Games, But No Bread

As the cancer of war spread from Slovenia via Croatia to Bosnia, folk music adapted to a dramatically narrowed down market and a nationally euphoric audience.

In all the "crucial" political moments which could (but didn't) disturb the public, folk music entered the scene and inundated television to such an extent that it was perfectly normal to expect to see folk music star Mira Skoric next to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, as his legitimate negotiator at the Geneva talks.

The underlying implications of all this propaganda, envisaged as a cocktail of unconscious light-heartedness and conscious brainwashing, were nurtured on the regime's favorite slogan: "In spite of sanctions". Its television fruits can be easily spotted: all those optimistic TV programs showing "successful" firms which manage to work "in spite of sanctions"; those heart-rendering stories of (rare) individuals whose ideas function "in spite of sanctions"; and finally our show biz stars and our show business nation, who, "in spite of sanctions", are not abandoning spiritual contents close to tradition and deafeningly loud folk music which manages to block out all thoughts which bring to mind the horrors of war.

In its relation to war, it becomes possible to understand what has been happening in Serbia these past months, in a Serbia drunk on folk music refrains, sequins and show biz minis; a Serbia free of the need to think and take part in the general tragedy, absolved of all mental obligation and the duty to accept any kind of struggle for a tomorrow; a Serbia which has adapted to living from day to day. In short, the people have found the perfect antidote to realty in folk music.

A new folk culture wave has hit the halls, football fields and town squares. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) idea is to see that all its subjects drown in the sounds of the accordion, and thus stupefied, be prepared to accept all imitations of real life.

This is why (once prestigious) dailies along with short items on bloody war orgies and the defence of Serbia's national interests, carry stories full of important information such as: what are the singers' favorite drinks, where they spend their holidays, their love life, etc. This mass folk-inspired narcosis has taken on the dimensions of mass hysteria, in which cassettes, records and video spots successfully counter social misery and society's disintegration.

The ideal promoted by a culture based on "wars of freedom" and that future which awaits us when we all finally unite under Slobodan Milosevic - is demonstrated daily via TV Channel "S" from Pale (Bosnian Serb political center). The matter pertains to a three-dimensional concept of culture in which each of the elements (extreme nationalism, Orthodox fundamentalism and folk music) have their propaganda tasks. Nationalism is supposed to persuade us that we can never, nor wish to, live with others. The Orthodox faith is trying to persuade us as to the state of affairs in spiritual history, and finally, folk music is there to help us bare our souls, cheer us up and give us strength.