Research Project: New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe

Research Project: New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe Working Paper Series THE TUNEFUL SIDE OF IDEOLOGY: OPERA AND NATION-BUILDING IN MACEDONIA Rozita Dimova http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/nation-building/resources/wp/dimova_01 The project is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/nation-building The Tuneful Side of Ideology: Opera and Nation-Building in Macedonia Rozita Dimova Introduction On the morning of 26 July 1963, a devastating earthquake struck the city of Skopje. The main tremor occurred at 5:17 AM, killing 1,300 people. It destroyed three quarters of the city’s buildings and left around 100,000 people homeless. This was the largest natural catastrophe that took place in the Yugoslav Socialist Federation since its formation. The Yugoslav Federation was founded after the multi-faceted 1941-1945 struggle. It was simultaneously an anti-fascist struggle, a peoples’ liberation war and, ultimately, a "successful" socialist revolution overthrowing the king and the Serbian Monarchy. This four- year period was celebrated as a crucial turning point in Yugoslav history, when the six republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slove- nia) officially had an equal status in the new federal political arrangement.1 As part of the Yugoslav Federation, Macedonia was officially encouraged to endorse, manifest, and further develop its own distinct national identity.2 Macedonia, and Skopje, as the capital of the republic, grew and were promoted by the central government in Bel- grade as one of the most successful examples of Yugoslav socialism where national identity harmonically coexisted with the Yugoslav one.3 Situated between Bulgaria, Greece and Albania, the socialist republic of Macedonia borderlined politically-contested neighbours. The sensitive diplomatic relationships with Greece, Bulgaria and Albania, 1 There is a vast body of literature dealing with the historical genealogy of the first, second and the third Yugoslavia, and the role of Macedonia in it. Some highlights of the most relevant works written in English are: Banac 1984, 1989, Borrowiec 1977, Brown 1994, 2004, Burg 1983, Danforth 1995, Denitch 1994, Lampe 1995, Ramet 2005. 2 During socialism, the official version of the Macedonian national history, but also the popular view among everyday people, was that only during the Yugoslav federation Macedonia emerged as an officially- recognized national entity. Zarko Trajanovski’s current research however has revealed some indications that nowadays it is hard to find an agreement among everyday people as to when “first” Macedonia appeared: the views are divided between ancient Macedonia and Alexander the Great, Macedonia from 1903 during the Krusevo republic, Macedonia in 1944 when it officially joined the Yugoslav federation, and the 1991 independent Macedonia. 3 Hannes Grandits’ research for this project has been examining precisely this aspect of the central Yugo- slav government’s policy to promote and encourage distinct national identities of the Yugoslav republics. For my larger project I will draw on his work on the Yugoslav attempt to negotiate the emerging tensions between Yugoslavism and the separate national identities and to accommodate their coexistence within the larger socialist project in Yugoslavia. 2 New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/nation-building and their historical claims of the Macedonian territory, encouraged Tito and the government to invest significant planning and full support for promoting Macedonian nation that would insert itself as a serious actor in international politics of this part of the region. For instance, the University Cyril and Methodius was founded in 1948 along with new institutes promoting national identity. Folklore became one of the most crucial bricks in building a national identity and promoting rich folk dance and singing scene4. The central government’s intention was to endorse Skopje and Macedonia as a regional centre that could demonstrate the neighbouring countries the potential and success of the Yugoslav project (Dimova 1998). With full support from Belgrade, Skopje had been transforming and turning into a national, cultural, political and economic centre. The main urban centre of Macedonia however was severely shaken by the 1963 earthquake. In addition to the large residential destructions, the earthquake demolished the railway station, the central post-office causing a complete communication blackout. The destruction of the national theatre and the army hall (Oficirski dom), the main city landmarks crucial in promoting Skopje as a cultural centre with a legacy of urban history. Notwithstanding the tragedy and the devastation, the quake opened up a door for a whole new chapter in the history of Skopje and the larger international politics of the Yugoslav Federation. The city received unprecedented humanitarian assistance from countries belonging to the west and the east. Tito’s diplomatic strategy to nurture relationships with the Western world and with the Eastern bloc, and also belonging to the non-aligned movement that connected him to third world countries, materialized in its best during the humanitarian assistance when the world met in Skopje to assist the rebuilding of the stricken city. It was in Skopje for the first time after the beginning of the cold war that Soviet and American soldiers worked side by side in rescuing the victims trapped under the rubbles. Tito visited Skopje shortly after the quake and stated the fa- mous line inscribed on the shuttered railroad terminal which stands as a reminder of the tragedy with its broken clock marking the time of the quake, 5:17 am: “Skopje suffered an unforeseeable catastrophe, but we shall rebuild it again and it will become a symbol of the world solidarity” (Dimova 1998). Despite the destruction of the theatre building on the bank of the river Vardar, which stripped Skopje from its most prestigious stage and disabled larger cultural events such as opera, ballet and more complex theatre performances, Skopje became a symbol of the 4 The role of the Institute for National History is analyzed by Irena Stefoska. Ermis Lafazanovski examines the Institute of Folklore and the official production of folklore, while the dance and music folk scene is the main focus of the research conducted by Ivona Opetceska-Tatrcevska. 3 New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/nation-building world solidarity changing its architectural and cultural outlook. In the years that followed, new residential districts were built by using foreign donations.5 Government officials prepared elaborate plans to rebuild the cultural (urban) modern life in the city and show the world that Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Skopje emerged as a success story, “a symbol of the world solidarity” rebuilding a modernist version of the damaged city. An extensive plan was designed to rebuild the venues that would house the cultural events in Skopje. In the immediate years after the quake, the national theatre was put in a temporarily-assembled building unsuitable for any serious performances. In these conditions, only the drama department of the Macedonian national theatre remained active while “opera and the ballet were waiting for better times.” After the Romanian government donated finances for the construction of the so-called Universal Hall (Univerzalna Sala), a large modern rotunda-style hall that could hold up to 1200 visitors designed to accommodate different performances, new events began to be scheduled and performed on the stage of this new venue. In 1967, after several years of an almost complete withdrawal of the opera and the ballet, Vasil Kortosev, a tenor and opera director, submitted a proposition to the artistic board of the Macedonian national theatre to establish a festival that would allow the theatre, “its ensemble and the audience in Skopje and Macedonia again to be exposed to the art of opera.” The significant efforts invested in founding the Macedonian national theatre in 1946, and the national opera in 1947, so soon after the end of WW2 when the nation- building of Macedonia was in its earliest stage, appeared to be severely shaken by the devastating earthquake and the destruction of the theatre. “History has hardly ever known a nation, which, immediately after its liberation, with still undeveloped and uni- fied literary language, managed, in the most rational manner, to put forth the foundations of a musical theatre,” wrote Kortosev in his review of the first 20 years of MOE (Teatr- ski Glasnik 1991, p. 5). Kortosev’s 1967 proposition was initially declined by the artistic council of the national theatre with a vague explanation that the moment was not suitable and could not provide proper conditions for this kind of festival. Four years later, Kortosev had resubmitted the proposal which was then accepted. Notwithstanding the strong opposition and accusa- tions that such an event would be a “pure utopia” and would be “aiming only at personal benefits for building someone’s own career….the event would be a waste of money and funds” (ibid. p. 8), the MOE festival received green light and its first edition was sched- 5 The district of Karpos, especially its parts such as Kozle, Taftalidze, and Vlae, were completely rebuilt by donations of different governments. 4 New and Ambiguous Nation-Building Processes in South-Eastern Europe http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/nation-building uled for May 1972. Kortosev forcefully argued that the proposed festival did not intend to have any political or economic aims. Rather, it was creativity and art that were at the forefront of proposing the May Opera Evenings (hereinafter, MOE). He pointed out that the “audience crisis” and the state of the opera and ballet after the earthquake were the main reason for initiating the festival.

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