ‘impropriety’ in the rural area of Niško Polje. The stage, as a center of public activities, provided an opportunity for them to relo- cate their activity from the periphery to the center of social events and to gain power in an officially recognized way. In her performative theory,26 Butler claims that regulatory practices not only represent gender relations, but constitute it, having two functions – representative and productive. Through the constant repetition of discursive practices (sets of meaning already socially established), the gender roles are constituted over again through their performance (Butler 1990: 24). The female singers’ stage performance represented performative acts of negotiating the existing gender hierarchies in Niško Polje. The social aspects of stage performance and particularly its transformational potential appear crucial in understanding the female singers’ activities as litmus paper for the new gender politics and political changes. As ‘social actions,’ they opened a possibility for transformation of dominant discourses through the re-enactment and re-experiencing of the existent gender performance. Within the framework of Village Gatherings as a display of official discourse, stage performance became one of the important elements in the construction of socialist femininity in the rural cultural environment. This influenced a shift in the representational discourse of gender, while at the same time subverting the existing concepts and producing new discourses on women’s cultural role. Did the female singers import this ‘new role’ into their personal lives? Did the reality that they staged become legitimate in their communities? Was the imaginary line drawn between performance and the everyday overcome?

New Concepts of Identity, Subjectivity and Self-Representation

The female singers’ narratives about performing carried an implicit dichotomy in their attitudes. Although they were recognized as important bearers and representers of local culture, they often did not

26 The notion of the termperformative was primarily related to theatrical performance. John L. Austin conceptualized this term quite differently and defined it as the nature and potential of a language, where “to say something is to do something” (Bial 2004: 145). Judith Butler combined these two meanings and established the theory of performativity, by which gender is not a condition which one has, but a social role which one performs (Bulter 1990: xxv). 104 chapter four

perceive themselves as appropriate interlocutors. The phenomenon that especially attracted my attention during the fieldwork was the female singers’ hesitation to talk to me, as music and performing were not ‘appropriate’ subjects of conversation. They were not always open to talking about their public appearance at Village Gatherings, view- ing their performances as frivolous and retrograde. Jevica Bogdanović from Prosek village refused to talk, saying, “That was a joke, we were just having fun and I went to all that, but . . . only Jela, she is still wast- ing her time.” Being afraid of gossip, women also drew the curtains and closed all the doors and windows to make sure no one could hear them sing: “Not me, I cannot. I am in mourning for my brother-in- law’s son who died in Sweden, so they could see me and say: Nuna sang”27 (Rusanda Arsić, Donja Vrežina village). However, after a certain amount of hesitation, women started talking more openly about their performances. This kind of ‘double-voiced’ talk indicates that their experiences conflicted with dominant understanding of amateur activities which were seen by the mainstream social narrative as inappropriate and dangerous. As Kenneth and Mary Gerghen point out, an “active negotiation over narrative is especially invited when the individual is asked to justify his or her behavior, that is, when one has acted disagreeably with respect to common frames of understanding” (Gergen and Ger- gen 1997: 177). On the other hand, the female singers’ ‘double-voiced’ accounts indicate that they started to transform their view of the amateur cultural activities previously imposed by social expectations and norms of rural society. Their understanding became mediated by the dominant socialist discourse of gender equality that they experienced as empowering. In their narratives women recalled their experiences of participating in official cultural events in a positive way. Their involvement in amateur musical activities was an extremely important factor in their personal identification. Bearing in mind the specific kinds of limitations on women’s activities typical of a rural society, the possibility for the female singers to be presented as individuals in the public sphere, engaged as important protagonists in the exhibition program,

27 As a principal reason for their reluctance to sing, women stated mourning. Many older women in Niško Polje mourned their close or distant relatives and were very apprehensive about being overheard singing by their neighbors. In accordance with traditional norms and beliefs, mourning does not allow expression of any kind of positive emotion in public, particularly singing and dancing which are considered as expressions of joy. singing exclusion 105 provided a challenge to their current social position. Moreover, as a counter to the restrictions on women’s mobility, traveling and performing with the amateur groups helped facilitate a certain level of independence. Their stories confirm that they were personally very proud of the stage performances and travel. They were undoubtedly delighted by the geographical and social mobility they achieved, and the important parts of their stories involved travel and contact with people who were delighted by their singing. As Jagodinka Mitrović from Rujnik and Grozdana Đokić from Leskovik stated: I do not want to brag with you here, but I can sing every song. When I went to Zagreb and started to recite some songs, both love ones and tragic ones, one man gave me 50 dinars to write it down for him and send to him. I have pictures from the Village Gatherings, when I went to Bubanj and three days in Aleksandrovac. There was a banquet, the wine . . . you just pour it and drink. I have pictures, I will show you later. I have traveled, I have seen things, and so, if I die now, I would not be sorry. Women generally talked about the most memorable and better- received performances, describing the reaction of both the audiences and juries. All of them pointed out that solo performance was a difficult, but at the same time an extraordinary experience. As mentioned in the examination of the repertoire in Chapter Three, solo performance was atypical, since the women’s songs were usually performed by two or three singers. Similarly, performing without accompaniment was a big change for the female singers. Full attention was directed toward the person on stage, which was a completely new situation for women who usually did not express their own individualities in public. Solo performing was thus a very stressful experience, but in this way women gained self-confidence both as performers and as individuals: When I remember my performance at the Village Gatherings in Pasjača, I went without friends, they could not come, so I went on my own. Now, I remember that I behaved very freely. When I started to sing, the whole auditorium was open-eyed. After my performance one man said: “This is the woman who sang.” (Miroslava Jovanović, Malča village) Given that Village Gatherings were structured as a form of competition, rivalry between amateur groups was often a topic of the female singers’ stories. Rada Zlatanović and Petrija Vučković from Gornja Studena village proudly said, “We in Gornja Studena sang best and our songs were the best.” At the beginning of our conversation, Velika 106 chapter four

Photograph 17: Trupale village vocal group before the trip to Macedonia

Jovanović from Gornji Komren told me that she had won first prize in three villages. She stressed that she had only one worthy opponent and that was her neighbor, Vera. Ilinka Despotović from Trupale also talked about her most serious rival, Marijonka: There were lots of people, me and Miltana and Nastasija, Marijonka and Radmila and some woman also, six of us. But she, she was unique, no one could match her. She sang articulately, every word clear. But as she sang, every word was understandable. The competitive nature of the occasion was very important in the creation of the women’s so-called ‘discourse of competency.’ Even though their goal certainly was not to come close to official circles,28 as a result of their extraordinary knowledge of folk songs, the female singers began to be appreciated by cultural workers and authorities as the embodiment of local culture. Their stage performance altered their social status and power, giving them a specific position of musical authority: “Performing at cultural events, particularly at big ones, the members

28 Competition specific to socialism, according to Verdery, was directed toward achieving a position closer to the privileged circles (Verdery 1991: 424). singing exclusion 107 of the group became important persons, and the first known experts, artists and tourists from their environments” (Ceribašić 2003: 20). The media also played an important role in the construction of the new self-identification of the female singers. Their performances were shown on local and national television, broadcast on radio, or presented in newspapers. All of them showed me the newspaper clippings, particularly the ones with their pictures. TV shows were a particularly significant experience as a source of personal gratification. This public acknowledgment of their talents at the highest level made them feel like professionals. Ilinka proudly talked about their performances at Radio-Television of Belgrade: In Belgrade we barely danced one kolo. You had to turn over to the audience and cameras, so we hardly persisted. They pursued us very much; we danced according to the clock, because they had already prepared the program. First came the News (Dnevnik), and then the rest. But we performed first. As indicated in the Introduction, I have not only examined the ways in which socialist regulatory practices shaped the new notions of femininity, but also how the female singers themselves mobilized these practices in their being and doing. I have drawn on Butler’s theory of performativity, by which politics and power pre-exist at the level on which the subject and its activities are constructed.29 She suggests that the subject is not a base or a product but a category constantly open to being challenged and re-thought, a place of continuous political impeachment (Butler 1990: 182). Even though the emerging approaches criticize Butler’s stance of ‘interiority’ as politically regulated, seeing it as a very deterministic interpretation of processes of individuation and socialization,30 for both approaches, subjectivity is an achievement that

29 For Butler, ‘right on subject’ or ‘stable subject’ is a fake concept, as every position of the subject is produced by politics itself. She sees gender not as a ‘natural’ or ‘essential’ category, but as cultural performance (Butler 1990: 182). 30 Following Seyla Benhabib’s argument, the theory of performativity does not offer a convincing and profound explanation about the capacity of human factors for self- determination (Benhabib 1995: 108). Criticizing Butler’s politically regulated ‘interiority,’ scholars claim the existence of an ontological subject who is based on ontological diversity and not ontological unity. For them, being is radically diverse; difference is the fundamental principle and differing is the ontological assumption. They give creative potential to interiority to react to impulses from the environment, where every situation is potentially unique (Bell 2007: 99). Given the limitations of scope in this chapter, I cannot even attempt to give a review of all the debates on these questions. 108 chapter four

Photograph 18: KUD Vukmanovo in Zagreb, after the performance at the International Folklore Festival, 1982 is placed within the contingency and interconnection of the dynamic environment. I have investigated stage performance as a representational practice that articulated a new socialist femininity, at the same time producing changes in the construction of the female singer’s subjectivity and self-representation. I have focused not only on the phenomenon itself, but also on the complex process of subjectivity construction through stage performance, shifting the emphasis from representation toward experience. The female singers’ stage performance, as a way of expressing their individualities, appeared to be a very important feature of their self- presentation. The extraordinary experience they shared also seemed to be a significant feature in their sense of self. This implies that they used the musical activities in their self-constitution and self-structuring, as a mode of attention and their engagement with the world (DeNora 2000: 61). Amateur activities became an important resource of their subject actualizations, implicated in the creation of a new sense of social agency. By finding themselves in a new environment during stage performance, the women developed new ways of understanding singing exclusion 109 the world and new perceptions of themselves. Their narratives show the interplay of intersubjective and social discourses, mediating the relations between the female singers’ individuality and their social environments, as a strategy for the negotiation and performance of their subjectivities. The female singers started changing their understanding of the cultural and social environment, opening a space for transformation of their subjectivities. Given the above discussion, by performing socialist femininity in public, my interlocutors experienced emancipation and transgressed the patriarchal norms on an individual level. They asserted that, for the first time in their lives, they had evaded the control of their husbands and patriarchal kin relations, and in so doing, obtained a sense of what it was like to participate actively in social life. Thus, they challenged their traditional position and their invisibility, by legitimating themselves as social subjects within the community through achieving a level of autonomy. Even though the socialist ideology of gender equality was politically proclaimed and conceptualized as holistic and collectivist, on the level of female singers’ individual experience and everyday lives, it proved empowering. For them, socialism was not simply beneficial, it was emancipating. Their accounts qualify the assertion that the ‘emancipation’ of women was realized only on the surface of gender relations, without penetrating into the private sphere and inter-family relations, and that therefore “gender equality was not understood, or lived, in cultural terms” (Kligman 1998: 28). Their stories demonstrate how these women were able to transgress patriarchal norms and achieve an enhanced social position, by using the dominant, socialist policy to subvert the gender hierarchies within their social environments. This is not to say that the old female cultural role disappeared. Rather, new roles were allowed to challenge the old ones, opening possibilities for future (or further) political reconsideration. Even though official gender politics proved to be ineffective in fully establishing new gender relations and overcoming exclusion, it created opportunities for improving of the position of new generations of women in rural environments. The female singers’ stage performance in Niško Polje represented a milestone in the process of putting these new possibilities into practice. In this respect, as Funk indicates, “the totality created the possibility for a transformation by the particular” (Funk 1993: 1).

CONCLUDING REMARKS

By examining the personal narratives of women who were involved in amateur activities in their villages from the beginning of the 1970s to the middle of the 1990s, the previous chapters have highlighted the ways in which the socialist ideology of gender equality influenced gender performance in southeastern Serbia. Drawing on the phenomenological feminist approach and that of narrative musical ethnography, this study has shown that personal experience and individual discourse can be used as insightful tools when researching public practices and gender politics under socialism. It has illuminated how the female singers experienced, through their stage performance, the socialist policy of gender equality and proves that complex relationships existed between the personal, interpersonal and political levels. The book further points to the complex, contradictory and even paradoxical nature of Yugoslav cultural policy. It explores how the female singers’ accounts transgressed the binaries usually present in the thinking of socialist culture, such as public/private, ideology/practice, official/ unofficial or state/local, and challenged monolithic interpretations of socialist cultural norms. Much of the understanding of socialist culture is based on the distinction between its official and unofficial spheres. The official culture is seen as an artificial form of cultural production, and the unofficial domain as dominated by spontaneous undertakings which resisted the state-orchestrated actions. As regards musical life, the emphasis is on state institutionalization, professionalization and formalization of performances. What was called ‘arranged folklore’ (staged representation of local musical practices) is interpreted as an ideological reproduction of the socialist state for hegemonic purposes (Kaneff 2004: 7) and as a set of practices which contributed to the demise of old cultural patterns and traditional music practices in socialist societies (Rice 1996: 170). The experiences of my interlocutors reflect an elaborate reciproc- ity between the official and unofficial spheres of cultural activity. The ‘folklorization’ of village music and dance through the staging of the local repertoire was not recognized as ‘static,’ ‘rigid,’ and ‘homoge- nous,’ as it is usually presented in scholarly narratives. For the villagers of Niško Polje, stage performance was not just a state-controlled 112 concluding remarks artistic form, but an activity not separate from other forms of communal activity and everyday practices. Despite the institutionalization of musical activities, the amateur ensembles from the region never aspired to become professionals, nor were members forced to seek a professional training or to obtain musical education.1 They did not see stage performance as orchestrated work, but as a form of leisure activity, involving creativity, entertainment and socialization. Therefore, these ‘state-controlled’ or ‘folklorized’ activities became part of villagers’ everyday life, transgressing the firm boundaries between official ‘imposed actions,’ on the one hand, and unofficial personal affinities and individual participation in the cultural activities, on the other. Another common interpretation is that socialist folk culture was an ideological category used by the authorities to showcase modernization, or “a deceptive façade of a happy and prosperous rural life, which helped to disguise the poor reality of peasant life” (Kaneff 2004: 141). Furthermore, it is seen as a prime tool employed in the nation-building process in socialist societies (particularly in neighboring Romania and Bulgaria). In Yugoslav multicultural policy, on the other hand, folk music was not given such a central place. The country’s opening to the West and the establishment of popular culture production in the 1950s resulted in a liberalization of the music market in Yugoslavia in the late 1950s (Vuletić 2008: 862). The presence of popular Western genres (particularly Anglo-American and Western-European popular music) and the growth of the Yugoslav record industry made folk culture much less important for state ideology than in other socialist countries. Rather than on folklore, which remained marginalized in the public arena, the multinational Yugoslav identity was built on the genres of ‘entertainment music’2 and later on Yugoslav rock. Conse- quently, village shows such as the Village Gatherings were generally considered marginal in the public arena, which resulted in a lack of

1 For instance, in Bulgaria, rural musicians acquired the status of specialized state employees, receiving significant state benefits (such as a state salary, housing and the right to live in a city, along with opportunities for travel), which significantly improved their economic and social status (Rice 1996: 170). 2 ‘Entertainment music’ is a literary translation of the term zabavna muzika, used for the genre that can be defined as equivalent to pop or pop-rock music. concluding remarks 113 strict state supervision of the repertoire, centralized monitoring and evaluation of performances.3 As stated, the organization of the events was in the hands of local enthusiasts who worked quite independently, without regional or national committees to supervise them. Unlike in Bulgaria, where professional composers, conductors and choreographers retuned village music (Rice 1996: 170), the Niško Polje groups did not have trained leaders (or directors) to exert greater control over the repertoire. The village groups were focused on local practices and singers’ personal repertoires and were not forced to learn new songs or write ‘new, politically conscious folklore.’4 Through stage representation, the local repertoire was relocated, but not significantly reshaped and rear- ranged. The general idea of representing new Yugoslav folk culture as a ‘natural continuation’ and ‘development of the existing traditional genres’ was visible in the preservation of local music stage representations in forms close to customary performing practices, without major changes to the tunes or content of the local repertoire. Yugoslav officials’ ambivalent attitude toward the concept of tradition as a category to be modernized but not banned, since it was deeply associated with peoples’ entertainment, was reflected in the performances of the Niško Polje groups as “expressive practices which negotiate between old and new patterns of representations” (Olson 2004: 43). Taking into account that this book explores Yugoslav experiences, which are already recognized as exceptional and famous for their contradictions (Ramet 1999: 90), it is possible that the boundaries between the above-mentioned binaries (ideology/practice, official/ unofficial etc.) appear less stable. However, even though Yugoslav socialism can be seen as a certain exception, owing to its ‘liberal’ nature, the personal experiences presented here dispute the univocal interpretation of socialism in general. The stories argue for the complexity of its social performance, which can be simultaneously formal and informal, central and local, bureaucratic and individual, high- lighting dynamic relationships between ideology, representational and social practices in socialist societies. They urge us to think about many

3 However, it is important to emphasize that this event started during the 1970s, when cultural policy in Yugoslavia significantly changed, as elaborated in Chapter Two. 4 As was the case in Romania, Bulgaria, and Stalin’s Soviet Union (see Radulescu 1997: 208; Stere 2003: 85; Olson 2004: 41; Buchanan 2006: 135). 114 concluding remarks socialisms and their diverse, often dissonant faces, which are neglected in the one-dimensional interpretations of the socialist state as rigid and centralized. By showing the intricate interplay of the personal, the interpersonal and the political in the realm of musical performance, I hope that this book has achieved that goal and provided a multifaceted picture of socialism as experienced by my interlocutors. REFERENCES

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Archival Resources

Archive of Yugoslavia, League of Communists of Yugoslavia, funds: 507 – Ideological Commission of the Central Committee of the League of Commu- nists of Yugoslavia. 507, VIII-1 – Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, Minutes from the Commission Meetings. 142 – Federal Conference of Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia.

Electronic Resources http://www.ni.rs/index-e.html (accessed 13.11.2006) http://www.krsmanovic.org/files/main_en.php (accessed 17.2.2007) http://www.kolo.rs (accessed 17.2.2007) http://webrzs.stat.gov.rs/axd/en/osn.htm?#books (accessed 13.9.2007). APPENDIX ONE

LIST OF VILLAGES AND INTERLOCUTORS

Brenica: Ruža Gocić, 1929, Kamenica Vera Đorđević, 1937 Milica Cvetanović, 1941 Brzi Brod: Životka Stanković, 1926 Zorica Stanković, 1938 Čukljenik: Ilinka Mladenović, 1934 Rada Stanković, 1938 Donja Vrežina: Rusanda Arsić, 1914 Vukosava Gocić, 1923 Kostadin Gocić, 1923 Javorka Radovanović, 1934, Jasenovik Donja Studena: Živadinka Tasić, 1926 Vidosava Stojanović, 1927 Olga Marković, 1934 Savka Milenović, 1938 Olga Stanković, 1939 Dragiša Stojanović, 1953 Donji Komren: Radivoje Petrović, 1913 Jelica Jovanović, 1936, Čamurlija Gornja Studena: Petrija Vučković, 1937 Radica Zlatanović, 1946 Gornja Vrežina: Desanka Petrović, 1924, Donja Vrežina Mladenka Živković, 1927 Gornji Komren: Velinka Jovanović, 1943 Gornji Matejevac: Zagorka Igić, 1926 Ljiljana Cvetković, 1938 Hum: Dobrisavka Janković, 1935, Tamjanica Jelašnica: Milunka Đorđević, 1930, Rautovo Miodrag Tasić, 1946 Svetlana Makarić, 1950 Kamenica: Verica Mitić, 1920 Emilija Gocić, 1932 Leskovik: Grozdana Đokić, 1945 124 appendix one

Malča: Miroslava Jovanović, 1933 Jelena Mitrović, 1948, Knez Selo Niška Banja: Bata Belević, 1943, Bijelo Polje (Montenegro) Novo Selo: Stojan Stošić, 1921 Ljubica Anđelković, 1939 Nikodije Anđelković, 1941 Prosek: Božidar Bogdanović, 1923 Jevica Bogdanović, 1924 Verica Miljković, 1933, Ostrvica Sava Radonjić, 1939, Kamenica Velibor Stanković, 1939 Ljiljana Radonjić, 1944, Manastir Rujnik: Slavka Petković, 1922 Ruža Zdravković, 1924, Hum Jagodinka Mitrović, 1930, Kravlje Trupale: Ilinka Despotović, 1939, Jabukovik (Crna Trava) Sevlija Stanković, 1936, Darkovce (Crna Trava) Vukašin Mitić, 1952 Vukmanovo: Grozdana Zlatković, 1934 Mladenka Ristić, 1945 Dragan Todorović, 1956 APPENDIX TWO

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMPETITION OF SERBIAN VILLAGES

The Constitution contains a general determination of the main goal, mission and vision of the Competition of Serbian villages. It is made up of two separate documents: the Constitution of the Competition of Ser- bian villages and the Constitution of the assessment panels’ work. The first document includes general regulations of realization of the Com- petition, defining all required fields of competitions such as agricultural production, village landscape organization, cultural-educational work, and the protection and development of the environment in villages. A special part of the document is dedicated to the organization of finale parades, prizes and admissions, and the financial support and propagation of the Competition. The second document regulates the work of assessment panels (the jury) and defines assessment criteria for all competition fields: agricultural production and achieved results – 300 points; education – 200 points; building and organization of set- tlement – 200 points; cultural activities – 200 points; protection and development of the environment – 200 points.

PRAVILNIK TAKMIČENJA SELA SRBIJE

I Opšte Odredbe

Član 1 Takmičenje sela Srbije organizuje se sa ciljem da se oceni stanje i omogući brži razvoj poljoprivrede na selu, stvore bolji životni uslovi, obogati kulturni život, proizvodnja u nepoljoprivrednim delatnostima, zdravstvena, komunalna i druga aktivnost poljoprivrednog i seoskog stanovništva.

Član 2 U Takmičenju sela mogu da učestvuju sva seoska naselja sa teritorije Republike Srbije. Akciji doprinose i sve organizacije čija je delatnost usmerena na razvoj sela (poljoprivredni kombinati, zemljoradničke zadruge, privatno preduzetništvo, zadružni savezi, privredne komore, proizvodna preduzeća poljoprivrednih mašina i poljoprivrednih proizvoda; naučne, kulturne, obrazovne, zdravstvene ustanove; sredstva javnog informisanja).

II Sadržina Takmičenja

Član 3 U okviru aktivnosti na razvijanju poljoprivredne proizvodnje, u unapređivanju društvenog i životnog standarda na selu u kulturno- obrazovnoj aktivnosti i zaštiti i unapređivanju čovekove sredine. Takmičenje sela Srbije organizuje se u opštini, regiji, odnosno okrugu, pokrajini i Republici. Sela se takmiče prvenstveno u delatnostima:

1. Organizovanje poljoprivredne proizvodnje i ostvareni rezultati 2. Razvoj obrazovanja i vaspitanja 3. Izgradnja i uređivanje sela 4. Kulturne delatnosti 5. Zaštita i unapređenje čovekove sredine 128 pravilnik

Član 4 1. U oblasti poljoprivredne proizvodnje sela će se takmičiti u sledećem:

a. Korišćenje zemljišta

– obrada zemljišta (procenat obrađenog u odnosu na oranične i obradive površine) – uređenost zemljišne teritorije subjekata (procenat komasira- nog zemljišta u odnosu na oranične i obradive površine) – navodnjavanje i odvodnjavanje zemljišta (procenat navo- dnjavanih, odnosno, odvodnjavanih površina u odnosu na ukupne obradive površine)

b. Rezultati ostvarene proizvodnje

– stepen robnosti-tržišnosti najvažnijih linija proizvodnje u području – prinosi po jedinici kapaciteta pšenica t/x kukuruz t/x šećerna repa t/x šljiva kg/po stablu jabuka kg/po stablu grožđe kg/po čokotu prirast mesa po grlu goveda kg prirast mesa po krmači kg proizvodna mleka po kravi litara (i druge proizvodnje karakteristične za selo) – broj takmičara za visoke prinose u poljoprivredi (procenat u odnosu na ukupan broj gazdinstava zemljoradnika) – ostvarivanje dve žetve na području sela

c. Organizovanje zemljoradnika

– postoji seoska zadruga ili u sastavu druge zadruge – broj udruženih zemljoradnika (procenat udruženih u odnosu na ukupan broj gazdinstava zemljoradnika) – organizovanost štedno-kreditne službe kao delatnost zadruge ili samostalno pravilnik 129

Član 5 2. U oblasti obrazovanja i vaspitanja, sela će se takmičiti:

– rezultatima u elementarnom obrazovanju poljoprivrednih pro- izvođača – rezultatima u obuhvatu dece pohađanjem i završavanjem osnovne škole – u zdravstvenom obrazovanju i vaspitanju (broj kurseva i polaznika) – rezultatima tehničkog i saobraćajnog obrazovanja i vaspitanja (broj kurseva i polaznika) – u primanju i korišćenju stručnih i drugih odgovarajućih listova, knjiga i sličnih publikacija – rezultatima rada na vaspitanju predškolske dece – rezultatima rada učeničkih zadruga i drugih oblika društveno- korisnog rada

Član 6 3. U izgrdanji i uređivanju naselja, sela će se takmičiti:

– u planiranju i ostvarivanju planova uređivanja prostora (urbanistički plan, odluka koja ga zamenjuje, odluka o uređivanju građevinskog regiona ili drugi dokument o razvoju i uređivanju prostora); – u planiranju petogodišnjeg i godišnjeg razvoja u skladu sa propi- sima o planiranju i rezultatima ostvarivanja tih planova; – u izgradnji savremenih stambenih i ekonomskih zgrada u selu; – u izgradnju puteva, vodovoda i električnih vodova i osvetljenja; – u izgradnji i uređivanju škola, školskih kuhinja i drugih školskih objekata; – u izgradnji i uređivanju domova kulture, zadružnih domova ili domova mesnih zajednica; – u izgradnji i uređivanju centra sela ili seoskih trgova; – u izgradnji i uređivanju seoskih dvorišta; – u izgradnji, uređivanju i održavanju sportskih objekata; – u pošumljavanju, sadnji i nezi zelenila; – u izgradnji, uređivanju i održavanju spomenika; – u izgradnji i održavanju zdravstvenih objekata; 130 pravilnik

– u mogućnosti korišćenja javnog saobraćaja; – u uslužnim delatnostima i snabdevanju; – u prisutnosti i korišćenju tehničkih uređaja u domaćinstvima; – u funkcionalnom i estetskom uređenju stanova.

Član 7 4. U kulturnim aktivnostima sela će se takmičiti:

– u korišćenju i širenju knjige; – u mogućnostima korišćenja štampe, radija i televizije; – u uslovima i organizovanosti amaterskog kulturnog stvaralaštva i masovnosti učestvovanja dece, omladine i odraslih u radu sekcija (dramskih, muzičkih, folklornih, literarnih, recitatorskih, likovnih, foto-kino i dr.) – u prikupljanju, obradi i zaštiti pokretnih kulturnih dobara; – u upoznavanju zavičajne istorije; – u sakupljanju narodnih umotvorina i podataka za hronike sela; – u dostupnosti kulturnih dobara i kulturnih vrednosti (književni i muzički susreti, dramske predstave, izložbe slika, fotografija, knjiga, narodne radinosti, bioskopske predstave); – u sportskih aktivnostima.

Član 8 5. U okviru zaštite i unapređenja čovekove sredine sela će se takmičiti:

– u proizvodnji zdrave hrane (površine na kojima se proizvodi zdrava hrana – bez primene hemijskih agenasa – u odnosu na ukupne obradive površine); – u stepenu zaštite zemljišta, vode, stanovništva od otpadnih materija u postojećim proizvodnim objektima (farme, fabrike za preradu hrane i drugi proizvodni pogoni), kao i određivanje mesta za pravilno odlaganje štetnih otpada; – u stepenu obučenosti i informisanosti poljoprivrednih proizvođača za pravilnu upotrebu hemijskih sredstava u ishrani i raznovrsnost ishrane tokom cele godine; – u organizovanosti i realizaciji praktičnih akcija vezanih za unapređenje higijenskih prilika, posebno kroz akcije higijeniza- cije u selima i unapređenja školske sredine; – u ozelenjavanju površina oko komunalnih objekata i goleti; pravilnik 131

– u omasovljenju dobrovoljnog davalaštva krvi (organizacija, zdravstveno-vaspitni rad, evidencija davalaca), kao i briga o deci i starim i iznemoglim licima; – u razvoju turizma na selu;

III Završne Smotre

Član 9 Završne smotre su organizovani oblici iskazivanja i saopštavanja rezu- ltata postignutih u svim oblastima u jednoj takmičarskoj godini. U okviru smotri mogu se organizovati razgovori i savetovanja po pojedinim temama, razne vrste izložbi, dramski programi, literarne večeri, muzičke i folklorne priredbe, sportske aktivnosti. Završne smotre organizuju se u opštini, regiji odnosno okrugu, Pokrajini i Republici. Program završne smotre utvrđuju odbori Takmičenja sela. Vreme i mesto održavanja završne smotre Takmičenja sela Srbije utvrđuje Koordinacioni odbor Takmičenja sela Srbije na osnovu pre- dloga i uslova koje ponude regioni. O programu, mestu i vremenu održavanja završnih smotri obave- štavanju se sredstva javnog informisanja.

IV Priznanja i Nagrade

Član 10 Sela koja su osvojila I, II i III mesto u Republici dobijaju zlatnu, sre- brnu i bronzanu plaketu sa likom Vuka Stefanovića Karadžića, rad vajara Nebojše Mitrića. Pobednik Takmičenja sela Srbije stiče pravo da se kandiduje za Vukovu nagradu. Opštinski, odnosno regionalni odbori Takmičenja sela i druge organizacije dodeljuju određene vrste priznanja selima pobednicima opština i regija.

Član 11 Prvoplasirana sela na svim nivoima Takmičenja dobijaju nagrade. Nagrade prvoplasiranim selima u opštini dodeljuju opštinski odbori Takmičenja sela i druge zainteresovane ogranizacije. 132 pravilnik

Na nivou Takmičenja sela Srbije dodeljuje se prva, druga i treća nagrada selima za ukupne rezultate postignute u jednoj takmičarskoj godini. Nagrade se, takođe mogu dodeliti i za rezultate postignute u pojedinim takmičarskim oblastima. Nagrade se dodeljuju u kulturnim dobrima.

Član 12 Odluka o broju i vrstama nagrada i priznanja za rezultate postignute u pojedinim oblastima donosi Koordinacioni odbor Takmičenja sela Srbije na predlog zainteresovanih organizacija. O vrsti nagrada i priznanja kao i o uslovima sticanja obaveštavaju se, blagovremeno, regionalni i opštinski odbori. Pojedinačna priznanja i nagrade dodeljuju se na osnovu odluke Ocenjivačke komisije.

V Organizacija Takmičenja

Član 13 Opštinsko takmičenje sela je obaveza i uslov za učestvovanje u Takmičenju sela Srbije.

Član 14 Neposredni nosilac akcije u opštini je Odbor opštinskog takmičenja sela.

Član 15 Mandat članova Odbora traje četiri godine.

Član 16 Odbor opštinskog takmičenja sela imenuje Ocenjivačku komisiju koja prati i vrednuje rezultate u jednoj takmičarskoj godini na osnovu pravilnika o radu ocenjivačke komisije.

Član 17 Ocenjivačka komisija sastavljena od istaknutih kulturnih, prosvetnih radnika, lekara, agronoma, arhitekata, etnologa, profesora muzike i javnih radnika broji 5 do 7 članova. pravilnik 133

Član 18 Neposredni nosilac akcije Takmičenje sela u opštini je opštinska kulturno-prosvetna zajednica ili odgovarajuća kulturna organizacija.

Član 19 Selo koje postigne najbolje rezultate, za sveukupnu aktivnost, na opštinskom takmičenju sela stiče pravo učestvovanja na regionalnom takmičenju sela.

Član 20 Regionalno takmičenje organizuje Odbor regionalnog takmičenja sela.

Član 21 Ocenjivačka komisija regionalnog takmičenja sela, obilazi sela pobe- dnike opštinskih takmičenja, upoznaje se sa rezultatima i donosi odluku o selu pobedniku regiona i pobednicima u pojedinačnim oblastima.

Član 22 Prvoplasirana sela u regionalnim takmičenjima stiču pravo učestvovanja u Takmičenju sela Srbije.

Član 23 Na završnoj smotri Takmičenja sela Srbije učestvuju sela koja su osvojila prvo mesto za sveukupnu aktivnost na regionalnom takmičenju sela.

Član 24 Sela koja su stekla pravo učestvovanja na Takmičenju sela Srbije obilazi Ocenjivačka komisija Takmičenja sela Srbije, upoznaje se sa rezultatima i donosi odluku o pobedniku Takmičenju sela Srbije, kao i odluke o nagradama za pojedine oblasti.

Član 25 Ocenjivačka komisija radi na osnovu Pravilnika o radu ocenjivačkih komisija i ovog Pravilnika. 134 pravilnik

Član 26 Ocenjivačka komisija Takmičenja sela Srbije saopštava odluke i proglašava pobednika na završnoj smotri.

VI Finansiranje i Propaganda Takmičenja

Član 27 Materijalna sredstva za organizovanje Takmičenja obezbeđuju se posebnim ugovorima o finansiranju Takmičenja sela koji potpisuju zainteresovana preduzeća u privredi, ustanove u oblasti kulture, obrazovanja, zdravstva i fondovi.

Član 28 Ukupne rezultate akcija i završne smotre u selu, opštini, regionu i Republici prate i popularišu sredstva javnog informisanja (TV, radio, štampa).

Član 29 Takmičenje vodi i uputstva za primenu odredaba ovog Pravilnika i Pravilnika o radu Ocenjivačke komisije daje Koordinacioni odbor Takmičena sela Srbije.

Član 30 Izmene i dopune ovog Pravilnika donosi Koordinacioni odobor Takmičenja sela Srbije.

Član 31 Ovaj Pravilnik stupa na snagu narednog dana od donošenja na sednici Koordinacionog odbora Takmičenja sela Srbije, a primenjivaće se od 15. IV 1991. Godine.

KOORDINACIONI ODBOR TAKMIČENJA SELA SRBIJE PRAVILNIK O RADU OCENJIVAČKIH KOMISIJA TAKMIČENJA SELA SRBIJE

I Opšte Odredbe

Član 1 Rezultat ukupne aktivnosti sela u jednoj takmičarskoj godini vrednuje ocenjivačka komisije Takmičenja sela Srbije, odnosno regionalnog i opštinskog Takmičenja

Član 2 Ocenjivačku komisiju Takmičenja sela Srbije imenuje Koordinacioni odbor Takmičenja sela Srbije. Ocenjivačku komisiju regionalnog Takmičenja sela imenuje odbor regionalnog Takmičenja, ocenjivačku komisiju opštinskog Takmičenja sela imenuje odbor opštinskog Takmičenja sela.

Član 3 Članovi komisije (republičkog, regionalnog i opštinskog Takmičenja sela) treba da budu imenovani iz redova kulturnih i javnih radnika, umetnika, istaknutih radnika iz oblasti obrazovanja, poljoprivrede, zdravstva, komunalnih delatnosti i sl. Ocenjivačka komisija broji od 5–7 članova. Komisija iz svojih redova bira predsednika komisije.

Član 4 Ocenjivačka komisija vrednuje rezultate određenim brojem bodova. Komisija donosi jedinstvenu ocenu, a saopštava je predsednik komisije ili za to ovlašćeno lice na završnoj smotri. 136 pravilnik

II Elementi i Broj Bodova Za Pojedine Sadržaje

Član 5 Ocenjivačka komisija vrednuje rezultate koje je selo postiglo, sledećim brojem bodova:

1. Organizovanje poljoprivredne proizvodnje i ostvareni rezultati

a. Korišćenje zemljišta

– obrada zemljišta (procenat obrađenog u odnosu na oranične i obradive površine) – uređenost zemljišne teritorije subjekata (procenat komasira- nog zemljišta u odnosu na oranične i obradive površine) – navodnjavanje i odvodnjavanje zemljišta (procenat navodnja- vanih, odnosno, odvodnjavanih površina u odnosu na ukupne obradive površine)

b. Rezultati ostvarene proizvodnje

– stepen robnosti-tržišnmosti najvažnijih linija proizvodnje u području – prinosi po jedinici kapaciteta pšenica t/x kukuruz t/x šećerna repa t/x šljiva kg/po stablu jabuka kg/po stablu grožđe kg/po čokotu prirast mesa po grlu goveda kg prirast mesa po krmači kg proizvodna mleka po kravi litara (i druge proizvodnje karakteristične za selo) – broj takmičara za visoke prinose u poljoprivredi (procenat u odnosu na ukupan broj gazdinstava zemljoradnika) – ostvarivanje dve žetve na području sela pravilnik 137

c. Organizovanje zemljoradnika

DO 300 BODOVA

Član 6 2. U oblasti obrazovanja i vaspitanja, sela će se takmičiti:

– rezultatima u elementarnom obrazovanju poljoprivrednih proi– zvođača – rezultatima u obuhvatu dece pohađanjem i završavanjem osnovne škole – u zdravstvenom obrazovanju i vaspitanju (broj kurseva i polaznika) – rezultatima tehničkog i saobraćajnog obrazovanja i vaspitanja (broj kurseva i polaznika) – u primanju i korišćenju stručnih i drugih odgovarajućih listova, knjiga i sličnih publikacija – rezultatima rada na vaspitanju predškolske dece – rezultatima rada učeničkih zadruga i drugih oblika društveno- korisnog rada

DO 200 BODOVA

Član 7 3. U izgrdanji i uređivanju naselja, sela će se takmičiti:

– u izgradnji savremenih stambenih i ekonomskih zgrada u selu; – u izgradnju puteva, vodovoda i električnih vodova i osvetljenja; – u izgradnji i uređivanju škola, školskih kuhinja i drugih školskih objekata; – u izgradnji i uređivanju domova kulture, zadružnih domova ili domova mesnih zajednica; – u izgradnji i uređivanju centra sela ili seoskih trgova; – u izgradnji i uređivanju seoskih dvorišta; – u izgradnji, uređivanju i održavanju sportskih objekata; – u pošumljavanju, sadnji i nezi zelenila; – u izgradnji, uređivanju i održavanju spomenika; – u izgradnji i održavanju zdravstvenih objekata; – u mogućnosti korišćenja javnog saobraćaja; – u uslužnim delatnostima i snabdevanju; – u prisutnosti i korišćenju tehničkih uređaja u domaćinstvima; – u funkcionalnom i estetskom uređenju stanova.

DO 200 BODOVA

Član 8 4. U kulturnim aktivnostima sela će se takmičiti:

– u korišćenju i širenju knjige; – u mogućnostima korišćenja štampe, radija i televizije; – u uslovima i organizovanosti amaterskog kulturnog stvaralašstva i masovnosti učestvovanja dece, omladine i odraslih u radu sekcija (dramskih, muzičkih, folklornih, literarnih, recitatorskih, likovnih, foto-kino i dr.) – u prikupljanju, obradi i zaštiti pokretnih kulturnih dobara; – u upoznavanju zavičajne istorije; – u sakupljanju narodnih umotvorina i podataka za hronike sela; – u dostupnosti kulturnih dobara i kulturnih vrednosti (književni i muzički susreti, dramske predstave, izložbe slika, fotografija, knjiga, narodne radinosti, bioskopske predstave); – u sportskih aktivnostima.

DO 200 BODOVA pravilnik 139

Član 8 5. U okviru zaštite i unapređenja čovekove sredine sela će se takmičiti:

DO 200 BODOVA

Član 11 Jednogodišnju aktivnost sela komisija vrednuje na osnovu doku- mentacije koja se dostavlja članovima komisije i konkretnog uvida u rezultate. Ocena komisije je konačna

Član 12 Ovaj Pravilnik usvojen je 8. Aprila 1991. godine na sastanku Koordi- nacionog odbora Takmičenja sela Srbije, a primenjuje se od 15. Aprila 1991. Godine.

KOORDINACIONI ODBOR TAKMIČENJA SELA SRBIJE 140 pravilnik

Dopuna Pravilnika Takmičenja Sela Srbije

Član 5. Pravilnika Takmičenja sela Srbije dopunjuje se, posle posle- dnjeg pasusa, novim pasusom:

– kulturna funkcija škole (škola kao centar kulturnog života u seos- kim sredinama koje nemaju druge kulturne ustanove); – sekcije kao aktivnost koja obogaćuje kulturni živor i podstiče stvara- laštvo dece i mladih (folklorna, horska, dramska, likovna, muzička, recitatorska i dr.); – uticaj prosvetnog radnika na kulturni život mladih; – povezanost škole i roditelja na programima kulturnog razvoja sela. APPENDIX THREE

VILLAGES – WINNERS AT REPUBLIC LEVEL

1974. Konjuh village, Kruševac municipality 1975. Vinarce village, Leskovac municipality 1976. Bukovče village, Negotin municipality 1977. Velika Drenova village, Trstenik municipality 1978. Bošnjace village, Lebane municipality 1979. Toponica village, Knić municipality 1980. Žaočane village, Čačak municipality 1981. Valjevska Kamenica village, Valjevo municipality 1982. Badnjevac village, Batočina municipality 1983. Podunavci village, Vrnjačka Banja municipality 1984. Braničevo village, Golubac municipality 1985. Zminjak village, Šabac municipality 1986. Ratina village, Kraljevo municipality 1987. Zlot village, Bor municipality 1988. Medveđa village, Trstenik municipality 1989. Gornja Dobrinja village, Požega municipality 1990. Mihajlovac village, Smederevo municipality 1991. Žiča village, Kraljevo municipality 1992. Iđoš village, Kikinda municipality 1993. Mačvanski Prnjavor village, Šabac municipality 1994. Glogovac village, Jagodin municipality 1995. Vranovo village, Smederevo municipality 1996. Mrčajevci village, Čačak municipality 1997. Sićevo village, Niš municipality 1998. Novo Selo village, Vrnjačka Banja municipality 1999. Veliko Laole village, Petrovac na Mlavi municipality 2000. Badovinci village, Bogatić municipality 2001. Kaonik village, Kruševac municipality 2002. Vraneši village, Vrnjačka Banja municipality Smoljinac village, Malo Crnuće municipality 2003. Neresnica village, Kučevo municipality

APPENDIX FOUR

THE PROGRAMME OF DONJA STUDENA AND GORNJA STUDENA VILLAGES (1994)

1. ‘Entertainment music’ part

– Song Đurđevdan – Children’s dance – Guitar players – ‘Entertainment music’ orchestra – Dance group

2. Theatre performances part

– ‘Kalča’s trip to Studena village’ – Recitation – Desanka Maksimović – Song Selo moje – Choir of KUD Stanko Paunović from Niš – Part from the stage-play Izbiračica (7th and 8th grade students from the primary school)

3. ‘Genuine music’ part

– Custom called Premlaz – Riddle competition – Toasting song – Folk dance played on okarina performed by Ivana Mladenović – Male singing group, song Ej, čija frula – Female singing group, song Ej, što se ono na planini beleše – Folklore ensemble, dances – ljubavno and pešačko kolo – Young Folklore group

4. Folk music part

– Player on okarina – Children’s folklore group, dances from Šumadija 144 appendix four

– Folk orchestra of accordions – Children’s folklore group, dances from Ponišavlje – Singer Radiša Stamenković – Children’s folklore group, Vlach dances INDEX

Agitprop, 38–39 kolo, 14, 27, 30, 107 agrarian policy, 44, 86 modern dance, 50 amateur vocal groups, 1, 65 ritual dance, 21–25 amateurism, 37, 39–40, 47 Sunday dancing, 60 authenticity, 66, 77, 83 de-agrarianization see industrialization, 44 ballads, 19 democratic changes, 52, 61 Benhabib, Seyla, 107 ‘democratic parties’ bloc, 54 brotherhood and unity, 37, 39 in Serbia, 52 Buchanan, Donna, 35, 45, 48 division of labor in Yugoslavia, 88 see Bulgaria, 31, 62, 82, 100, 112–113 socialist gender politics: employment Butler, Judith, 103, 107 double-voiced accounts, 104

Ceribašić, Naila, ix, 20, 82 epic songs, 19 children’s folklore, 80 ethnomusicologists, vii, 4, 5 Collective Houses—Zadružni domovi, experience 37, 39 and emancipation, 109 collectivization, 39 concept of, 3–4 collectivization songs, 65 musical experience, 4, 54 Farm Co-operatives, 88 personal experience, 2, 6 competitiveness, 47, 68, 106, 125 women’s experience, 4, 104 cultural policy Yugoslav, 113 and public/private distinction, 96 influence on local settings, 77 family in rural areas, 41, 44 extended family, 7, 88 in Yugoslavia, 5, 35–39, 111–112 inter-family relations, 109 and national tensions, 41–43 kindship ties, 8, 11 decentralisation of, 43 patriarchal relations, 7, 11 cultural workers, 44, 46, 106 female instrumentalists, 20–22, 80, 99 local, 61 female singers Cultural-Artistic Societies—Kulturno- as embodiment of local culture, umetnička društva, KUDs, 37–38 106–108 city KUDs, 80, 112 individualization of performance, 70 professional, 37 mixed-generation ensembles, 70 Cultural-Educational Association— new self-identification and social Kulturno-prosvetna zajednica, KPZ, agency, 103, 105, 107 3, 40, 52 personal repertoire, 69, 72, 114 Cultural-Educational Council rivalry, 105, 106 of the Parliament of Serbia, 41 solo performing, 105 of Niš Municipality, 45 transgressing social taboos, 70, 71 of Serbia, 47 travels with amateur groups, 60, 100, of Yugoslavia, 40 102, 105 femininity daily migrants, 45 discourse of, 91 dance, 36, 40, 97 rural, 11–12, 34 see also female and girl’s initiation, 10 cultural roles in rural society at Village Gatherings, 66, 68 socialist, 1, 6, 81–82, 107–108, 109 dance ensambles, 37, 40, 57 performing, 17, 21 dance school, 46, 50 feminization of agriculture, 88 146 index fieldwork, vii, viii, 3, 104 League of Communists of Yugoslavia— folk costume, 1, 66, 92 Savez komunista Jugoslavije, SKJ, 36, folklore festivals, 39 38, 41, 86–87 Balkan Festival of Folklore Heritage, Tenth Congress, 41 1, 60 life-cycle rituals, 8 Festival of the Folklore Heritage of childbirth, 9 Serbia in Topola, 60 wedding, 8 International Folklore Festival in local authorities Zagreb, 60 and female singers, 102 folkloromania, 39 see amateurism and politics, 54 Foucault, Michael, 90, 94 and program selection, 69 participation in organization in gender equality, 2, 104 Village Gatherings, 41, 52 and socialist modernization agenda, local repertoire transformations, 68 94 adjusting personal repertoires, 69 discourse of, 83, 109 borrowing, 69 ideology of, 86–87, 111 canonization, 77 gender performance see also gender generational changes, 76 roles transgression hiring professional musicians, 68 changing patterns, 111 improvization, 70 in music, 44, 45, 64 jury’s requirements, 73 in Niško Polje, 7, 17, 34, 103 local stars, 68–69 gender roles transgression, 6, 32 Lukić, Lepa, 99 in repertoire, 71, 79–80 mixed-gender performances, 18, 78 marriage, 10 see also wedding ‘genuine’ songs, 50, 66 arranged marriage, 13, 89 mass culture, 39, 40 high culture, 37, 40, 50 opposition to high culture, 42 Houses of Culture—Domovi kulture, 3, media, 47, 107 37, 43, 53 radio, 19, 31, 49, 71 Radio Niš, 77 industrialization, 41, 44–45, 88, 89 Radio-Television of Serbia, 65 institutionalization of village culture life, television, 47, 107 5, 112 memory, 4, 70 see recollection of instruments, 50, 66, 80 socialist past accordion, 20, 67, 99 men’s songs, 18, 97 bagpipe, 20 men’s tune see men’s songs dvojnice, 20 Milošević, Slobodan, 52–53 frula, duduk, 20, 80 mobility, 16, 60, 105 gusle, 19, 20, 68 modernization, 40, 44, 48, 85, 91, 94 idiophone type, 20 see also industrialization lejka, lejka’s orchestra, 80 ideology of, 35, 36, 48, 85, 94 synthesizer, 67 in agriculture, 44 ‘non-real’, 82 of rural culture, 40, 41, 50, 112 musical folklore, 36 Jansen, Stef, 52, 60 musical shame, concept of, 97–98 joint work, concept of, 42, 88 narrative musical ethnography, 4, 111 kafana, 99 nationalism, 35, 42, 43, 52 kitsch, 42, 67 nationalistic songs, 65 NATO bombing, 62 lascivious songs, 33 newly-composed folk songs, 42, 50, 66, Laušević, Mirjana, 36, 38 67, 72, 99 index 147

Niš, city, 3, 45 revolutionary romanticism, 39 Niško Polje, 3 revolutionary songs, 65 cultural life, 45–46 Rice, Timothy, 4 ritual songs official/unofficial classification, 71 discourses of, 67 Đurđevdan songs, 29 distinction, 95–96, 111, 113 kraljice, 24, 28, 55–56 in socialist culture, 111 lazarice, 21 oral history method, 4 on stage, 70 Roma, 51 parlando-rubato rhythm, 74 Roma musicians, 99 party officials Romania, 112 and culture politics, 35–36, 38, 42 rural women’s cultural roles, 7 and KPZ, 40, 43 body, 8 and traditional customs, 54 fertility, 8 program supervision, 65 housewife, 7, 9, 27, 33, 89, 90 women, 87 morality/immorality, 10, 100 performativity, 6 see theory of sexuality, 9, 16 performativity official discourses, 82 phenomenological approach, 3, 4 stage representation, 82–83 politics of dress in socialism, 90 see also rural-urban migrations, 41 see also socialist gender politics: body politics daily migrants popular music, 66, 112 in Niš vicinity, 45 ‘entertainment’ music, 112 urban genres, 71 sabori, 9, 36, 96 post-socialism, 52, 54, 62 Scott, Joan, 4 preservation of local musical practices, Self-Governing Interest Societies— 41, 113 see also authenticity Samoupravne interesne zajednice, and Village Gatherings, 70 SIZs, 42 professional musicians, 20–21, 68 self-management, 39, 43, 86 professional female musicians, singing style 98–99 antiphonal, 21 professional/unprofessional drone and syllabic drone singing, 74 distinction, 97 guttural style, 76 Roma see Roma musicians heterophony, 74 public/private distinction, 2, 6, 95 monophonic, 75 gender, 17 transformations, 73 in gender performance, 109 two-part singing, 19, 66 in musical performance, 96–97 slava, 19, 36, 56, 66 in socialist cultural politics see socialist feminism, see socialist gender official/unofficial politics socialist folk culture, 36 see also cultural Ramet, Sabrina, 2, 113 policy in Yugoslavia recollection of socialist past, 4 ‘arranged’ folklore, 111 nostalgia, 59 dances, 39 refrains, 55 folklorization, 111 refrain i, 18, 74, 79 rural/urban dynamics, 35, 40, 51 religious holidays, 94 stylized performances, 38 Father’s Day, 56 socialist gender politics, 86 Krstonoše, 55 and class question, 86 Mother’s Day, 56 body politics, 92 Orthodox New Year, 56 childcare, 88, 90 proscriptions, 55 double burden, 88 148 index

employment, 85–86 Verdery, Katherine, 2, 106 regional differences, 88 Village Gatherings, 3, 35, 47–48 reproductive rights, 85 acceptance by villagers, 57–58 socialist holidays, 44, 52 and education, 39, 48, 50, 54, 112 1st May, 56 as marginal events, 44, 51 29th November—Day of the Republic, during the 90s, 52–53, 62 56 finale parades, 125 post-socialist continuity, 52 in memories of villagers, 59–61 socialist state, 1, 111, 114 jury, 47, 67–68, 92, 125 Soviet Union, 37, 65, 78, 83, 113 mass participation, 49–50 see stage performance and amateurism and public/private distinction, 96 organization, 58 as performative act, 103, 108 prizes, and honors, 77 as representational practice, 108 program selection and preparation, as shameful activity, 100, 102 65–67 visual dimension, 92 recordings, vii, 65 state-supervised cultural activities, 63 Regulation, 48, 125 see also cultural policy repertoire requirements, 73 see also Sugarman, Јane, vii, 98 local repertoire transformations sworn virgin, 8 Vojvodina, 46–47, 51 theory of performativity, 103, 107 Women’s Co-operatives, 86, 90 see also Butler, Judith women’s emancipation, 85–86, 91, 94, Tito, Josip Broz, 43–44 109 Titon, Jeff, 4 women’s oral history see women’s titovke, 55 see traditional customs: experience kraljice women’s songs, 18, 78–80 Todorova, Maria, 2, 88 womens’ organizations, 85 Traditional customs see also kraljice and AFŽ, 85 lazarice, 21 Union of Women’s Societies of Đurđevdan, 29 Serbia, 86 Mladenci, 20 working people, 35–38, 42 sedenjke, 31 traditional musical practice Yugoslav Republics, 42 gender segregation, 17 cultural cooperation, 39 instrumental practice, 19 national tensions, 42, 75 vocal practice, 19 Yugoslavia, 38 transmission of repertoire, 70 see also break-up, 43 female singers: mixed-generation Constitution 1974, 41 ensambles Yugoslav identity, 35 supra-cultural ideology, 36, 43, 67, 77 UDBA, 56