Assorted Blogosphere Pessimism

Anti Turbo Folk is naturally unhappy at the announcement by Osijek security entrepreneur Alen Borbaš, organiser of the annual Folk Hit of the Year ceremony and regular turbofolk defender on Croatian talk shows, that he will shortly launch a record label in Croatia to release music by pop-folk singers such as Siniša Vuco and Vesna Pezo and distribute CDs from the largest folk label in Serbia, Grand Productions.

Borbaš is already the Croatian representative for the transnational pop-folk channel Balkanika Music Television, so a record label would be a logical next step towards a cross-media platform - a prospect at which ATF is pessimistic, fearing that 'this primitive kitsch aesthetic' will begin to develop an institutional base of media support.

Elsewhere, a no more optimistic East Ethnia has its own suggestions for the new Serbian cabinet of Tomislav Nikolić.