Showbusiness Ethnopolitics (Or Not): Eurovision 2007

From an ex-Yugoslav perspective, the Eurovision Song Contest has come around quietly this year - compared to 2006's ethnomusicological controversies in Croatia and the collapse of the last joint Serbia-Montenegro entry. For a proper Severina-style row over visions of national identity and the right image to present to Europe, one has to turn to Ukraine and drag queen Verka Serdyuchka, whose character of a kitsch village housewife resulted in protests - although further Verkanalysis is the province of the experts.

Potential scandal two involves the Israeli entry, Teapacks' Push the button (another song channelling the overworked spirit of Gogol Bordello), depending on whether it's taken as referring to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinajad or to a generic nuclear madman of one's choice (after all, there are a fair few around): however, the lyrics have been approved by the European Broadcasting Union, despite its rules against 'political propaganda' which caught out Ukraine in 2005 when they entered the anthem of the Orange Revolution.

Climate change being the nuclear disarmament of the noughties, it's no wonder the theme seems to have made its way to Eurovision. Apparently in the green corner: Andorran teen skate-pop band Anonymous (result of a school trip to An Inconvenient Truth?), and possibly Ireland's Dervish (They can't stop the spring), although the Gazette might be thinking of Rachel Carson there. Inadvertently in the other one: the Easyjet-worshipping, innuendo-loving Brits. (Britons who don't agree that Scooch are a perfect snapshot of the national character may have an alternative, for once: Wikipedia currently states that Greek representative Sarbel was brought up in London.)


While Romania has high expectations after several years of showstoppers, Croatia's low-key rock entry by Dragonfly and Dado Topić hasn't attracted the euphoria that surrounded Severina in 2006, but not very much would: indeed, the suspense this time round isn't whether Croatia might win the thing but whether the country will maintain its perfect record of qualifying for every final since its debut as an independent state in 1993. More HTV heads may roll if Vjerujem u ljubav breaks the chain, but otherwise the most newsworthy thing likely to happen in Helsinki from a Croatian point of view would be for the public televote to give maximum points to Serbia again (the Croatian dvanaestica to Željko Joksimović in 2004 made headline news).

This may be immortalising a hideously bad prediction, but the Gazette won't be surprised if the Croatian public develop a sudden affection for Montenegro instead, or rather, for Stevan Faddy's Ajde, kroči. Whatever the European public at large may think of the formula of folk-song-style lyrics plus electric guitar, it's tended to do well in Croatia: ask Siniša Vuco, or Marko Perković Thompson, or for that matter Bijelo Dugme, who started it all in the first place.

Especially after the Severina case, though, it's hard to picture Croatia selecting it for Eurovision...

Surrealist Hit Parade

A heavyweight of retromaniac ex-Yugoslav TV (re)launches tomorrow on Bosnian federal television and Croatian RTL: a revival of the 1980s Sarajevan sketch show Top lista nadrealista (Surrealist Hit Parade), renamed Nadreality show for noughties use. Most of the original nadrealists have been reunited for the thirteen-episode occasion, although the new series is without Branko Djurić (acting in Slovenia) and Nele Karaljić (who moved to Belgrade on the outbreak of war in Bosnia).

However, another Croatian-Bosnian showbusiness axis is a little strained at the moment - specifically, the one relating to Marko Perković Thompson's upcoming concert in Sarajevo, scheduled for 10 May to mark the tenth anniversary of the Papal visit to the Bosnian capital and organised by a Croatian Catholic charity organisation. The Sarajevan Jewish community has protested against the concert on the grounds that Thompson represents fascism and, in the words of Sarajevo Jewish president Boris Kožemjakin:

'Sarajevo and BiH nurture centuries-old religious tolerance, and so we're sure that neither this city nor this state needs a concert like that.'

The concert's organiser, Father Anto Jelić, has replied that he never heard Thompson sing a nationalist song, so Bosnian portal 24sata.info, with the assistance of YouTube, has offered him the opportunity to find out. Indeed, 24sata also reports that the Bosnian Jewish community, the Veterans' Union and the League of Anti-Fascist Combatants are promising an anti-fascist counter-concert if the Thompson event goes ahead.

(In its time Thompson's debut wartime hit, Bojna Čavoglave (Čavoglave Platoon), also acquired a Sarajevo-themed version performed by persons unknown, but that isn't quite the point.)

And lastly, to complicate the transnational web of ex-Yugoslav showbusiness even further: factoring in the Montenegrin side of the polygon is probably overdue. Leo Miler's overview of Montenegrin pop for T-Portal concludes that 'Montenegrin showbusiness is closer to Split than Belgrade', focusing on the ballad-dominated repertoires of Vlado Georgiev, Sergej Cvetković and Bojan Marović:

'Their lyrics and music, arrangements, and the choice of instruments itself, has no folk elements whatsoever. There's no sign of the (folk-style) accordion, let alone the leading instrument, various sorts of pan pipe.

Some people complain they sound too like each other, but one could say the same about, for instance, [Dalmatian singers] Giuliano or [Goran] Karan on first listening.'

Seems Montenegro has coped pretty well with the absence of the doyen of Yugoslav-Mediterranean pop, Oliver Dragojević...

Montenegro Where You Least Expect It

Place one: in flag form, hanging from every other official flagpole in Zagreb (the other 50% are waving Croatian ones), but it turns out it's to do with an upcoming state visit.

Place two: This week's issue of Croatian women's magazine Tena, which would have coincided with the Folk Revija concert if it had actually gone ahead tomorrow, includes a not unsympathetic six-page report on 'Who are the turbo folk queens?': Stoja, Indira Radić, Dragana Mirković, Donna Ares, Goga Sekulić, Olja Karleuša and Maja Marijana. (Wonder if somebody commissioned an article a little bit too early?)

Tena seems to have heard somewhere that Sekulić, a Swiss passport holder, apparently submitted a song to the Swiss Eurovision pre-selection but had it turned down. As a Montenegrin, she might have been better off looking closer to home: TVCG received a total of 16 submissions for the 10 slots in the Montenegrin final, and three of them had to be disqualified anyway because the authors weren't actually Montenegrin.

But not place three: Looking across the Drina, Dado Topić provided the interval entertainment at the Serbian Eurovision pre-selection in the company of Marija Šestić, Alenka Gotar, and Karolina Gocheva - in their capacity as the already-selected Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian and Macedonian participants. Absent, however, was the Montenegrin representative Stevan Faddy, suggesting that even now the Montenegrins aren't themselves on hand to cause a fuss during Belgrade's final, Belgrade is perfectly capable of making a fuss out of them. Wouldn't it serve all concerned right if Montenegro and Serbia exchanged 12 points in May?

As for the Serbian contestants themselves, Belgrade Blog has been keeping an eye on those: the handful of audience-drawing pop-folk singers, headed by Mira Škorić, dropped out at the semi-final stage (seemingly one thing one can always rely on at Beovizija: even, or perhaps especially, Jelena Karleuša came bottom of the semi in 2004) and the final - ongoing as the Gazette writes - is being contested between various cod-Latino numbers, ambitious ethno (Slobodan Trkulja and Balkanopolis), and the fans' favourite Marija Šerifović with yet another Lane moje rehash. Which is by no means a disadvantage, thinking of the success of Hari Mata Hari's Lejla in 2006.

Although, chances are Šerifović wouldn't make it on to Croatian radio half as often...

UPDATE: Stevan Faddy has joined the interval mini-reunion. Not that the Sava Centar audience seem particularly happy with it, but if they've been patient enough to sit through Mambo jumbo serbiano...

Retromanija Miscellany

First up, Jugoslavija Druga mentions that Bajadera chocolates (that iconic product of Croatian confectionery) are 50 today. Viki Miljković would no doubt like to celebrate the fact.

The eminent Croatian film director Lordan Zafranović's new project, according to Večernji list, is something of a departure - a pop music show devised by veteran zabavna (light-entertainment) singer Duško Lokin and featuring other performers of his generation. Evergreen club, produced for the satellite Croatian Music Channel, will be offered to other Yugoslav television stations, and might help to allay zabavna musicians' fears that there's never enough space for Croatian music on TV.

Meanwhile, it's time for the annual obsession of Croatian showbusiness reporters: who's going to earn how much for their New Year's Eve concerts. Halfway through Jutarnji list's latest set of figures comes the seemingly no longer controversial information that Doris Dragović will be entertaining the Montenegrin town of Kotor for Silvestrovo (elsewhere in Crnoj Gori, Nikšić gets a cut-price Boris Novković and Budva gets top-dollar Dino Merlin). It's all a long way from 1999, when Dragović's icebreaking NYE performance in Igal kicked off a controversy from which her career arguably never recovered.

Lastly, since we're talking transnational misadventures, it seems that Severina's US tour-that-wasn't from November picked up coverage on Bruce Sterling's blog at Wired as an example of 'cruelly postponed globalizatsiya'. Here's hoping it won't be indefinitely so - and that she finds her way to London in the process...

Comings And Goings

Mainly goings, actually: Serbia-Montenegro is said to have from Eurovision, following the breakdown of Evropesma on Saturday, after a representative could not be agreed at a meeting between Serbian and Montenegrin television today.

The official statement from the joint Serbia-Montenegro broadcasting body makes no mention of withdrawal, only that 'the SCG representative for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens was not determined', and several days still remain before the deadline for all national entries to be chosen.

If Serbia-Montenegro isn't represented at Eurovision, the Croatian entry may now avoid the qualifying phase on 18 May and be placed straight into the final (as the country which missed out on automatic qualification by one place in 2005), although at the expense of an almost-guaranteed set of maximum points from Serbia-Montenegro.

The Gazette, meanwhile, will shortly be off to Sweden for several days - normal service will probably be resumed early next week.

Turbofolklore: Aleksandar Kostadinov

Jutarnji list's detailed Štikla coverage continues with an extensive interview with HTV's head of entertainment, Aleksandar Kostadinov, who is naturally 'not surprised' at the weeks of Severina-related controversy and very satisfied that Dora was watched by 'more than half of Croatia'.

Asked whether Severina's song counts as 'ethno or turbo-folk, Kostadinov unambiguously replies:

'That song has nothing to do at all with turbo-folk. Turbo-folk is Serbian newly-composed music performed by, for instance, Lepa Brena and Jelena Karleuša. I don't like that sort of music, and I don't follow it.

--Still, many people have compared Severina and 'Moja štikla' with Lepa Brena and 'Sitnije, Cile, sitnije'. But, while you didn't let Lepa Brena appear on HTV in the autumn, at the same time you chose Severina to represent us in Eurovision. Can you explain that?

First of all, I have nothing against Lepa Brena. I don't even know her. I presume she's an OK person, her husband is [tennis player] Boba Živojinović... But, I consider there's no place for her songs on our national television station. As long as I'm the editor of entertainment programming, such songs will not be put on air.'

Kostadinov is also asked to comment on whether 'Štikla' also contains elements of Montenegrin folklore, as claimed by another jury member Željen Klašterka. (In fact, Klašterka referred to elements from Montenegro and Herzegovina; and it may or may not be wise to advertise a Montenegrin connection right now.)

'Nobody is disputing that. In that song there are indeed traces of folklore from this region present. Derivaties of the ljerica and similar instruments also exist in a part of Montenegro, only they are differently used.'

Kostadinov continues by dropping hints that a 'euro-disco' remix of Štikla would be extremely well received, 'Not at [Zagreb turbofolk club] Ludnica if that's what you're thinking,' but at Euro-disco clubs 'with a slightly gay audience.'

On the first version of 'Moja štikla',

'The lyrics were different. The first version was about a Croatian sokol [falcon] and it was patriotic [domoljubna]. However, the melody itself stayed very similar, apart from the so-called Bregović break-beat. From time to time, he interrupts the basic melody with that beat and throws in 'kvrc-kvrc, štrc-štrc, sss-seks'... That's typical for him.'

In fact, for Kostadinov it seems to be precisely this contribution - itself controversial - which distinguishes 'Štikla from the dreaded turbofolk:

'Štikla is a pop song with a break beat which might remind [one] of Shakira [or] Bijelo dugme. There are people from Lado in the ensemble, and I don't know who associates Lado with turbo-folk. There's also a ljerica there, a specific instrument in the linđo, and rere which is sung in the Drniš, Zagora and Herzegovinan region.

'The boys were wearing costumes from the Neretva region. If someone associates those costumes with Serbia, I really can't help him. I don't understand the statement by [folk musician] Mojmir Novaković from Legen. Because, on 'Štikla' the ljerica plays a melody which, if you were to stamp your feet, is in fact the deaf kolo from Vrlika. And Mojmir, who made his career out of the deaf kolo, claims that 'Štikla' is turbo-folk. Anything!'

And for the record? His own favourite was Massimo Savić.

Showbusiness Ethnopolitics: Evrop(j)esma

Despite Saturday's events, the final of Serbia-Montenegro's own pre-selection for Eurovision went ahead on Saturday night, and all involved might wish now that it hadn't.

For the last two years, Serbian and Montenegrin television (RTS and RTCG) have both held their own semi-finals (Beovizija and Montevizija) for the event before combining the best-placed songs from both shows in a final called Evropesma or Evropjesma, depending on who's asking.

In total, eight acts from each show qualified for this year's Evropesma, headed by the Beovizija winners Flamingosi and the Montevizija winners No Name, who had also represented Serbia-Montenegro in 2005.

Rumours had been widely circulated before Evropesma that the Montenegrin members of the expert jury were planning to vote en bloc, and unfortunately appeared to be confirmed when the Montenegrin jurors gave no points to Flamingosi. In fact, according to RTS, all the Beovizija songs received 20 Montenegrin points between them, compared with 52 points awarded by Serbian jurors to songs from Montevizija.

Once No Name's victory was apparent, the audience of more than 4,000 chanted 'Thieves' at the Montenegrin jurors, interrupted the reprise of No Name's performance and called for Flamingosi to perform instead (as they then did, joined by other performers from Beovizija). RTS has refused to recognise the Evropesma result, and as things stand the SCG entry may be withdrawn altogether: a solution is supposed to be reached by tomorrow (Tuesday).

A commentary in Danas today is especially pessimistic, comparing it to 'the match between Dinamo [Zagreb] and Crvena Zvezda [Belgrade]' which 'announced what would happen later in the then common [Yugoslav] state.' The famous football match in question took place in Zagreb in May 1990, when police beat up Croatian spectators in a fight between Dinamo and CZ fans and the Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban launched a drop kick at one police officer; there are shades, too, of the 1991 edition of Jugovizija, where a block vote from the Serbian, Montenegrin, Vojvodinan and Kosovo juries awarded victory to the Serbian representative Bebi Dol.

The Croatian press have caught up with the story too, although with Severina scheduled to perform in the Evropesma interval, it's no wonder it was a little more interested in the show than usual. Večernji list, for one, is on the Flamingos' side:

'While Flamingosi this year, in combination with the legendary Luis, offered Europe a seductive and 'good-natured' [dobroćudnu] combination of Latino and urban pop, the song by the Montenegrin group No Name openly flirted with nationalism in its lyrics - because it is wrapped in a form that it presents the referendum which will be held in Montenegro on 21 May, and it is indicative that the very evening before, Eurovision is being held in Greece.'

Is their song Moja ljubavi (My love) nationalism by stealth? It's no Hrvatski sokole, much less a Don't Ever Cry, My Croatian Sky - Croatia's first Eurovision entry as an independent state. Here's the full text in Montenegrin (heavy on the dawn, sea, mountains and so forth): true, it can equally be read as referring to romantic love or to the patriotic kind, but the same could be said about - for one thing - Ivan Mikulić's Daješ mi krila (You give me wings), which won Dora two years ago. So the jury's out.

The audience did like Severina's guest appearance, though...