03. May 2012

Music in no man‘s land

„Regarding subcultures, Yugoslavia was a wonderful place in the 1980s.“ (Rüdiger Rossig)

The Yugoslav music scene can look back on a glorious past. In fact, during the 1970s, it was among the most important in Europe – as exchange with the western music scene was made possible within the socialist system, international bands could perform in cities like Ljublijana or Skopje and Yugoslav bands in turn could perform abroad. The result was a liberal music culture, similar to the western one. Unlike under other socialist regimes, musicians were allowed a high degree of creative freedom, in spite of their differences with the Communist system. The importance of this music scene in the former Yugoslavia illustrates today’s emergence of a certain “Yugo-nostalgia”. The veterans of Yugoslav rock, from Bijelo Dugme to Plavi Orkestar, are appealing more and more to the younger generation, performing at sold-out concerts in all former republics – just like they used to. The bands renowned in the former Yugoslavia, that pronounced themselves in favour of a multi-ethic state with all its benefits, use this very same Yugoslav music, of which the purpose has been – and still is – to gloss over ethnic and religious differences.

As part of the LET’S CEE Film Festival and supported by KulturKontakt Austria, three music documentaries from the former Yugoslavia will be presented. Moreover, on May 30th 2012 at the ost klub we’ll have a discussion with the directors on the post-Yugoslav music scene and the Yugo-nostalgic culture of remembrance. This debate is about how our common past is reminisced and processed through the modern music of the successor states of former Yugoslavia: Is it an idealised return to a utopian past or a correlative try to settle with this very past? What influence do the veterans of Yugoslav Rock – as upholders of the Yugoslav culture of remembrance – have on the post-Yugoslav solidarity and cohesion? And why does today’s music scene still carry yesterday’s burden?