Turbo-folk

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 his aggressive, satirical style of music as "turbo folk".^[1] While primarily associated with Serbia, this style is also popular in other former Yugoslav republics.

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.^[2]

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 "cajka" (plural: cajke) by its critics in Croatia^[3]) 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.^[4][5]

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.^[6]

Critics of turbo-folk alleged that it was a promotional instrument of Serbia's political ideology during Milošević rule.^[7] 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".^[8][9] Along the same lines, British culture theorist Alexei Monroe calls the phenomenon "porno-nationalism".^[10] However, turbo-folk was equally popular amongst the South Slavic peoples during the Yugoslav Wars.^[9]

As long as I am the mayor, there will be no nightclub-singers of [cajke] or turbo-folk parades in a single municipal hall.

— Anto Đapić, former mayor of Osijek and leader of the Croatian Party of Rights^[11]

The resilience of a turbo-folk culture and musical genre, often referred to as the "soundtrack to Serbia’s wars",^[12] 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".^[13] 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.^[14]

• Collin, Matthew (2004) [2001]. This Is Serbia Calling (2nd ed.). London: Serpent's Tail. pp. 78–84. ISBN 1-85242-776-0.
• Gordy, Eric (1999). "The Destruction of Musical Alternatives". The Culture of Power in Serbia. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01958-1.
• Uroš Čvoro (2016) [2014]. Turbo-folk Music and Cultural Representations of National Identity in Former Yugoslavia. Ashgate; Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-00606-0.
• 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

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