Turbo-folk

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Turbo-folk is a subgenre of contemporary South Slavic pop music that initially developed in Serbia during the 1990s as a fusion of techno and folk. The term was an invention of the Montenegrin singer Rambo Amadeus, who jokingly described the aggressive, satirical style of music as "turbo folk".<ref>Rambo Amadeus, eurovision.tv, 2012 Eurovision Song Contest participant profile</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While primarily associated with Serbia, this style is also popular in other former Yugoslav republics.

Croatia

Turbo-folk grew in Croatia in part due to the popularity of the Croatian singer Severina's fusion of turbo-folk in her music. Turbo-folk is purportedly seen as a "part of everyday life in Croatia and serves a means of social release and reaction to the effects of globalisation in Croatia" according to contemporary art professor Urosh Cvoro of UNSW Sydney.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Upon introduction of Billboard Croatia Songs chart on 15 February 2022, it became apparent that mainstream music from Serbia and other former Yugoslav republics (which is all described as turbo-folk or by a derogatory term "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (plural: cajke) by its critics in Croatia<ref>Marina Radoš, Narodnjaci, ćirilica i turbofolk: Što su to uopće cajke?</ref>) dominated the music taste of the people of Croatia, as the only Croatian artists featured on the chart were Eni Jurišić, Matija Cvek, 30zona, Kuku$ Klan, Jelena Rozga and Grše, and the only Western artists featured on the chart were Glass Animals and Red Hot Chili Peppers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Central Europe

Turbo-folk can be heard in Balkan clubs and Ex-Yu-style discos in parts of Switzerland that speak German. Reports of turbo-folk from 2023 describe the music used for diasporic youth in these areas to "socialise and live out the culture of their country of origin" according to Dr Müller-Suleymanova of ZHAW.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Criticism

File:Grafit protiv turbofolka,Imotski01848.JPG

Graffiti against Ceca's music in Imotski, Croatia: "Turn off all the "Cecas"/Light up the candles/Vukovar will never/Be forgotten" (written with stylized U's of a style belonging to the Croatian nationalist and fascist organisation Ustaše)

Critics of turbo-folk alleged that it was a promotional instrument of Serbia's political ideology during Milošević rule.<ref name=Hockenos2001>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This liberal section of Serbian and Croatian society explicitly viewed this music as vulgar, almost pornographic kitsch, glorifying crime, moral corruption and nationalist xenophobia. In addition to making a connection between turbofolk and "war profiteering, crime & weapons cult, rule of force and violence", in her book Smrtonosni sjaj (Deadly Splendor) Belgrade media theorist Ivana Kronja refers to its look as "aggressive, sadistic and pornographically eroticised iconography".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="cirjak">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> Along the same lines, British culture theorist Alexei Monroe calls the phenomenon "porno-nationalism".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, turbo-folk was equally popular amongst the South Slavic peoples during the Yugoslav Wars.<ref name="cirjak" />

As long as I am the mayor, there will be no nightclub-singers of [{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}] or turbo-folk parades in a single municipal hall.{{#if:Anto Đapić, former mayor of Osijek and leader of the Croatian Party of Rights<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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The resilience of a turbo-folk culture and musical genre, often referred to as the "soundtrack to Serbia’s wars",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was and to a certain extent still is, actively promoted and exploited by pro-government commercial TV stations, most notably on Pink and Palma TV-channels, which devote significant amount of their broadcasting schedule to turbo-folk shows and music videos.

Others, however, feel that this neglects the specific social and political context that brought about turbo-folk, which was, they say, entirely different from the context of contemporary western popular culture. In their opinion, turbo-folk served as a dominant paradigm of the "militant nationalist" regime of Slobodan Milošević, "fully controlled by regime media managers".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John Fiske feels that during that period, turbo-folk and its close counterpart, Serbian Eurodance, had the monopoly over the officially permitted popular culture, while, according to him, in contrast, Western mass media culture of the time provided a variety of music genre, youth styles, and consequently ideological positions.<ref>John Fiske, Television Culture, February 1988, Template:ISBN</ref>

See also

• Music of Serbia
• Chalga
• Manele
• Arabesk music
• Disco polo
• Laïkó
• Rabiz
• Hardbass
• Dangdut
• EurodanceTemplate:Div col end

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
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• Sabina Mihelj, "The Media and the Symbolic Geographies of Europe: The Case of Yugoslavia", 2007.
• William Uricchio, We Europeans?: media, representations, identities, Intellect Books, 2008, p. 168-9

External links

• Balkania Fanzine - Turbo-Folk and Balkan Music Video Culture Blog
• Report about turbo-folk, ceca and politics
• Muzika u vestima dana