Aiding Harmony? Culture as a Tool in Post-Conflict Sarajevo By Erica J. Haskell B.A., Mills College, 1998 A.M., Brown University, 2003 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music at Brown University PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND May 2011 COPYRIGHT PAGE This dissertation by Erica J. Haskell is accepted in its present form by the Department of Music as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date_______________ ____________________________ Jeff Todd Titon, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date_______________ ________________________________ Jane Cicely Sugarman, Reader Date_______________ _________________________________ Keith Brown, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date_______________ ________________________________________ Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Born: March 18, 1976, Auburn, CA EDUCATION Brown University, Providence, RI M.A. in Ethnomusicology awarded May 2003. Thesis: “Music Aid to Bosnia-Herzegovina: International Cultural Funding of Post-war Events” Mills College, Oakland, CA B.A. in Music awarded May 1998 in Music Performance (with highest honors) Mozarteum - Conservatory of Music, Salzburg, Austria 1996-1997 (flute studio of Michael Köfler) FOREIGN POLICY INTERESTS international cultural policy; cultural diplomacy; development and cultural heritage; the politics of culture; American music abroad; music and war/conflict; post-conflict reconstruction; music and nationalism; intangible culture and nation-building; refugee music EMPLOYMENT Trade Root Music Group, LLC.- Co-founder and Director of record label and music consulting company based in Maryland. We release world and roots music in all formats and consult on academic music projects. http://www.traderootmusic.com Copy Editor of Blue Helmets and Black Markets: The Business of Survival in the Siege of Sarajevo by Peter Andreas, Cornell University Press, 2008 United States Department of State –Access Program - Teacher in two Bosnian medresas (Islamic Schools) Subjects – English and American Culture (November 2005- June 2006, Elchi Ibrahim-pasha Travnik and Viliko Cajno Medresa) United States Department of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs - Selection Committee Member for Junior Faculty Development Program, a Bosnian applicant interviews. (2005 & 2006. Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina) Watson Institute for International Studies - Politics Culture and Identity Program, Rapporteur for workshop titled “New Approaches to Sustainable Democracy- Building” under the project “Muabet—Local Dimensions of Democracy-building in Southeast Europe” organized by Keith Brown. (September 19, 2003. Brown University.) Brown University - Co-producer of Applied Ethnomusicology Course radio production, Cape Verdean Music in Providence, co-developed and co-taught course at Brown iv University. Radio show aired on “Reel to Real” on Brown Student Radio (October 21, 2003) - http://www.bsrlive.com/archives/playlist.php?p=265&PHPSESSID=6525e59d2b3238560cda0c2cdab 8230f Brown University - Assistant to Jeff Todd Titon for his work as the editor of Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples. (02-03) Gale Publications and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings - Research Assistant to Professor Jeff Titon for American Musical Traditions, four volume encyclopedia: Designed website w/audio examples to accompany the volume, (02) http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/MusicAtlas/AMTHOMEPAGE/AMTHome.html Xeno Music – Staff Ethnomusicologist, Refugee Project and produced five music compilations. Budapest, Hungary (1/01-6/01) Refugee Project Founder and coordinator in cooperation with XenoMusic.com, Hungarian Helsinki Committee and United Nations High Commission for Refugees – Budapest, Hungary (01) Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage – Production Assistant Washington, D.C. (7/00 - 2/01) Library of Congress Folklife Center - Archival Intern, - Completed the “Balkan Finding- Aide”, and catalogued sections of anthropologist Joel Halpern Collection - (8/00 - 2/01) Lituraturagentur Dagmar Schruf (Publisher in Bonn, Germany) - Translator (German/English), Bosnia, Serbian, and Croatian literature dust back blurbs into English (11/99-5/00) Dubrava Refugee Camp Bosnia - Ethnomusicological Research and English Language Instruction - (7/99 -12) UNIVERSITY TEACHING Tougaloo College, Department of Music (Jackson, MS). Brown/Tougaloo Faculty Fellows Program Course: Introduction to Music (Fall 2009) Wheaton College, Department of Music (Norton, MA). Faculty Fellow Program Course: The Politics of Music (Spring 2008) Brown University, Department of Music. Co-developed and co-taught Course: World Music Cultures (Africa, America, Europe and Latin America) (Fall 2008) Teaching certificate: The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching in Higher Education, Brown University (08) Brown University Teaching Assistantships American Roots Music - Professor Jeff Titon (08) Introduction to Western Music – Professor Katherine Bergeron (07) Introduction to Ethnomusicology - Professor Jeff Titon (04) v Introduction to Ethnomusicology, World Music - Professor Jeff Titon (03) Old Time, Bluegrass, and Country - Professor Jeff Titon (02) Brown University, Music Department. Co-developed and co-taught course. Course: Studies in Ethnomusicology: Applied Ethnomusicology – Professor Jeff Titon and Maureen Loughran (03) FIELD RESEARCH Dissertation field research: Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka (9/2004 – 7/2007, 5/2010 – 12/2011) Masters Thesis field research: Sarajevo, Mostar, Srebrenica & Istanbul (02 & 03) Exploratory research in Kosovo - Pristina, Kosovo (Summer 02) Refugee field recording in Hungary– Bitchke, Debrecen and Budapest (00) Work with refugees in Camp Dubrava - Grude, Bosnia - Herzegovina (8/99-12/99) Additional periods abroad: Salzburg, Austria, (1 year); Mainz, Germany (1 year); Budapest, Hungary (6 months) LANGUAGES German : fluent (spoken and written) Brown University Master’s Degree Language Exam Passed with distinction (5/03) Goethe “Deutch als Fremdesprache Prufung” German as a foreign language certificate (4/99) Volkshochschule Mainz – Mainz, Germany (10/98 – 2/99) ESG Intensive Course – Mainz, Germany (12/98-3/99) Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany) – Intensive Course (10/98) Goethe Institute - Staufen, Germany- –Intensive Course (9/98) Salzburg College – Salzburg, Austria (96-97) Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian): fluent (spoken and written) Brown University Ph.D. qualifying Language Exam - passed (5/07) Private intensive lessons in Sarajevo – (9/04 –5/07 ) Soros Language School Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina – summer private lessons (Summers 02, 03, 04) University of Zagreb, Croatia – One month intensive course (7/99) French: basic knowledge The Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, Idyllwild CA – three years (highschool) SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS Dr. Frances Price Harnish ’25 Fellowship - Brown University (Writing Grant) (Fall and Spring 2006-2007) Advanced Research Fellowship from the American Councils Central Europe Research Scholar Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State: Program for Research vi and Training on Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union. (Dissertation fieldwork 2004-2005 in Bosnia-Herzegovina) American Council of Learned Societies Award for East European Language Training (Summer 2004 in Bosnia-Herzegovina) Grants totaling $14,000 to fund Applied Ethnomusicology Conference at Brown University titled “Invested in Community: Ethnomusicology and Musical Advocacy” (3/03) Conference organized with Jeff Todd Titon and Maureen Loughran. National Endowment for the Arts, Rhode Island Humanities Council, Rhode Island Foundation, Brown University Graduate School, Brown University Third World Center (1st national applied ethnomusicology conference) http://dl.lib.brown.edu/invested_in_community/ Public Folklore Travel Award to attend 2002 conference American Folklore Society Summer Graduate Research Funding – fieldwork in Bosnia - Sarajevo and Mostar Brown University (Summers of 02, 03 & 04) Brown University Graduate Fellowships – Brown University (TA position and tuition) (01- 04) (07-08) Maurthea Friedburger Cup of Mills College - most outstanding senior music major (98) PUBLICATIONS & REVIEWS Article: “Managing Musical Diversity within Frameworks of Western Development Aid: Views from Ukraine, Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” co-authored with Adriana Helbig and Nino Tsitsishvili in Yearbook for Traditional Music 40 (2008). Editor: Shared Musics and Minority Identities – International Council for Traditional Music - Music and Minorities 2004 Volume, published by the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research, with Naila Ceribasic (August 2006). Reviewed by Carol Silverman in Ethnomusicology, Vol. 52. Article: “Aiding Harmony? International Humanitarian Aid and the Role of Applied Ethnomusicologists” in Shared Musics and Minority Identities – International Council for Traditional Music - Music and Minorities 2004 Volume, published by the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research, with Naila Ceribasic. Article: “International Humanitarian Aid and the Role of Applied Ethnomusicologists” - Shared Musics and Minority Identities, published by the Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Research, (August 2006). Album Review: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings “Bells and Winter Festivals of Greek Macedonia, Featuring the Romani Instrumentalists of Jumaya.” The World of Music (46(3) - 2004). Album Review: CCn’C Recordings “Irén Lovász and Teagrass, Wide is the Danube.”The World of Music (46(3) - 2004). PRESENTATIONS AND AFFILIATIONS vii Society for Ethnomusicology – Middletown, MA 2008 “International Cultural Intervention in Bosnia: Can Culture Win the Peace?” on the forum titled “Beyond Advocacy” Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Conference – Amherst College, MA 2008 “Urban Authenticity: Foreign Agents in Bosnian Cultural Development” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars: Eastern European Studies Junior Scholars’ Seminar, Washington DC 2007 – (presented policy-relevant aspects of dissertation proposal) Society for Ethnomusicology - Honolulu, HI 2006 “PSYPOP: NATO, Radio and Psychological Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina” International Council for Traditional Music ICTM World Conference – Hanoi, Vietnam 2010 Paper proposed, pending acceptance ICTM World Conference – Vienna 2007 “International Cultural Diplomacy as National Policy in Sarajevo” ICTM World Conference - Sheffield 2005 “International Cultural Aid and the case of Guca Gora, Central Bosnia” (organizer of panel: “Music and Group Identities in European Contexts”) Music and Minorities Study Group Conference – Istria, 2004 “International Humanitarian Aid and the Role of Applied Ethnomusicologists” (member of the program committee) American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies - Salt Lake City 2005 “Hybrid Aid: International Support for the Cultural Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina” MUSIC RELEASES All albums released on Trade Root Music Group and Free Dirt records. (http://www.traderootmusic.com) Producer of album titled Starlight on the Rails, the U. Utah Songbook – four CD retrospective of Utah Phillip’s music and stories about American worker’s unions, hobos, and the rough life, released on AK Press and Daemon Records (May 2005). Producer of five XenoMusic Music from Central and Eastern Europe Album Compilations titled: “Best of XenoMusic.com 2001”, “Folk, Ethnic, and World Fusion”, “Electronica, Dance, and Hip-Hop”, “Classical and Jazz”, “Rock, Metal and Blues” (voted one of the “Ten Best Albums of 2001” by the San Jose Mercury News). Author of dustback cover blurbs for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Trade Root Music, LLC albums “The Legends of Life - Mostar Sevdah Reunion & Ljiljana Buttler” (US release Nov. 2006) “Secret Gate – Mostar Sevdah Reunion” (US release Nov. 2006) www.traderootmusic.com viii “The Country Gentlemen On the Road” http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2692 “Red Allen: The Folkways Years 1964-1983” http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2691 PRESS COVERING PROJECTS Austrian National Radio – interview on “Dimensionen” (July 17, 2007 ) radio show about my dissertation following the ICTM conference in Vienna, Austria. Utne Reader: Arts Extra, The Best Music, Books, and More (magazine) – Article titled “Songs of Survival” by Ursula Eagly, featuring The Hungarian Refugee Camp project which I founded in the Winter of 2001 in Hungary (11/15/02). Arts International: Performance for the Planet (magazine) – Article titled “Hungary Musical Refuge” in Spring 2002 issue about The Hungarian Refugee Camp project. (Spring 2002). MUSICAL TRAINING AND ACHIEVEMENTS Private Saz (Bosnian Lute) – Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (05-06) Brown University Old Time Group (banjo) - Providence, RI (02-04) Ghanaian Drumming Ensemble – Providence, RI (01-02) Mozarteum Scholarship – Salzburg, Austria (96-97) (for one year private flute study) Donner Music Fellowship (Mills College, three years) – Oakland, CA Mills Trio (flute, violin, piano) senior recital – Oakland, CA (97-98) Mills College Gamelan Ensemble – Oakland, CA (98) Schloss Leopoldskron Duo (Mozart repertoire) – Salzburg, Austria (96-97) Mills College New Music Ensemble – Oakland, CA (95-98) Holy Names College Orchestra (first flute) – Oakland, CA (95-96) Meadows School of Music Wind Ensemble – Dallas, TX (94-95) International Chamber Orchestra – Idyllwild, CA (90-94) Boston University, Tanglewood Institute (Flute Seminar) – Lenox, MA (92) Tanglewood Institute Scholarship Award – Lenox, MA (90) Interlochen Center for the Arts Scholarship – Interlochen, MI (summer orchestral institute) (91) World Youth Symphony Orchestra – Interlochen, MI (91) California State School for the Arts – Mills College, CA (89) Academy Woodwind Quintet – Idyllwild, CA (90-94) Woodwind Quintet ~ Miladi Quintet (seminar) – Idyllwild, CA (87) Soloist : Sacramento Symphony Orchestra - Sacramento, CA (90), Auburn Symphony Orchestra– Auburn, CA (89) Twin Cities Chamber Orchestra – Nevada City, CA (88) Sacramento Symphony Soloist Competition – Sacramento, CA (90), Golden Empire Competition ix Acknowledgements Over the last decade numerous people have assisted me in my work on this dissertation. I am grateful for the support and inspiration of my friends in Bosnia and the region who took the time to talk to me about seemingly basic aspects of their lives and never complained about recounting sometimes painful wartime and post-war experiences. I am indebted to Henry Spiller who, early in my undergraduate study of classical music at Mills College, spoke to me after a gamelan rehearsal about my interests in studying ethnomusicology at the graduate level. As with many undergraduates, I first heard and read about music from Southeastern Europe in the book Worlds of Music (2nd edition, 1993) edited by Jeff Todd Titon who, years later as my advisor at Brown University, guided me through my master’s and Ph.D studies as well as through the completion of this dissertation. His extensive work in the field of applied ethnomusicology has inspired me to include advocacy, social justice, and politics in my own work. Colleagues at Smithsonian Folkways were the first to introduce me to the recording Bosnia: Echoes from an Endangered World (SFW40407). It offered an early sonic glimpse into the region’s music. In 1999, my first trip to Bosnia was made possible with the help of Tim and Marie-Louise Ryback of the Salzburg Seminar, a world peace organization that organizes policy-relevant seminars of key policy makers, politicians, and others. I had the pleasure of looking after their children while studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria in my junior year. When I expressed my interest in volunteering with refugees in Bosnia after completing my bachelor’s degree, they connected me with organizations doing work in the Dubrava Refugee Camp in Herzegovina where I volunteered for six months. I am indebted to the families and individuals from Vareš and x Bugonjo, many of whom I lived with in the camp. Two friends in particular, Irena and Nada, spent time introducing me to their language, food, and customs. I am grateful for all of the financial support I have received for my dissertation research in Bosnia. During my graduate study at Brown University, I was awarded four summer research grants that allowed me to study the language and to develop ideas for my dissertation topic. During those summer travels, I developed an early understanding of the dynamic tensions between foreign and local communities that have been central to the long view I take in this dissertation. I was awarded an Advanced Research Fellowship for dissertation research between 2004 and 2006 by the American Councils Central Europe Research Scholar Program that allowed me to live in Sarajevo and travel throughout the region.1 During the same period, I received the American Council of Learned Societies Award for East European Language Training that made it possible for me to take private language classes during my field research. I was able to extend my research in Bosnia into 2007 when I became an instructor in two madrassas, Elchi Ibrahim-pasha Travnik and Veliko Cajno, for the US Department of State (Access Program). Conversations I had with professors and students at the Travnik madrassa, in particular, introduced me to Bosniak ideas and customs as well as opinions about foreign involvement in Bosnia. In addition to the granting institutions noted above, several others in Sarajevo were invaluable to my research. The Open Society Fund of Bosnia and Herzegovina Media Center’s extensive periodical archive was valuable to me as I reviewed articles from the inter-war and immediate post-war period. At the beginning of my research in 1 The grant is funded by the US Department of State, Program for Research and Training on Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union. xi Sarajevo, the Bosniak Institute graciously offered me institutional affiliation and allowed me to access their historical archives. Ivan Colović and Tamara Karaća welcomed me to attend lectures and visit the archive at the University of Sarajevo’s Music Academy. The staff at the Zemaljski Museum generously allowed me access to their reading room where I completed much of the final writing of this dissertation. Students in my classes at Brown University, Wheaton College (MA), Tougaloo College (MS), and Pannasastra University of Cambodia were sounding boards for my ideas about this project. I greatly appreciate the efforts of the two readers of this dissertation. Jane Sugarman, of the CUNY Graduate Center, offered advice on and critique of, both my master’s thesis and PhD dissertation. She had offered up fascinating comparisons with the situation in post-war Kosova that have helped to strengthen my points. Keith Brown’s (Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University) expertise in the field of political anthropology has been central to framing this work. Timothy Cooley (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Ted Levin (Dartmouth College) visited Sarajevo while I was living there and inspired me with their reflections about the city and its music. Svanibor Pettan, of the University of Ljubljana, has remained an inspiration to me for his work in the region on applied ethnomusicology. I would also like to thank Moya Magilligan for assisting me in the final readings of this work. Many friends have encouraged me throughout this process. In particular, Alma Fazlić-Prazina, Dijana Keselj, Maureen Loughran, Julie Hunter, James Ruchala, Lara Nettelfield, Christoph Hinterreiter, and Asja Makarević. Finally, I want to thank my family for their long and consistent support of this project. As a child, my parents were the first to introduce me to political music. My xii father’s constant willingness to listen to and react to my ideas has been central to my intellectual development throughout my life. My stepmother lent her hand by editing early drafts of this dissertation and sharing her positive support. During his multiple visits to Sarajevo, my brother Trevor was kind to take stunning photographs, several of which appear here. I am eternally grateful to my partner Chris Engels, who has been an unwavering friend and confidant throughout the writing of this dissertation. Any omissions or mistakes are my own. xiii Table of Contents PART I – SETTING THE SCENE..................................................................................... 1   Chapter One Introduction ............................................................................................... 1   Chapter Two A Brief Historical Background of Sarajevo............................................ 19   Walking Along the Ferhadija.................................................................................... 23   Musical Developments in the Region ....................................................................... 40   The Politics of Turbofolk.......................................................................................... 54   Chapter Three From Siege to Celebration: Musical Renaissance During the Siege .... 64   Radio Zid (Radio Wall) ............................................................................................ 73   Rock Under Siege ..................................................................................................... 76   The Dayton Agreement and Culture ......................................................................... 80   Post-War Foreigners: “You Feel That In The City” ................................................. 87   Akcija and the Post-War “Futura Festival” .............................................................. 91   PART II – THREE POST-WAR EXAMPLES ................................................................ 94   Introduction to the Case Studies ................................................................................... 94   Chapter Four Funding Festivals: Bringing the World to the Capital............................ 97   The Post-war Scene................................................................................................... 97   Ibrahim Spahić: Winter’s Showman....................................................................... 105   “A Zagreb” or “A Paris”: Where Are We Anyway? .............................................. 117   Baščaršije noči Festival........................................................................................... 121   Corruption in the Cultural Realm ........................................................................... 124   Criticisms of the Festival Model: The Cultural Mafia et al. ................................... 127   Shifting Toward Regional Representation.............................................................. 129   Urban Excess – Rural Marginalization ................................................................... 130   The Alluring Red Carpet......................................................................................... 132   Chapter Five PSY(P)OP: Radio Peace, NATO, Psychological Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina ......................................................................................................... 138   The Beginnings of Radio Mir ................................................................................. 146   Trip to Camp Butmir............................................................................................... 149   Message Campaigns: Selling the Message – Hearts and Minds............................. 156   News as Information: The “i” in Mir...................................................................... 165   The Power of Funding ............................................................................................ 167   Music as a Tool....................................................................................................... 171   Radio Parties ........................................................................................................... 173   Demo Festival “Moj BiH” (My Bosnia)................................................................. 176   The Demise of Radio Mir ....................................................................................... 181   xiv Chapter Six Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engagement Gramofon Records and Pro Helvetia.......................................................................................................... 187   Donor Logos: Introducing the Partnership ............................................................. 187   Dusty Gramofon Disks in a Privatized Space......................................................... 194   Limited Cross-Border Musical Exchange............................................................... 201   Gramofon Records .................................................................................................. 203   Two Gramofon Bands: Dubioza kolectiv and Zoster ............................................. 205   The Donor and the Recipient: A Partnership.......................................................... 226   Small Action, Cooperation, and Micro-grants........................................................ 230   Chapter Seven Conclusion.......................................................................................... 238   Post-war Cultural Policy ......................................................................................... 239   Reliable and Consistent Funding ............................................................................ 244   Balanced Partnerships / Local Ownership .............................................................. 244   The Waste of Cultural Resources ........................................................................... 246   Music as a Tool....................................................................................................... 247   UNESCO’s Framework .......................................................................................... 249   War as Destructive and Generative......................................................................... 251   Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 254   xv Illustrations Map of Bosnia showing the present divisions between the Federation and Republika Srpska........................................................................................................................ 22   Sarajevo Roses. ................................................................................................................. 27   City Map: The Baščaršija.................................................................................................. 29   Vedran Smailović, National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina .................................... 67   Radio Zid, Rock Under The Siege.................................................................................... 77   Rock Under Siege album cover ........................................................................................ 78   Organizational Chart of the Office of the High Representative ....................................... 81   Remnants of a Radio Mir Poster..................................................................................... 138   The first Radio Mir logo, circa 1997 .............................................................................. 146   Destroyed Zetra Stadium where UNPROFOR was based (circa 1996) ......................... 147   Sarajevo Cityscape.......................................................................................................... 149   Radio Mir logo................................................................................................................ 152   PSYOPS EUFOR staff.................................................................................................... 154   A SFOR soldier editing audio files using ProTools for a PSYOPS message segment... 155   A EUFOR soldier listens to a pre-recorded interview for possible use in a PSYOPS message ................................................................................................................... 155   Harvest Campaign PSYOPS messages posted in men’s and women’s restrooms across Bosnia ..................................................................................................................... 161   A PSYOPS print message warning the public of the dangers of mines left behind in the conflict. ................................................................................................................... 163   Images taken at the Moj BiH Festival, 2004................................................................... 177   Karabit Buybook............................................................................................................. 194   Gramofon and Pro Helvetia logos................................................................................... 197   Dubioza kolektiv album covers ...................................................................................... 203   Dubioza kolektiv............................................................................................................. 207   xvi CDA facade .................................................................................................................... 213   CDA facade Remodeled, now housing the Sarajevski ratni teatar (Sarajevo War Theater) ................................................................................................................................. 213   Screen shot from music video “Triple Head Monster .................................................... 214   xvii PART I – SETTING THE SCENE Chapter One Introduction Given the many, often seemingly intractable conflicts between groups or countries in many parts of the world, which bring nothing but death and destruction, as well as feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness, it is imperative that attempts to halt and reverse the cycle of violence draw on the widest possible range of peacemaking instruments and mechanisms. In this context, the potential contribution of the arts has traditionally be ignored or marginalized, and also today is insufficiently appreciated. (Van den Dungen, xv.) This dissertation concerns the politics of musical projects, institutions, and events in Sarajevo and the effect of efforts by donors in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s2 recent post- war period to promote concepts of democratization, modernization, westernization, and civil-society among local musicians, which I term “foreign cultural patronage.”3 Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, and in the course of the armed conflicts that ensued (1991-2001), different international and thus foreign, political, and social actors have participated in the process of nation-building.4 Transnational institutions play active roles in facilitating the articulation or re-articulation of political and cultural expression in the public sphere (Helbig 2008). To do this, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private donors, the military and funding arms of foreign governments, under the guise of 2 The official name of the country is Bosna i Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Throughout this dissertation, I have used “Bosnia” for short, for ease of the reader. 3 By patronage I mean the act of providing approval, support, and encouragement. In this case I am specifically highlighting financial aid given by organizations. I also use the term musical patronage to describe the relationship some Western musicians and composers had with their patrons in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. Historically, musical patronage evokes an overt power relationship in which the patron not only has the power of employment, but also has impact upon the occasions at which the composer or musician performs, and the very style in which the composer writes or the musician plays. 4 Nation-building has been defined as the process of constructing, structuring, and maintaining a nation using the power of the state. In general, nation-building is defined and implemented by foreign actors in newly independent states. In the Balkans, organizations such as the United Nations, NATO, OSCE, and others have attempted to unify peoples within the regions’ states in the hope that political stability and viability would be reached. In Bosnia, nation-building has involved major infrastructure development, institutional reform (legal, educational, social), the fostering of social harmony (sometimes through the use of the arts), and economic growth, among other goals. 1 humanitarian and development assistance as well as cultural diplomacy, have drawn on a range of strategies and mechanisms in their efforts to reshape Bosnian society and to promote their individual messages and goals. The fifteen-year period following the conflict in Bosnia, and its categorization as a new and independent although divided nation, has been marked by multiple cultural, social, and political transitions, including the crowning of Sarajevo, once a regional center, as the nation’s new capital city. Through the investigation of several cultural institutions, events, and media, I explain the multi-dimensional connections between these post-war transitions and the positive and negative impacts of foreign cultural aid on the transition process. In this work I argue that foreign sponsored post-conflict projects that are informed by local need and character can succeed in fulfilling the goals of both donors and the community. At their best, “music and peace projects can be crafted, then, to overcome the after-effects of violence, both by facilitating necessary learning and by restoring the capabilities and nourishing the sensibilities required for reconciliation” (C. Cohen 2008, 32). I contend that foreign donors can and should do more for post-war communities by concerning themselves with the cultural framework they leave behind. I hope that this dissertation contributes to the field of “pragmatically oriented scholarship, combining recognition of the balancing act involved in policymaking and commitment to constructive, albeit critical, engagement with practical as well as theoretical questions” (Brown 2006, 4). Top-down projects that impose structure and content from afar by in large fail to sustain themselves beyond the immediate post-war period. I argue that cultural projects can and should play a central role in post-war transitional communities and that the Sarajevo case can act as a lesson for other similar situations. Finally, this paper is an 2 effort to combine the field of ethnomusicology with advocacy for post-war communities. I wholeheartedly agree with Jeff Titon that “the ethnomusicologist can be a problem- solver, a kind of consultant applying knowledge about music in the public interest in order to assist people and communities to reach their goals” (Fenn and Titon 2003, 126). It is my hope that my findings in this dissertation may spur future policy makers to investigate the long-term impact of post-war projects on communities. Economic, cultural, social, and political shifts have impacted cultural bodies in a variety of ways during the post-war period. National and regional economic systems have shifted from self-managed5 socialist to market, with a large percentage of transactions taking place in the so-called gray market. The once-shared, or at least widely understood, inclusive Yugoslav cultural identity, which in the decades leading up to the war included embracing a certain political ideology, has given way in Bosnia to factionalized and highly contested ethno-national identities. Deep fault lines cut across the plain of national identity, making the path to consensus almost impassable. Political division is visible at many levels of society, from a three-president political system (one from each of the largest ethno-national groups) to the ethno-religious makeup of people’s neighborhoods, the products they choose to buy, and the language dialect they speak. The centralized organization of cultural and other organizations characteristic of socialist governments has changed with the “soft occupation” by foreign organizations, and resulted in ad hoc, transient, and unreliable support. 5 Workers’ self-management (or samoupravna interesna zajednica) is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices (for issues like customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labor, etc.) instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it, and where to do it. 3 In reference to nations, the term “transition” is meant to explain a progression from one state of being to another. The Bosnian case is different from other cases addressed by some scholars who address the impact of transitions in post-socialist states because local factions, strengthened during the conflict, have made achieving consensus on Bosnia’s national policy difficult. Years after the war, this void was filled by foreigners as they developed numerous cultural projects. War and the resulting period of reconstruction have colored social/political change and slowed the process of European Union accession for Bosnia, while the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Croatia and are “candidate countries,” and remain part of the stabilization and association process, have progressed more quickly through the process.6 Although over the period of writing this dissertation, I have seen and experienced the transitions described in other Eastern European cases, there is a sense expressed by Bosnians, and mirrored in the international and domestic media, that the conflict between nationalist groups may be “on hold” and may emerge or be rekindled again in the future.7 Unlike other countries that were once a part of the Eastern Bloc and/or the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia has experienced great difficulty securing foreign commercial investment because of its economic and political instability during and after the war. With an unemployment rate of 40 percent in 2009, more than 25 percent of the population living beneath the poverty line 6 Following European Union status negotiations, the process of accession into the EU involves that states must meet particular political, economic, legal, and integration criteria. In the case of Southeastern European applicants, a country’s stability and economic situation hold added weight. Macedonia and Croatia are “candidate countries" while Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo are “potential candidates” (European Commission Enlargement site: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/enlargement_process/accession_process/how_does_a_country_join_the_eu /sap/index_en.htm). 7 Local and international commentators have expressed their recent concern at Miloran Dodić’s threats that he will seek independence for Republika Srpska. See Patrick Donahue, “Bosnia Serb Leader Dodik Won't Rule Out Republika Srpska Independence Vote,” Bloomberg News, April 15, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-15/bosnia-serb-leader-dodik-won-t-rule-out-republika-srpska- independence-vote.html. 4 in 2004,8 and often labeled as a failed state,9 Bosnia faces numerous challenges beyond the development of cultural organizations. Although European Union membership acts as a carrot for new generations of Bosnians, few seem to believe that it is actually attainable in the next fifteen years. The post-war period in Bosnia bears some resemblance to other post-conflict situations. In their book about the reconstruction of Kosovo following the recent conflict there, Ian King and Whit Mason outline five phases of the international presence that followed the conflict: emergency, consolidation, confrontation, stagnation, and “the reckoning” (King and Mason 2006, xi). In their on-the-ground analysis, each stage took place over a period of two years. They explain the “emergency” stage as a period in which the country “turned into one of those post-war free-for-alls with no legally constituted authority on the ground” (ibid., 49). In the “consolidation” stage, international priorities changed as the humanitarian efforts were usurped by political agendas. In the “confrontation” and “stagnation” stages, the local population of Kosovars began to question international oversight and to encounter the economic problems of independence. While in the final “reckoning” stage, the country “was forced either to exorcise the demons it had managed to avoid until then, or else find a way to live with them” (ibid., 192). Post-war Bosnia faced some of the same stages, although they were cast over a longer period of time. Through the lens of my ethnographic research in Sarajevo, I have looked at approaches to post-war development and reconciliation and at how music has been one of the tools used in this process. Within the context of post-war, 8 CIA Factbook, Bosnia entry, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html. 9 See the Newsweek article “From Dayton to Dysfunction, Five numbers that suggest Bosnia is becoming a failed state,” published on October 15, 2009, http://www.newsweek.com/2009/10/14/from-dayton-to- dysfunction.html. 5 post-socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina, I explain the ways in which a selection of international organizations and foreign governments have defined and used culture, cultural heritage, and more specifically music, as instruments for social change. Of particular interest are the multiple roles music plays in Bosnia, and how different political actors participate in these roles and influence their change.10 At the nexus of this dissertation is the interaction between, and intersection of, cultural activities (such as radio, festivals, and record production, which are the subjects of the three case studies) and international projects in humanitarian assistance, democracy assistance, economic development, reconciliation, and civil society building following the conflict. Part One of this work acts to contextualize and set the scene for the case studies in Part Two. In the introductory chapter, I lay out the basic questions to which this work is addressed. Based on the three case studies of this dissertation and the multiple ancillary examples, I argue for the establishment of a cultural policy in the immediate post-war period. I illustrate the organizational and institutional void left by the hastily written Dayton Agreement and show how foreign-funded cultural projects filled the void. I recommend two rules for developing donor-recipient relationships: that they be balanced partnerships based on local ownership, and that donors attempt to provide reliable, consistent funding. I also question the “music as a tool” model as it was employed in Bosnia by recommending that local and international organizations should actively aim to preserve and nourish musical communities independent of their other goals. As an example of an international organization whose aim is primarily the safeguarding of tangible and intangible culture, I discuss UNESCO’s projects. 10 I use “political actors” to mean people who actively engage in political life such as politicians, community leaders, religious leaders, directors of organizations, as well as musicians and voters. 6 The following chapters explain these arguments and offer context and rationale for my conclusions. The historical overview of Chapter Two both introduces the reader to the city of Sarajevo as well as offers a sketch of the development of musical practice in Bosnia. In the final section of Chapter Two, I offer a discussion of the political aspects of one musical genre: turbofolk, a regional popular music genre pertinent to two of the case studies. Chapter Three is a description of the traumatic years of war in Sarajevo. I celebrate the degree to which many artists found ways to gather and produce music, put on plays, or exhibit their work while under a four-year siege. I also describe the euphoria many Sarajevans felt after the declaration of peace and the long-term impact of the peace agreement. Both the historical and musical contexts in this chapter are vital to understanding the case studies in Part Two of the dissertation. In Part Two, I present three cases studies from the post-war period. In the last decade, music has been used strategically by national parties and governments, as during the socialist period, and by foreign actors from various parts of the world to effect change on the ground. The explosion of foreign interest in humanitarian and development aid in Sarajevo following the war was paralleled by new cultural projects. The long-term results have been mixed, but decidedly ad hoc11 policies which have attempted to spur a cultural diplomacy dialogue (Chapter Four), to spread covert and overt messages of modernity and European Union membership through the use of Western popular music (Chapter Five), and to teach the lessons of a free market economy and political critique and activism (Chapter Six). The tangible and symbolic effects of international cultural 11 In Latin, the phrase ad hoc means “for this purpose” and suggests a solution that has been custom- designed for a specific problem, cannot be easily generalized, and cannot be adapted to other purposes. Here I use ad hoc for the connotations of a makeshift and inadequately planned solution, or improvised events. 7 involvement in the post-war period help to explain claims in Bosnia, as well as across the globe, of neocolonialism on the part of both Western and Eastern donors. Most investigations into the politics of the music of the region have highlighted ethno-religious nationalism as a central paradigm for understanding the reasons for the conflict, while others claim that economic inequality was at the center of the conflict (Woodward 1995). Before the conflict, based on the Yugoslav census, people in Bosnia were either Serbs, Croats, Muslims (three of the six "narodi" of Yugoslavia) or they categorized themselves as Yugoslavs. In the build-up to the war, and presently, these distinct categories have largely corresponded with ethnic and national identities as follows: Bosnian Croat (Roman Catholic), Bosniak (Sunni Muslim), and Bosnian Serb (Serbian Orthodox).12 Social and religious categories are visually indistinguishable, as most Bosnians are members of the same ethnic group and speak the same language with some regional differences (Morton 2004, 4). Last names, and sometimes first names, as well as dress can act as markers to ethno-religious membership.13 By some scholars’ accounts, nationalistic sentiments spurred the recent conflict. Although I do not weigh in on that contentious issue, it is clear to me that the ethnically and religiously divided political and social environment in Bosnia, which highlights differences between ethno-religious 12 Although most people consider themselves to be members of one of the main groups, religious belief and worship attendance vary greatly between generations as well as between rural and urban communities. I have Bosniak friends who strongly identify as Muslim without following some of the basic tenets of Islam, such as abstaining from drinking. At the same time, there are many Bosniaks who pray five times a day and women who cover their heads with the hijab. For a more in-depth discussion of the mosaic of religious belief in Sarajevo and throughout Bosnia, see the writings of three anthropologists who have written extensively on the topic: Sorbaji 1989, Lockwood 1978, and Bringa 1995. 13 Bosniak women who wear the hijab in public are the most differentiated from others on the street because of their dress. In the center of the city, it is common to see Catholic nuns in their black and white habits. Men who are members of the mujahedeen are another recognizable group with their long beards and mid-calf pants. 8 groups at multiple levels of society and individual communities, has and continued to hinder the development or even embrace of united Bosnian national cultural styles14 which, in turn, has slowed the development of a viable cultural policy and thus consistent support for existing cultural institutions. European Union members and candidates to the Union have all adopted individual cultural policies and indeed, adoption is part of the accession process.15 I argue that a shared national policy is central to local and foreign reconciliation goals as well as to the country’s future. In this dissertation I underline the local experience shared among cultural organizers in Sarajevo. Their narratives cover reactions to and criticisms of foreign funding, the foreign community, and influence of foreign actors on Sarajevo’s cultural sector.16 By and large, only politically and religiously neutral musicians and musical groups have received support from foreign patrons and I offer an exception to these cases in Chapter Six of this dissertation. Because many foreign funders had spent relatively little time on the ground, and thus knew little about local styles and traditions, they had a tendency to avoid supporting local and particularly traditional musicians, focusing rather on non-divisive foreign music. Being non-divisive and modern has been an important characteristic for donors. In the last few years, local cultural organizers in Sarajevo have begun to reassess the goal of establishing a common national cultural policy from the rubble of war. This policy includes anticipated foreign patronage and emphasizes the 14 It might be helpful here to note other sectors of society that face similar fractures (enclave living, divided schools). 15 With the term “candidates” I mean to include Southeastern European countries at all stages of the accession process including Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo. 16 For statistics on the amount spent in Bosnia on development see Chandler 2000. 9 importation of seemingly nonpolitical, nonreligious global/international cultural products.17 Within each case study, five policy-relevant discourses intersect. First, stories of each project’s development shed light on the origin of the project idea and its long-term success or failure. Second, together they describe the relationship between donors and local entities as well as actors’ interests in foreign-domestic partnerships and understandings of what each wanted and received from the exchange. Third, the descriptions of musical genres included in individual projects contextualize the position of each project within Sarajevo’s soundscape, airwaves, and stages. Fourth, for each case study I address the sustainability and long-term outcomes of each project that sheds light on the plausibility and desirability of replicating similar efforts in other post-war situations. The fifth discourse involves local responses to internationally funded projects from musicians and other cultural actors in an effort to uncover the intricacies of grassroots local support. In the conclusion (Chapter Seven), I draw comparisons between the case studies and pose policy recommendations for how future projects could be more effective. Methodology and Research Approach The fields of cultural politics, history, political anthropology, development studies, and ethnomusicology all play roles in this paper. Central to the study are the 17 The chief document that informs this analysis is the Strategija kulturne politike BiH (Cultural Policy Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina) written by the Commission for Drafting of the Cultural Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I first gained access to the report in December of 2006 when I met with Ibrahim Spahić. In November 2008, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the strategy (Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 93/08). Its adoption was largely symbolic and has yet to make any discernable impact upon on-the-ground institutions. 10 dynamics and interplay between these fields in historical narratives about foreigners, analyses of cultural projects founded and funded by foreigners, the economic aspects of the presently depressed economy of Bosnia (high unemployment in comparison to the high income of most foreigners), and a newly written cultural policy. Many scholars have documented the impact of globalization upon communities around the world. Here I hope to show how the process of globalization is not only present in a general way, but is propelled by foreign governments, and by the international military force through projects that are independent of local limitations, needs, and to some extent, tastes. In this narrative I have sought to balance “thick description” as defined by Geertz (1973, 476) with the tangible need for policy statements and project analysis accessible to local and foreign cultural organizers and funders. In the field of ethnomusicology, there is a dearth of policy relevant writings that can be both of use and of interest to facilitators of projects on the ground and to academics. Although thick narratives about my experiences in the field offer subtle details which work to paint a multi-sided portrait of the post-war period and individual case studies, descriptions about how each case study works or does not work on a tangible, organizational, and financial level can be helpful for facilitators in other post-war situations around the world. In the organization of this dissertation, I have sought to create a dissertation that is transparent to cultural policy actors who are faced with situations in which they must decide how to structure cultural projects as well. Using material gathered during my three years of fieldwork concerning cultural projects and spaces established and funded by the international community since the end of the conflict, I trace the development and evolution of the international community’s activities and objectives. I also illustrate how the donor community inadvertently funds 11 projects that promote identities and conceptions of citizenship sometimes at odds with its underlying desires and mission to promote a European multi-ethnic liberal democracy. Efforts by foreigners to symbolically exemplify post-war reconciliation on the stage have been largely dismissed by locals. I have conducted research in the three major cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka; and I have travelled around the country to smaller towns and villages to investigate post-war cultural projects. For the purposes of this dissertation, I have relied primarily on material I gathered in Sarajevo, the political capital of the country. My research methodology is multi-disciplinary. In keeping with research methods in the fields of ethnomusicology and anthropology, my main method of investigation has been participant observation. In addition to developing relationships and contacts with the staff and directors of international and local organizations, I have employed a more formal interview method for government officials, directors of projects, centers, and festivals as well as some musicians and audience members. I have conduced interviews with Bosnians who have had extended involvement in such cultural activities as well as audio narratives or stories evaluating pre-war socialist cultural policies in order to contrast them with recent patronage by international organizations. I have investigated the processes by which cultural organizers and directors apply for funds, international actors allocate funds, and finally, local citizens and international organizations evaluate the successes and failures of cultural projects and events. In addition to the three cases I address in-depth in this work, I have followed the development and impact of many other cultural organizations and projects. My review of scholarship and examination of historical documents has contextualized my statements. I have also attended numerous 12 festivals and other performances. In informal settings, such as parties and dinners with locals and foreigners, I have overheard conversations and even involved myself in gossip sometimes to elicit opinions of the people around me. Translations and Interviews Throughout my research I recorded all of my formal interviews and discussions. I interviewed musicians, audience member, directors of cultural projects (including art, theater, film, and music projects), artists, foreign donors, embassy officials, cultural journalists, and foreigners living and working in Sarajevo. During my early fieldwork, interview topics revolved around the relationships between foreign donors and cultural projects. In these discussions I learned about my informants’ opinions and complaints about foreign involvement in Sarajevo’s cultural realm. As I became more knowledgeable about the local cultural environment and the dynamics of post-war projects, I focused on several case studies by interviewing multiple staff members and narrowing my discussions to uncover details about the everyday workings of the projects. I discussed my research interests and intentions with all the consultants I interviewed. In presenting quotations I have sought to maintain the original meaning and spirit of all conversations I had during my research. Several of the people I interviewed for this dissertation spoke to me in English. This was partially because many were young people who felt comfortable speaking English. Because English was a second language for almost all of the individuals in this group, they sometimes sound less polished at expressing themselves. When I quote them here, I attempt to leave their statements in the original form in order to preserve the sprit of their statements. I only add bracketed words 13 when they are absolutely necessary for understanding. I have maintained natural aspects of speaking heard in the recordings such as pauses and repetition. For interviews and discussions that have been translated into English from Bosnian (Croatian/Serbian),18 I have added bracketed words only when necessary. Because the interviews were spoken in the interviewees’ mother tongue and then translated, they often have more fluidity than those in English. Disciplinary Approach Southeastern Europe is known for its rich and diverse mosaic of musical styles influenced by past occupying powers from the East and West.19 Throughout the region’s history, people living in Bosnia have selectively embraced, rejected, and adapted these cultural influences. From the Ottomans to the Austro-Hungarians, those colonizing Bosnia have had access to greater resources than the local population by virtue of their superior military and economic position and political power to install policies and incentives for a given music’s success. In recent history, from 1945 to 1991, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) directed funds toward cultural demonstrations which exemplified the state’s (or cultural organizers’) aspirations and ideas about itself. 18 The name of the language spoken in Bosnia is a contentious political issue as national factions attempt to further divide communities based upon cultural and linguistic arguments. International organizations as well as local ones officially call the language by the acronym BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian). Two scripts are in official use: Latin and Cyrillic. Some feel that this term is synthetic and misleading as dialects are increasingly defined and categorized in educational institutions as well as the media as separate languages. In the vernacular, people often use one of the names based on their political leanings, the locale of the conversation, and the ethno-religious identity of the person with whom they converse. For an outsider such as myself, the language terminology represents a minefield full of possibilities that I might be corrected. The only truly politically balanced terms for the language(s) is lokalnom jeziku (local language) or naš jezik (our language). 19 As with other peoples who have undergone periods of occupation, in the Bosnian context, music that was “imported” by outside powers was adapted by locals to its new environment. There are several examples of this kind of adaptation: use of the saz in urban settings, use of a once-military brass instrument in Roma bands. 14 Consistent with socialist cultural policy, cultural organizations called kulturno- umjetnićka društva (KUDs), or cultural-artistic societies, spread out across the former Yugoslavia, with the most prestigious smotras being in Belgrade and Zagreb. Smotra is the local term used for a folkloric festival. The term smotra literally means “review” and is also used within the context of other cultural reviews such as theater reviews. Some smotras, especially those most famous such as Međunarodna smotra folklora Zagreb, have competitive aspects with professional juries. The cultural policies of the Yugoslav state promoted concepts of “brotherhood and unity” to garner local support for pan-Yugoslav national identity. The governmental structure, which supported national and local institutions, was based in the former Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade. The festivals and concerts of these groups often took place in the Bosnian cultural centers of Sarajevo and Banja Luka (Petrović 2002). While some scholars have located the cause of Yugoslavia’s disintegration within economic factors or in international or nationalist agendas, others have emphasized the role of fine arts and popular music in animating cultural, political, and social difference (Wachtel 1998; Gordy 1999). Their arguments suggest that cultural policies have serious political and social ramifications beyond the stage. Scholars of the region have documented the ways in which, like most aspects of culture, music was used during the conflict to divide as much as it was used to unify (Laušević 2000a and 2000b; Pettan 1999; Maners 2000; Gordy 1999), as well as the cultural situation before the war. While these scholars have considered the cultural policies that preceded the unfolding of ethnic conflict and then inspired inter-war music, the effects of cultural policy in the post-war period have not yet been assessed in the Bosnian case. 15 In the field of anthropology, scholars such as Fisher (1997) and Yúdice (2003) have looked at globalizing ideas about civil society that have been introduced by Western-based programs for political and educational, as well as economic and cultural development. Parallel to this Bosnian case, ethnomusicologist Adriana Helbig notes that in Ukraine, “Following the notion of thinking globally and acting locally, such [foreign funded] programmes are usually set up by transnational structures such as the World Bank, UNESCO, and the European Union, or global foundations such as the Open Society Institute, and put into practice by local actors, among them non-governmental organizations” (Helbig 2008). In the recent volume titled Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics, several scholars, including ethnomusicologist Cynthia Cohen, puzzle through the role of music in conflict both as a fuel for violence and as a tool for reconciliation. In the post-war era, a significant focus of the international community, in terms of the cultural sphere, has been music and its perceived ability to encourage inter-ethnic co- existence and tolerance. Organizers often define music from outside the region (often Western) as universal in its appeal and application. Following the recent war in Bosnia, urban cultural centers have been the sites of significant economic investment as well as local and foreign political struggles. Sarajevo, as the new Bosnian capital, has received the lion’s share of this cultural support. Ironically, the international community’s goal to encourage a multi-ethnic and democratic Bosnia resembles that of the Yugoslav project of “brotherhood and unity,” which was promoted primarily through folkloric music and dance20 by Yugoslav cultural policy (Majstorović 1980), as both projects sought to 20 I speak here of the majority of such politically-inspired performances. By the late 1970s, the Yugoslavian government also supported Western-inspired Yugoslavian rock music. See S. Ramet 1994. 16 transcend religious and ethnic divides. Post-war articulations of inter-ethnic co-existence funded by foreigners, however, differ from their pre-war socialist counterparts in that they incorporate various musical genres including Western-inspired rock (S. Ramet 1994), newly-composed folk music (Rasmussen 2002),21 folk music, religious music (including Muslim sacred music referenced in Laušević 2000b), popular music, and alternative music such as reggae, hip-hop, and classical music. Funds have been awarded to a vast array of musical events and projects and the consequences of these funding decisions have not yet been explored. The discipline of ethnomusicology is particularly well situated to address questions of transition as well as institutional change as the field allows for the inclusion of political and economic aspects of supporting music. Ethnomusicology is sometimes defined as the study of music in culture or music as culture (Titon 2009, xviii). Ethnomusicologists study music within its social, economic, political, and cultural settings. In the field of ethnomusicology, my research is grounded in the research of scholars of Southeast European music (Sugarman 1999a and 1999b; Pettan 1999 and 2001; Laušević 2000a and 2000b; S. Ramet 1994; Maners 2000; Urbain 2008; Helbig 2005), ethnomusicologists who write about the broader transition from socialism to democracy in Eastern Europe (Buchanan 1996; Rice 1994; Slobin 1996; Silverman 1989 and 2000), and writings about the application of ethnomusicological knowledge for the public good. Scholars in the emerging field of applied ethnomusicology (Titon 1992; Sheehy 1992; Seeger 1986; Hawes 1992; Bauman 1991; Pettan 2008) draw on the methodology of public folklore and applied anthropology, but apply their scholarship to 21 Newly-composed folk music (NCFM) is a popular commercial folk-based genre that rose in popularity after World War II and in the context of rapid industrialization and urbanization in Yugoslavia. For an extensive study of NCFM, see Rasmussen 2002. 17 chiefly musical projects. Applied ethnomusicologists often implement projects through or with the support of non-governmental organizations. Most applied ethnomusicology scholarship and projects have been undertaken within the context of communities in the United States or in large international projects such as UNESCO’s preservation of intangible culture22 and the Aga Khan Foundation in Central Asia and the Middle East. My dissertation research project is designed to address, critique, and influence future international cultural policy. Social scientists have both looked critically at the processes involved in large regional development projects (Ferguson 1994; Chandler 2000), and explored the politics of culture and its implication for nationalism and the cultural product such as folklore (Handler 1988). Installing a “Western-style democracy” has been one of the main aims of foreign development aid. Recent policy studies and research in political science evaluates aid in transitional states, e.g., Thomas Carothers’s comprehensive assessment of aid aimed at promoting democracy abroad through analysis of the inflated claims of aid advocates and the exaggerated criticisms of their opponents (see also Carothers 1999; Chandler 2000; Wedel 1998). My project carries on this research trajectory and will be of interest to policy makers from varying backgrounds by focusing on one specific site of democracy promotion – cultural aid. 22 In cultural heritage preservation circles, tangible culture includes monuments, written work, works of art, buildings, bridges, and artifacts while intangible culture comprises traditions, music, folklore, language, drama, and skills. 18 Chapter Two A Brief Historical Background of Sarajevo In his 2007 book Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope, Jimmy Carter writes grippingly about his diplomatic visits to Bosnia with the goal of brokering a peace agreement in December 1994. Describing a tense moment, Carter humorously notes the tendency of people from the region to tell long, detailed histories of their country. Indeed, history is important in Bosnia as the seeds of the recent conflict were planted in previous regional conflicts, and nurtured as arguments for war by politicians as well as religious leaders in the build-up to war. With Carter’s observation in mind, and the extensive histories offered by local and foreign scholars such as Todorova (1997), Banac (1984), Mazower (2000), Malcolm (1994), and Donia (2006), this short chapter is meant to introduce the reader to a few key historical periods of Bosnia’s history. I hope here also to illustrate the formative experiences throughout history, among Sarajevans, of foreign occupation and engagement throughout the history of the city. This description should highlight some positive and negative effects of periods of occupation. Many of Sarajevo’s physical characteristics explain its historical development. The city was developed over three main periods of expansion. The first 140 years of Ottoman rule, from 1460 to 1600 was the first of these. The Austro-Hungarians oversaw what historian Robert Donia coins the “peacetime years” from 1878 to 1918 (2006, 2). The third major era of expansion was during the early years of socialist rule, from 1945 to the Sarajevo Olympic Games of 1984. Bosnia’s history is more detailed and politically diverse than the eras of architectural and cultural expansion evident in the city and thus the following description. 19 Most notably, Ottoman rule lasted in Sarajevo and across the country for more than four hundred years, from 1463 to 1878. Between the beginning of World War I in 1918, which marked the end of the Austrian-Hungarian rule, and the start of World War II in 1941, Bosnia united politically with the Kingdom of South Slavs (Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) to create what would later be called Yugoslavia. The Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević ruled the Kingdom which “embodied the nineteenth-century dream of unity for the South Slav nationalities who yearned for liberation from foreign – that is to say Austrian and Ottoman – domination” (Silber and Little 1995, 29). The Axis powers invaded in 1941 and the Kingdom was partitioned. Communist Yugoslavia was founded in 1943 in the town of Jajce in central Bosnia, with Josip Broz Tito at its helm as Prime Minister (1943- 1963) and later President (1953-1980). In the second section of this chapter, I discuss musical development in Bosnia, emphasizing the period of Socialist Yugoslavia and the cultural policy introduced during that time (1945-1992). Socialist policies are directly applicable to the post-war cultural redevelopment so central to this dissertation. In the final portion of the chapter, I discuss turbofolk, a popular genre of music in the region, as a platform for discussing political aspects of music. Historical accounts from the last fifteen years have used detailed descriptions of conflict, political division, and economic decline in order to explain the conflicts that arose between 1992 and 1995. The Yugoslav conflict ultimately resulted in the division of Yugoslavia and the creation of seven independent states: Croatia, Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. As the most religiously diverse 20 state, Bosnia found itself caught in the middle of Croatian and Serbian aspirations to maintain and increase their power. Current and accurate census information about Sarajevo is impossible to obtain because the last census for the city was completed before the war in 1991. In that census, the ethnic breakdown of the population was as follows: 50.45 percent Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim), 25.5 percent Bosnian-Serb, 13.01 percent Yugoslav,23 Bosnian-Croat 6.70 percent, as well as minority communities of Sephardic Jews and Roma. The current population in Sarajevo is estimated at about 300,000, while the metro area includes some 400,000. Recent estimates about the ethnic composition of the city conclude Bosniaks make up the majority of citizens at 75 percent, while Bosnian- Serbs, Bosnian-Croats, as well as minority communities and foreigners represent the remainder (Donia 2006, 349). Bosnia is divided into cantons or counties. Sarajevo is both the political capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the center of the Sarajevo Canton. 23 At the time of the study, the “Yugoslav” category was meant for people who considered themselves to be members of the country of Yugoslavia rather than defining themselves by religious or ethnic categories. 21 Map of Bosnia showing the present divisions between the Federation and Republika Srpska.24 For the purposes of the topic of this work, historical descriptions can illustrate the similarities and differences between historical periods of occupation, most notably the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian periods and, to some degree, describe the phase of international involvement following the Bosnian conflict. As I was based in Sarajevo for most of my three years of research, my own observations as well as historical writings contextualize this chapter. In the following narrative, I emphasize the city’s architectural characteristics, accessible to any visitor, to show how one city has been impacted by long periods of occupation. Here I discuss changes that resulted from each period of foreign 24 Map found at http://www.cja.org/article.php?id=247. 22 occupation and involvement in Sarajevo that affected the local population, institutions, everyday life, and musical venues and genres. Despite the tendency of many to see Bosnia as a cultural backwater, tracing periods of occupation as well as cultural development and exchange uncovers the degree to which Sarajevo was already a diverse, international city before the massive international engagement after the war. It is important that foreign involvement in the recent post-war period, as the central topic of the dissertation, not be depicted as the only time in which “globalization” or direct international involvement was an aspect of cultural life. This description is also meant to illustrate the overlapping impact of occupations, some of which have led to negative local opinions about foreign domination. The following is a present-day description of a walk though the capital city. Donia’s book Sarajevo: A Biography offers the most complete ethnographic history of the city. His study, which is an “inquiry into how the city’s development was affected by the major historical transitions that accompanied changing regimes,” (2006, 6) has been helpful in understanding Sarajevo’s past. He emphasizes the ways in which Sarajevo has been shaped by adversity and the resolute campaigns of Sarajevans who have resisted those who sought to ruin or divide the city. At the same time, his detailed descriptions underscore the immense contributions occupiers have had upon the city’s architectural and cultural development. Walking Along the Ferhadija On most nights, one can see hundreds of Sarajevans walking along the Ferhadija, a pedestrian street paved in large stones and lined with dramatic views of the steep 23 mountains surrounding the city. Some say that Sarajevo is a big village because when one walks around the city it is common to see someone you know. In the winter the surrounding hills and mountains are blanketed with snow, while in the spring they are green with new growth. In his comprehensive history of the city, Donia writes, “Hills rise to the south and north like tiered bleachers of an amphitheater, while rocky hills and cliffs form the amphitheater’s eastern end, parting just enough to allow the river to enter the valley” (ibid., 8). Dramatic cliffs around the city form the bases of the five mountain peaks: Romanija, Bjelašnica, Igman, Treskavica, and Trebavić. The striking bowl-shape of the valley, which contributes to its beauty, also made Sarajevo incredibly difficult to defend during the recent war and meant Sarajevo25 was besieged for almost three years from 1992 to 1995. In the early evening, Sarajevans wait along the side of the Ferhadija to meet friends and walk along the street. Some share coffee or a drink at one of the nearby cafés or bars. CD and DVD venders loiter inconspicuously on corners to sell their pirated wares. This evening stroll, known as the korzo in Bosnian, runs past cafés and shops and puts a large portion of the population, young and old, in contact with one another. On Friday and Saturday nights, young men and women group together at bus stops in towns outside the city to ride into Sarajevo. At dusk, one can walk from one end of the city center to the other in a brisk five minutes or a leisurely thirty minutes. When I first arrived from the United States, I was struck by the painfully slow crawl of the korzo, but later learned that the pace was central to the function of the stroll. The korzo along the Ferhadija is slow so that everyone can be seen, preferably from a distance, and then 25 The name Sarajevo is the result of a contraction of Ottoman and Slavic words: saraj (court) and ovaši (field). 24 greeted accordingly. The slower one walks, the more people one can meet in an evening. Especially in the summer, Sarajevans of all generations linger, talking at length on the street while greeting others as they pass by. The ritual of the korzo was introduced during one of Sarajevo’s periods of occupation, the Austro-Hungarian, which lasted from 1878 to 1918. Austro-Hungarian planners saw the korzo as a way of instilling a sense of community between three major disparate ethno-religious groups. People have continued the tradition throughout inter-war periods and post-war periods. Traditionally, Sarajevans would dress up to look their best for the korzo. It is common to hear stories about the siege of Sarajevo, in which women wore heels and their best clothes as they walked along the Ferhadija just to show their resistance to the conflict. Writing about the Austro- Hungarian period in Sarajevo, Donia writes, “The korzo began each evening about dusk and proceeded east-west in the city’s Ottoman core, with informal gatherings taking place in the square in front of the Catholic cathedral and the new Serbian Orthodox church” (ibid., 80). In Sarajevo, periods of foreign occupation and involvement have been characterized by local and foreign historians as periods of growth and cultural vibrancy as well as periods of stagnancy and oppression. While foreign investment and engagement often spurred new institutions and introduced new expatriate communities to the city, some of whom greatly impacted its look and feel, occupations by foreign powers also consistently meant Bosnia was treated as a distant peripheral province, secondary to the seat of the occupation government. Most historians and tourist writers begin their descriptions of Sarajevo and its history by noting the marked architectural transitions easily visible in a walk along the Ferhadija from the Ottoman-built Baščaršija (main 25 market), past the city’s Austro-Hungarian center, to the socialist high-rises at the eastern end of the walk. The word baščaršija derives from Turkish language. The word baš, which is baş in Turkish, literally means “head” in some contexts, however, it also means primary, main, capital, and čaršija, which is çarşı in Turkish, meaning bazaar or market. Similar market areas exist in cities across the region that were also once under Ottoman occupation. As the only exclusively pedestrian zone in the city center, it is the most accessible to visitors. Ferhadija and the buildings that line it act as a pathway through history, chronicling architectural styles and physical destruction. One can see the architectural marks of occupation, evidence of conflict, and at the same time resilience of Sarajevans’ everyday life. Damage from the recent war is visible all around, on the pocked walls and in newly built restorations or reproductions of once destroyed buildings. Looking down at the stones of the Ferhadija, mortar damage is visible. Citizens have filled mortar scars in the walkway with red resin in an effort to highlight the tragedy of the conflict in the urban center. Sarajevans call the red monuments to the war “Sarajevo Roses.”26 26 Sarajevo Roses is also the name of a film documentary by Roger Richards about the psychological effect of the trauma of war. 26 Sarajevo Roses. Mortar impacts filled with red resin. (Photo by author, 2007) The multi-religious character of the city is clearly visible to the pedestrian in the form of several mosques, one Catholic cathedral, and an Orthodox church that flank the street. It is common to see women wearing the hijab walking past others clad in short skirts and high heels. In the Baščaršija, small shops and restaurants are almost entirely of wood construction, topped with terracotta roof tiles. The čaršija (market) was the focal point of city life during this period and retains that quality for many of the merchants and citizens who sell and shop here. Beyond the čaršija, residential neighborhoods called mahalas were organized by religious affiliation, usually around a house of worship. Like the large central mosques, mahalas received their names based upon who donated or endowed the 27 religious building at its center.27 This term is still used widely, especially in a derogatory way, to refer to gossiping neighborhood women who are referred to as mahaluša. The largest and most prominent mosques also grace this section of the city, emphasizing the central role of Islam during the Ottoman period. The streets are constructed of irregularly shaped cobblestones angled to direct rainwater into the center of streets. They are worn to a shine that makes them slippery in the winter. From mid-morning until later afternoon, a blanket of ćevapi28 barbeque smoke hangs over the quarter and wafts across the city. Baščaršija shops in this section of the city carry specialized items and local handicrafts difficult to find in newer parts of the city. Shop owners can often be seen sitting, sipping coffee and smoking on benches outside their establishments, watching passers-by. In the evening, the streets widen when the shop owners fold up their wooden benches to protect their shops from weather and theft. Although this is one of the most picturesque parts of the city, and beginning here paints a neat chronological historical picture, beginning a walk just a few kilometers upriver can elucidate the complex overlap of historical periods and inform later discussion about tangible cultural redevelopment so central to the 27 Mahala: Originating from the Arabic mähallä meaning to settle or to occupy; in the Bosnian case, the term dates to the Ottoman period and means neighborhood or quarter. 28 A Balkan dish of grilled minced meat found in the countries of Southeastern Europe. It is considered a national dish in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro, and is also common all over the former Yugoslavia. It may be served on a plate or in a flatbread (lepinja or somun), often with chopped onions, sour cream, cheese/butter (kajmak), and roasted pepper sauce (ajvar). 28 backdrop of this dissertation. City Map: The Baščaršija. The Baščaršija can be seen in the eastern part of this map to the north of the river. From here the Ferhadija runs west. About three kilometers east of the Ottoman section of the city, winding along the Miljacka River, the ultimate historical journey through Sarajevo might begin thirty minutes outside the city center at the Kozja Ćuprija (Goat Bridge). It is a simple Roman- style bridge that seems almost rural as the city’s rooftops are beyond the river’s curve. Histories about the origin of the bridge vary. One piece of folklore about the bridge, as told to me by locals, is that of an old herder who was tending his herd by the river when one of his goats began digging at a point in the ground. At that spot, the herder found 29 sacks of gold and with the gold he built a great bridge.29 Other tales about the bridge diverge on who finds the gold and where they find it, but one detail remains constant, that the herder decides to build the bridge and he builds it with the resources he found himself, with the help of his goats. Although stories about the bridge’s origin are still contested by regional and international archeologists, some dating it as early as the Roman period and others as recently as the seventeenth century, historians do agree that the bridge is located in a strategic location on one of the main crossings on the way to Istanbul and on to Mecca.30 Some note that such conclusions are superficial and maybe propagated by travelers who were reluctant to attribute monumental structures of this kind to the Ottomans (Čelić and Mujezinović, 87).31 Origin stories about the bridge are interesting in light of local narratives about the use of international money (gold) for infrastructure, development, and other post-conflict projects. The famed goat herder finds the gold and builds the bridge himself. He finds the money and it is his, fair and square. From Kozja Ćuprija, one can walk west along the river, through Bentbaša canyon, back to the city center along a wide path frequented by expat exercisers and walkers. At a particularly narrow part of the canyon, one of the foreign adventure tourism companies has enhanced the cliff with multi-colored hand and foot holds to transform it into a climbing wall. Toward the end of the path, before it reaches the main road into the center of the city (from Pale), there is a long wall lined with low plaques bearing the names of 29 Other variants of the story include a young shepherd who noticed a cave full of golden coins. He used the money to go to Istanbul to study and became a successful businessman. He was grateful to his goats, who helped him to become a rich man, so he sent money and workers to build a nice stone bridge dedicated to his goats. Other explanations for the name include the claim that goat bones are built into the bridge construction. 30 In September 2004, the bridge was designated a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For more information, see http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2503. 31 See the Bosnia-Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National Monuments statement of 2008 about the bridge, http://kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=3017. 30 notable ambassadors who held positions in Sarajevo during and after the recent conflict. Embassies donated money for the reconstruction of the path and the wall of plaques. It is sometimes called the “Path of the Ambassadors” or “Ambassadors’ Row.” Several Bosnians looked on the “monument” with some bitterness, noting the corruption in the concept that honor and praise could be bought rather than bestowed. Of course, a number of the plaques bear the names of individuals who have given greatly to the cause of independence in Bosnia. Embassy fund ledgers most likely listed the expenditures as donations to infrastructure while locals categorize the project as a form of self- aggrandizement. From my conversations, it is clear that embassies were solicited for their support of the path project and promised plaques as remuneration, but also that the plaques memorialized wartime and past involvement of ambassadors. A good deal of the negative reaction to Ambassadors’ Row also has to do with the fact that the path is most often used by expats for exercise, a marker of difference between Sarajevan and foreign communities. The benefit of this particular improvement to infrastructure was not understood, locally at least, as being helpful to the local population in the wake of the conflict. Foreigners have been portrayed humorously in local films for their fanatical approach to exercise. In a locally produced film, Gor Vatra (released with the US title Fuse), released in 2003 and directed by Pjer Žalica, the small village Tešanj must confront the new realities of a post-war Bosnia.32 In the film, administrators in the town are tasked with rebuilding Tešanj in preparation for a visit by United States President Clinton. Under intense supervision of the international community, the town engages in a frenzied race against time in an attempt to “build 32 “Gor Vatra” is also the name of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest selection for Yugoslavia, sung by Zdravko Čolić, written by Kemal Konteno and recorded by state-owned Beograd Disk. 31 democracy” or at least the facade of it in seven short days. One of the crucial meetings between the local police chief and a foreign official takes place on an old wall following the foreigner’s run through the city. The foreigner takes on the role of the buffoon, almost out of breath and sweating profusely as he seeks a commitment from the police chief that the town will be ready by the time Clinton arrives. Although seemingly tangential to the history of Sarajevo, tensions between foreign donations and the public that receives those donations have been present throughout Bosnia’s history. A passage describing the Austro-Hungarian arrival in and occupation of the region in the 1870s by Ivo Andrić33 in his book Bridge Over the Drina helps to explain past and recent change that has taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the international community has grown. So began the new era under the occupation which the people, unable to prevent, considered in their hearts to be temporary. What did not pass across the bridge in those few years after the occupation! Yellow military vehicles rumbled across it in long convoys bringing food, clothing and furniture, instruments and fittings hitherto unheard of.… At first it seemed that they had come by chance, as if driven by the wind, and as if they were coming for a short stay to live more or less the same life as had been lived here, as though the civilian authorities were to prolong for a short time the occupation begun by the army. But with every month that passed the number of newcomers increased. However, what most astonished the people of the town and filled them with wonder and distrust was not so much their numbers as their immense and incomprehensible plans, their untiring industry and the perseverance with which they proceeded to the realization if those plans (Andrić 1945, 134-5). 33 Ivo Andrić received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. Although beyond the scope of this paper, the bridge which is the central character in this historical novel is “a symbol of the establishment and the overthrow of a civilization that came forcibly to the Balkans in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries and was no less forcibly overthrown in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,” (William McNeill, “Introduction,” in Andrić 1945, 1). Some scholars have criticized Andrić of being anti-Muslim in his texts, most notably by referring to Bosnian-Muslims (Bosniaks) as Turks. (See Šukrija Kurtoviç, “‘Na Drini çuprija’ i ‘Travniãka hronika’ od Ive Andriça u svjetlu bratstva i jedinstva,” Sveske ZaduÏbine Ive Andriça 9–10 (1993–94): 389.) In my experience, the Islamic community in Sarajevo has not objected to his writings. Indeed, as a parting gift from my teaching position in one of the madrassas, the other professors gave me a copy of Travnička hronika (Travnik Chronicles, published in English with the title Bosnian Chronicles), along with a copy of the Qur’an. 32 Each consecutive occupying power has “donated” resources to the city and has, at the same time, required concessions tied directly to other goals. During the Ottoman period, a concept of multiculturalism, which was beneficial to the local population, was a central facet of development. In return for the development of the region, early residents supported themselves by fighting on the front lines of Ottoman military advances. The Ottoman Empire “founded the city of Sarajevo as a new city in the middle of the fifteenth century, intending it to be an expression of Ottoman Islamic civilization” (Donia 2006, 8). In an effort to facilitate a shared sense of identity, the Austro-Hungarians created a city plan that incorporated diverse neighborhoods. Along with the towering mosques built by the Ottomans, the Austro-Hungarians were responsible for building some of the most iconic architectural structures in the city. In Sarajevo, post-war foreign involvement is seen within the context of past occupations. While recent post-war donors have sought to repair building facades, many Bosnians felt that embassies had been self-congratulatory in building monuments such as Ambassadors’ Row, feeling that honors should be first bestowed upon Bosnians who sacrificed themselves during the siege of Sarajevo. The power of foreign money is felt in many arenas beyond this example. The tension between honoring foreign involvement versus local is clear in these criticisms. Turning onto the Ambassadors’ Row, several of the hills to the west are so densely covered with Muslim graves from the Bosnian war that they look white from the path. Unlike many cities that have experienced similar loss of life in conflict, but who relegate their graves to sites outside the city, here, because of the siege, many of the Muslim cemeteries are laid within the city. In many ways, the visual landscape can be misleading in terms of the loss of life by any specific ethnic 33 group, as the graves which blanket the hills are mostly Muslim, while Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats were buried in other sites.34 Looking west along the Miljacka River, it is clear that Sarajevo is a city of bridges. The Princip Bridge is named after Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, in effect setting off World War I. Turning the corner and joining the river road Obala Kulina Bana into town, one passes a white, seemingly new bridge that some call the “bridge to nowhere” because, when it was built after the conflict, it led to the Bistrik neighborhood, which already had several access points to the central part of the city. The bridge does, however, lead to one of the traditional Bosnian restaurants in the city named Inat Kuća (Spite House). As described to me by a Sarajevan tour guide, the bridge was built by a corrupt contractor who proposed to build a pedestrian bridge even though there was another one just meters downriver. For donors and NGOs, bridges became a powerful metaphor for peace and reconciliation after the war, such that bridge building infrastructure proposals were attractive to international donors not only for their practical uses to communities divided by rivers (a common characteristic of cities and towns in the region), but also because it seemed from afar that if conflicting ethno-religious groups could bridge their differences, then peace might be possibly in sight. Rightfully so, some local communities grew tired of the metaphor, feeling it was a hollow and largely symbolic effort to solve their everyday struggles. Many cultural, societal, educational, and political post-war projects which did not involve any kind of physical or tangible rebuilding, borrowed the bridge metaphor in phrases such as “bridging the gap,” “bridging communities,” “bridge to 34 There are numerous accounts of Bosnian-Serbs moving family graves to Serb-controlled areas during and after the war. See Philip Shenon, “A Postwar Shortage in Sarajevo: Space for Graves,” New York Times, April 21, 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/specials/bosnia/context/0421yugo-graves.html. 34 tomorrow,” and “bridge to Europe” to emphasize their role in facilitating dialogue across the divide. A foreign NGO, Musicians Without Borders, organized a seminar/workshop titles “Sing The Bridge” which brought together singers from across the region. Just as the term “borders” marked ethnic and political divisions, “bridges” inspired hope and faith in efforts to calm the regional conflict. Arguably the most important symbol of destruction was the 500 year old bridge of Mostar , which was destroyed during the conflict, a city whose river gorge at times throughout the war acted as a divider between the Bosniak, Bosnian-Catholic, and Bosnian-Serb communities.35 The international media covered the destruction of the bridge heavily. Looking east down the Ferhadija, I can see the tallest structures of central Sarajevo, the mosques and their minarets. The two largest and most noticeable are the Ferhadija Mosque (Ferhat-pašina džamija), which was constructed in the sixteenth century, and the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (Gazi Husrev-begova džamija), built in 1531 and financed by Gazi Husrev-beg, who was the Ottoman provincial governor. These two mosques and their towering minarets were the Ottomans’ tribute to Islam and also an overt effort to impact the urban planning and imagining of the city. Just as international actors seek to impact civil society in modern times, “Ottoman officials saw urbanization as an integral part of the empire’s mission to Islamicize and civilize the lands that it conquered” (Donia 2006, 11). Donia also notes that urban planning during the Ottoman period did leave space for different confessional communities. He writes, “The Ottoman vision of urban space awarded centrality to Islamic religious, cultural, educational, and governmental institutions, but it also provided ample space for non-Muslims, their houses 35 The Mostar bridge and the city around it has been the site of the single largest international effort to restore Bosnia’s cultural heritage since the war. The “Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar” project was overseen by UNESCO and the Aga Khan Foundation. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 35 of worship, and institutions providing for their economic livelihood” (ibid.). Minarets towered over all other structures and each was named after generals, administrators, and sultans who provided funds for the structures. Similar efforts were made years later when Austro-Hungarian planners impacted the face of the city. Leaving Baščaršija behind me for a moment, I walk across the river to a park on At mejdan Square where a large wooden gazebo-like music pavilion was originally built by the Austro-Hungarians as a performance space for military bands. After the recent war, the pavilion was rebuilt with Austrian donations as part of their contribution to the redevelopment of the city. Beneath the pavilion is a small café that fans out into the surrounding park in the warm months. During the post-war period, some buildings have received particular attention due to their past association with the occupation by the Austrians on one hand, and by the Ottomans on the other. The Austrian government also contributed to the rebuilding of the city when they donated a new glass roof for the destroyed library as a stop-gap to the problem of not being able to raise enough money for the whole reconstruction project. The library, which had originally been constructed during the Austro-Hungarian period in a Moorish revival style, housed the main collection of books in Sarajevo before the war and had been the center of the city government. During that period, it was called Vijećnica (city hall) and is still referenced in the vernacular by that term. For many, its destruction in August of 1992 highlighted the Serbs’ intent to destroy the city’s infrastructure as well as the Sarajevan population’s intellectual and artistic accomplishments. The library has become a marker of the dramatic changes in local reaction to foreign funding. While immediately after the war, 36 pleas for funding were frequent and well publicized,36 as donor fatigue has set in, among locals there has been a move to question rebuilding as the detractors see the building as a monument to the war.37 The library renovation controversy has opened up a local debate about how best to commemorate the tragedy of war, by restoring buildings to their pre- war splendor or letting them languish as a way of emphasizing the cruelty and destruction of war.38 A plaque at the entrance to the library reads “Do not forget, remember and warn!” The quotation hints at how rebuilding efforts, aimed at returning Sarajevo to its pre-war splendor, may risk covering up the past conflict. Some feel that rebuilding prominent monuments and buildings may risk covering up the past and might lead younger generations to forget the conflict. The walk from the river’s bridges back to the Ferhadija brings me past cafés that sell bosanska kafa (Bosnian coffee) as well as a Mexican restaurant called Hacienda, opened by a British humanitarian volunteer who decided to stay in Bosnia after the war. As the single restaurant offering Mexican food, it was frequented largely by foreigners after the war and has become more of a bar and less of a restaurant as the population of foreigners has decreased. The restaurant stands right on the border of the Ottoman section of the city. When the restaurant erupts into a drunken party on weekend nights, its patrons spill onto the cobbled streets. The rise in the expat community which followed the war created new outlets for business, most greatly felt in dining choices, but also reflected the other areas such as dry cleaning and a steep rise in rental rates. I have 36 Most notably, in a 2002 report by UNESCO, but also see Roy Gutman, “Unholy War: Serbs Target Culture, Heritage of Bosnia’s Muslims,” Newsday, September 2, 1992, 3, as well as Robert Fisk, “Waging War on History: In Former Yugoslavia, Whole Cultures Are Being Obliterated,” Independent (London), June 20, 1994, 18. 37 For a more extensive description of the building and the fight by Sarajevans to rebuild it, see Jane Perlez, “Ruins of Sarajevo Library is Symbol of a Shattered Culture,” New York Times, August 12, 1996. 38 Its worth noting that debates about reconstruction took a similar tone in New York following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. 37 noticed similar trends in other post-war cities such as Pristina, Kabul, and Baghdad. In describing the impact that the influx of foreigners had on the city, several Bosnians noted that before the war it was common to go home in the evening to eat with family, rather than to eat out. For the most part, with a few exceptions, Baščaršija is the alcohol-free zone of the city, reflecting its traditional style and development during the rise of Islam in the region. I frequently heard complaints about the impact of foreigners on the city center from Bosniak teachers when I taught in the madrassas. They claimed that foreigners, and especially the foreign military, had introduced prostitution, drug use, and even black market activity to the city. Some cafés along the Ferhadija in Baščaršija advertise the fact that they do not serve alcohol, and because of this they are almost exclusively frequented by Muslim clientele, local and foreign. Perhaps the most steadfast tradition along with the korzo is engaging in the kafana scene. In most of the region, coffee drinking is a major part of Sarajevan’s everyday life. In the Baščaršija it is most common to see men sitting in small cafes drinking Turkish (also called bosanska) coffee. This style of coffee is prevalent throughout the region. It is boiled rather than filtered, and in traditional cafes, one receives a small metal pot called a džezva, in which the coffee and water have been boiled together, as well as a small cup (fidžan) in which to pour the coffee. Many Bosnians drink the coffee with large amounts of sugar. Some cafes place a piece of rahat locum (also called Turkish delight) alongside the coffee. Leaving the Baščaršija behind and following the path of the korzo, tall and stately Austro-Hungarian buildings rise above the Ferhadija. Apartments and shops with high ceilings, central heating, and large windows border the pedestrian walk. Ornate facades 38 hint at the lavish style Austro-Hungarian architects hoped to portray in their designs as Sarajevo was the “Hapsburg showplace” (Donia 2006, 130) meant to be a distant gem placed on the border of the empire. Like prior efforts of the Ottomans, Sarajevo’s next occupiers sought to instill a balance in the ethnic division of the region. They saw education as a way of quieting dissent. Donia notes that sometimes the opposite resulted, as educational institutions became incubators for “resentment of colonialism and spawned revolutionary intellectuals who turned to radical European ideologies for their inspiration”(ibid., 88). In addition to attempting to maintain ethnic peace, Austro- Hungarians embraced a “grand vision of bringing Bosnia into the orbit of western secular values and scientific practices” (ibid., 16). Just as Ottomans had founded religious and historical institutions that highlighted Eastern culture, so did Austro-Hungarian leadership found the Zemljalski Musej (Regional Museum) in 1888 only ten years after they occupied the city. At the western-most end of the Ferhadija, it is more common to find espresso being served in the cafés. In the summer, umbrellas shade citizens and tourists from the heat, while in the winter the three and four story Austro-Hungarian buildings create high precipices from which icicles sometimes fall. The Vječna vatra (Eternal Flame) of the Winter Olympic Games of 1984 stands at the end of the pedestrian zone. It is common for people to meet at the flame and then embark upon the korzo together. It is here that the Ferhadija meets Sarajevo’s largest and most frequented street, Titova. Many of the government institutions and offices developed during the socialist period line this street. Named after Josip Broz Tito, the President of the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia, Titova street and its streetcars bring most Sarajevans home to tall, austere apartment 39 blocks on the outskirts of town. Most of the apartments in that part of the city have small windows and balconies. Some of the buildings are as tall as twenty floors and many are equipped with grocery stores and other shops on the ground floor. Since the war, new commercial buildings and mosques have shot up around these neighborhoods, adding to the feeling of overlapping histories so tangible to visitors in the center of the city. Bosnia has very little of its own industry, such that almost all of the new businesses either sell or are producers of imported goods. The stroll through Sarajevo has introduced several periods of occupation and international involvement. In the same light, the following brief account of musical development illuminates these same periods. Musical Developments in the Region The pre-socialist period of the South Slavic region was important in the development of folk music styles. During this period, and largely leading up to present day, genres were divided into the peasant or rural and urban environments. The music of Bosnia was profoundly affected by Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman influence. While ethnic and religious lines defined some musical genres (especially sacred music and religious holidays), on the whole musical style was regionally distinct. Traditional and more recent Bosnian music is an amalgam of many cultural influences of the region such as Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, and Slovenian, including the musics of Roma, Turkish, and Macedonian peoples. American, as well as Central and Eastern European styles have also influenced Bosnian musicians. 40 In most areas of Bosnia, one or two ethno-religious groups dominated and thus musical styles were geographically localized. This has continued to be the case for some styles such as ganga, which is mostly found in Herzegovina, in the western part of Bosnia. Ganga is a singing form in which women and men sing dissonant intervals, often of a minor second, to express sad lyrics about lost love. Ganga continues to be a primarily rural musical style, although I have heard it performed in urban settings, but only within the context of folkloric festivals. Sevdalinka is an urban secular singing genre developed during the Ottoman period. Melodic lines of sevdalinke are elaborate and highly emotional and often employ Turkish makams. A sole singer is traditionally accompanied by the Turkish stringed instrument called the saz, and more recently by accordion and guitar. Sevdalinke are usually sung by women although there have been a number of prominent male singers, especially during the socialist period. Interpretations of the origin of the word sevdalinka vary. Some define the Ottoman term sevah to mean passion or love, while others are more specific, claiming that the original Arabic word denotes the “substance which circulates through the human organism that controls feelings and emotions.” Many Bosniaks claim sevdalinka as their national music form because of its Ottoman as well as urban roots in Sarajevo. Recently, sevdalinka has experienced a kind of rebirth through the band Mostar Sevdah Reunion and the jazz-inspired guitar, bass, and drum trio of Damir Imamović.39 In 2009, ethnomusicology students from the Music Academy of Sarajevo initiated an applied ethnomusicology project aimed at sparking a revival of sevdalinka. Noting the lack of opportunities for musicians and audiences alike to enjoy 39 For a more complete description of the genre, see Risto Pekka Pennanen’s article “Melancholic Airs of the Orient–Bosnian Sevdalinke Music as an Orientalist and National Symbol,” in Music and Emotion, ed. Pennanen (Helsinki: Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, 2010). 41 the genre, “The purpose of the project was to recreate the ambience of old Sarajevo coffee houses where sevdalinka urban song used to be performed and to teach some overlooked customs, musical traditions, and a specific way of performing sevdalinka to the accompaniment of the saz (long-necked lute) for the citizens of Sarajevo and for tourists.”40 The pre-war Yugoslavian socialist cultural policy and the ideologies of multi- ethnic republics were important in defining and developing musical styles as well as organizations. Crafted out of the failed Hapsburg and Ottoman empires, Yugoslavia first became a country in 1918 as a union of the Kingdom of Serbia, Croats and Serbs.41 In 1944, under Marshal Tito, Yugoslavia was created from a combination of several ethnically, religiously, and nationally diverse communities. In their endeavor toward a peaceful multi-ethnic coexistence, officials of the country’s cultural policy sought to establish limits upon the expression of cultural differences not conducive to multi-ethnic harmony and embellishment of shared traits. Tito’s government introduced the slogan “brotherhood and unity” in an attempt to repair divisions between Yugoslavia’s previously ethnically-defined nations.42 Government supported events were kept in line with Yugoslavian socialist ideology. This ideology also consisted of the support of the “culture of work” which sought to better the rural poor both economically and culturally while creating incentives for Yugoslavians to 40 Quotation from the presentation abstract by Vanja Mujović and Nedžad Mušović, “Taking Sevdalinke to ‘Sijelo’: Practicing Applied Ethnomusicology in Sarajevo,” paper presented at the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology, Hanoi, Vietnam, July 2010, 41 Later the same year, the Kingdom of Montenegro was annexed and given recognition in 1922. 42 For a discussion of the differing definitions of nation within post-World War II Yugoslavia, see Bette Denich, “Unmaking Multiethnicity in Yugoslavia,” in Halpern and Kideckel 2000. 42 work. Music, and specifically national folklore, was perceived as an important aspect of the Yugoslav citizen’s life. The process of defining a national identity through researching folklore and folk music began long before Yugoslavia’s foundation. In the realm of folklore, the socialist government formalized sometimes already existent folkloric groups, calling them Kulturno-umjetnićko društvo (Cultural-Artistic Associations, KUDs). These groups were organized in all parts of Yugoslavia; in rural as well as urban settings. According to anthropologist Lynn Maners, KUDs were originally “modeled on Soviet institutions and formally sponsored by state institutions such as universities and workers organizations” (Maners 2000, 303). This undertaking was made in an effort to “create a Yugoslav national identity, composed of [state] approved diverse identities” (ibid.). While small KUDs in villages and towns performed mono-ethnic songs and dances, large state sponsored groups performed suites that were adapted for presentations at public events. In this way, the state was involved in transforming and recontextualizing traditional music and dance. “They (KUDs) performed stylized folk songs and dances from all regions of Yugoslavia and emphasized virtuosic techniques not characteristic of the village traditions they supposedly represented” (A. Petrović 2002, 968). In the performances of suites, dancers and musicians literally performed the Yugoslav concept of the political slogan bratstvo i jedinstvo (brotherhood and unity) by incorporating repertoires (songs and dances) from each of the republics and autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav government managed cultural and academic institutions including record labels, radio stations, cultural centers, and festivals. The socialist period is of particular relevance to this dissertation because cultural policies of that time were 43 primarily top-down in nature and succeeded in not only redefining musical genres, but also in creating a structure of folkloric groups. KUDs exemplified party ideology and finally affected the symbols musicians used to define themselves and their communities during and after the conflict. In the minds of many Bosnians, specific musical instruments and genres bare national and ethno-religious characteristics. Perhaps the two most prevalent categorizations are the tamburica43 as Croatian and the gusle44 as Serbian. Manifestations of such cultural policies include folkloric dance and musical groups that performed at larger folkloric festivals, classical orchestras, regional cultural centers, an education system, and a university system which trained folklorists and ethnomusicologists. The Yugoslav government saw these forms of expression as opportunities for the advancement of socialist ideology. The Yugoslavian system of cultural policy was constructed to support the socialist dream of cultural expression within the boundaries of socialist party ideology. Although there are numerous examples of musicians who survived independently from participation in global and local market forces, in Yugoslavia it is fair to say that the limiting socialist economy was tied directly to the development or restriction of certain musics. The Yugoslav economy was, however, much more open than in some other Eastern Bloc countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc., because after 1948, Yugoslavia was not part of the Warsaw Pact. The country’s independence from the Soviet Union impacted economic, social, military, and cultural policies. This political split impacted the cultural ideology of Yugoslavia, illustrated by a rejection of socialist realism, a Soviet art style aimed at 43 Tamboura are a family of long-necked lutes that resemble the mandolin as they are plucked rapidly. Tamburica orchestras are found throughout Southeastern Europe as well as Greece and Hungary. 44 Gusle is a single-stringed bowed instrument associated with epic story telling. Variations of the instrument can be found in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. Among different communities it bears different names. 44 celebrating the role of workers and depicting issues of social concern. The League of Communists took a vastly different approach toward rock music than Soviet-aligned countries, choosing to embrace and even nurture the genre. Government media such as television and radio were determining powers in the dissemination of music. For example, under the category of narodna muzika (folk or people’s music), socialist policies supported a wide variety of rural and urban forms called muzika u narodnom duhu (music in the folk spirit). Economic and cultural policies almost always manifested themselves differently than their authors had intended. In economic and social terms, (musical) life under socialism had been characterized as two-faced or double-sided. The three main features of the socialist economic system that were consistent up to the 1990s have been outlined by economist Marie Lavigne as: (1) economic control under a single party; (2) basic means of production in the hands of collective or state ownership; (3) central planning as the main coordinating mechanism. Two distinct economies developed, one legitimate or legal and regulated by the government, and the other a secret system (although secret only to outsiders) that worked outside the facade of governmental control and thus was primarily illegal. Most musical genres were supported by government institutions, including small-scale ensembles. Although Yugo-Rock groups45 were widely supported some groups such as Azra46, Zabranjeno Pušenje (No Smoking)47, and Darko Rundek48 45 Bijelo Dugme is perhaps the most influential Yugoslav rock band ever. The band members were Goran Bregović (bass guitar), Ismeta Dervoz (vocals), Edo Bogeljić (guitar), Luciano Paganotto (drums) and Željko Bebek (vocals and rhythm guitar). 46 Formed in 1977, Azra was a rock band originally from Zagreb (Croatia) although popular throughout the region. 47 This band was closely associated with the popular satirical television show Top List Nadrealista, releasing music that incorporated garage rock and folk influences, 48 Darko Rundel was the lead singer for the rock group Haustor which was formed in 1979 and incorporated African, Latin American and Caribbean sounds. 45 masked their politically critical lyrics in poetry, in effect writing between the lines. There were also, of course, musicians who performed folk music on a community and neighborhood level and were thus independent from limitations on the music market. The musical category of narodna muzika was perhaps best suited to the political and social aims of socialism. Narodna muzika could be collected, defined, rewritten, redefined, and distributed in a new form and, at the same time, maintain a pretense as the people’s music. This edited people’s music was then presented by Yugoslavians as a multifaceted Yugoslav identity, which allowed for a united symbol of the expression of difference through identifying with a particular narod (people or nation). “Although Tito symbolized a unifying state and ideology for all ‘Yugoslav’ citizens, he was also the architect behind a diversifying nationality policy which had ascribed nationality status” (Bringa 1995) to individual narodni. This review should show that regional, national, and local music is not, as many current international organizers of humanitarian events believe, only a tool for healing, or merely a happy activity, but rather has been used in the past almost exclusively by the Socialist Party to instill its ideology. Some of these policy efforts have facilitated harmonious musical relationships and helped to paint inclusive symbols of Yugoslavia. Conversely, genres such as novokompovana narodna muzika (newly-composed folk music) and Yugoslav rock sought to articulate opposing realities (Rasmussen 2002 and S. Ramet 1994) whilst maintaining support from the government. Through recordings and broadcasts, Yugoslav rock music was supported by the League of Communists in direct contrast to limiting cultural policies in other Eastern European countries. Although yugo-rock received governmental support, it was also a genre in which musicians expressed opposition and sometimes dissident critiques about their 46 government. Research in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, in which a socialist ideology and economy was also central, confirms this structure, but also inspires hope that music can be a tool in the post-war context with which Bosnians in multiple communities can broadcast messages about themselves to themselves and others. Yugoslavian musicians from any of the republics could travel abroad freely and perform in different parts of the country and abroad. As with most socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1940s, Yugoslavian politicians and academics sought to define a shared and yet diverse national identity by doing folklore research in rural villages and then “refining” folklore for urban and rural use. Despite being largely independent from the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia’s cultural policies still had roots in the USSR. On folklore expeditions, scholars in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries selectively collected folklore. “A combination of state and party administrators and activists produced a complex structure that operated at the officially defined levels of the musical culture” (Slobin 1996, 2). A network of socialist bureaucrats worked to foster and prohibit music by “offering a patronage and brandishing the stick of censorship” (ibid., 3). Yugoslav folklorists and ethnomusicologists were prominent members of the group that was responsible for standardizing versions, costumes, instruments, venues, and formats. In their folk song and dance collection, scholars were encouraged to gather material from villages that fit the socialist political messages and requirements for purity. They were then responsible for the cultivation of folklore in the village and the polishing and cleansing of the chosen material for the general public. Although, their political and cultural messages were often covert in that the listener required knowledge of musical and lyrical specificity to discern meanings. A cultivation policy was implemented by 47 cultural policy makers through the organization of concerts in venues where acceptable forms of music-making could be presented and honored by the party as well as scholars. The metaphor of cultivation will emerge later as a tool international organizations use for describing their work with culture. Encouragement of particular music was demonstrated through judged venues in which scholar panels adjudicated on particular groups’ authenticity as per defined conditions by panels of scholars. “Therefore, folklore scholarship could no longer be only an observer and recorder of facts, but had to combine the tasks of scholarly understanding with the urgent tasks of social education” (ibid., 80). This politically social education through folklore even went so far as to glorify individual contemporary political leaders while cloaked in the field of folklore and the safety of elite academia. Political parties and state-educated folklorists thus acted as mediators in the presentation of culture to the public. At once distant from, and similar to, the endeavors of applied ethnomusicologists and public folklorists in the United States, Yugoslav scholars acted as particularly strict culture brokers. Musicians, artists, and writers were given direction in political sentiments they should highlight so that their product (music, art, writings) might politically enlighten the public. According to native ethnomusicologist Ankica Petrović, during this time “national and cultural purity in Bosnia-Herzegovina was destroyed to redefine people’s identities and support new nationalistic policies” (2002, 963). By purity, Petrović refers to the assumption that without the strong cultural policies explained above, folk music might have retained more of its original village context and style. Ethnomusicologist Ljerka Rassmussen opposes such conclusions by noting that: [I]mplicit in these approaches is an assumption of the corruption of tradition by outside forces; in the former case, by folklore enthusiasts and the tourist industry, 48 in the later, by the state and its cultural bureaucrats … commercialization and state interference – they are conceptually close in their implicit trust in the intrinsic superiority of historic, peasant-based, practices. (2002, xxii) Music was thus forced by top-down policies to accomplish much more than its past village functions. This discussion assumes that music should serve aesthetic purposes alone. However, such statements muss the musicians’ and audiences’ ability to imbue music with meaning. In her book The Culture of Lies, Croatian author Dubravka Ugrešić ties this repression to political repression. For some fifty years, under the cupola of Yugoslavia, that “repressive” community of nations, the variety of national identities was drummed into the soil through folklore. Probably in order that it should not occur to those same nations to seek something other than folklore – their own state or geographical identity for instance. (1998, 10) State folklorists, musicians, and composers created official repertoires from the collected music and published and distributed these new repertoires to groups throughout the country. The folklore repertoire the government provided to these groups was highly stereotypical based on regions, and often bore little relationship to musicians’ and dancers’ immediate surroundings. Within a village or town, there might be several different KUD groups, all performing similar stereotypical pieces meant to represent the diversity of Yugoslavia’s republics. Although the makeup of these republics was incredibly diverse, stereotypical performances created only a facade of difference. Instead of comparing each other’s local styles of music that would inevitably show regional similarities between local ethnic groups, nationally sanctioned music instructed difference among neighbors. In the post-war period, several KUDs have chosen to change their repertoire to reflect one ethno-religious tradition, often consistent with the local community for whom they perform and from which they draw young musicians and 49 dancers. In my discussions with KUD directors, I heard many stories about KUDs shifting from performing multi-ethnic suites to strictly Serb, Croat, or Bosniak dances. The most salient story was relayed to me and fellow researcher anthropologist Lynn Maners, when we visited a KUD in Pale, a town outside Sarajevo that was the military base for Serbian troops during the war. The ensemble director explained that a short time after the end of the war, he and a Sarajevan Bosniak KUD director had met with the singular goal of exchanging costumes. The Sarajevan offered his ensemble’s Serbian costumes in exchange for Bosniak ones, as both directors assumed they would no longer be directing each others’ dances. Through the selection process of state folklorists, folk music took on new political and social messages and lost characteristics that were central to its original meaning and context. Specific ethnic and religious characteristics were often lost while regional character was emphasized. In the multi-ethnic country of Yugoslavia, this regional emphasis was seen within the context of a whole country. When the former Yugoslavia divided, regional differences were often attributed to ethnic identities and proved to solidify difference in the form of music (Pettan 1998a and 1998b). For example, Croatians living in regions in which Croatian folklore had been highlighted by the socialist officials embraced this folklore as symbolic of being Croatian. Political sentiments against the party as well as religious references were rewritten in order to support and encompass socialist ideology. In addition to the top-down nature of this cultivation, official repertoires were selected and arranged to glorify certain aspects of the colorful folklore of Yugoslavia. Most salient was the difficulty of presenting Yugoslavia’s varied folklore while at the same time presenting an image of unity. Genres 50 such as the aforementioned newly-composed folk music gained increased listenership and market power in the 1970s as politically governed music appealed less and less to the Yugoslav population. Another factor in the genre’s popularity was its ability to project modernity in comparison to village folklore. Although Yugoslavia contained large numbers of minorities, including a visible Roma population, the state focused on presenting folklore that emphasized individual republics and largely disregarded its minorities.49 There were also Romani KUDs that specialized in performing Romani folklore, as well as Turkish and Albanian KUDs. At the same time, Roma musicians were known for their musical skills and abilities to perform a variety of musics.50 Amateur as well as professional groups performed pieces or selections that had been composed to glorify a particular republic, including that folklore which had been defined as encompassing of their region. The policy of presenting difference meant that local amateur folklore groups were required to perform music and dance which was not true to their local community. At the same time, this policy meant that neighbors were not aware of the similarity of their music. This, in turn, created a climate in which ethnic conflict could develop into civil war. Under the socialist regime, folklorists promulgated music meant to emphasize national unity and comprised commonality underlying cultural diversity. When the Yugoslav regime collapsed, this constructed diversity exacerbated politicians’ ability to articulate difference. Individual styles might not have seemed so distinct and descriptive of inter and post-war ethno- 49 For a more in-depth discussion of the topic of minority representation, or the lack thereof, during the Yugoslav period, see Tivo Varady, “Minorities, Majorities, Law, and Ethnicity: Reflections of the Yugoslav Case,” Human Rights Quarterly 19(1) (February 1997): 9-54. 50 See Svanibor Pettan’s chapter “Gypsies, Music, and Politics in the Balkans: A Case Study from Kosovo in Music,” in Language and Literature of the Roma and Sinti, ed. Max Peter Baumann (Berlin: VWB, Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung, 2000). Also see Pettan, “Others from Within.” 51 religious identity had folklorist and cultural policy makers not engineered them to appear that way. The development of the field of folklore in Bosnia logically runs parallel to that of its fellow republics. Before 1947, the National Museum in Sarajevo sponsored an extensive collection of musical works, including transcriptions, instruments, and information about musical practice. Between 1947 and 1957, ethnomusicologist Cvjetko Rihtman formed the Institute for the Study of Folklore in Sarajevo, while in 1953, Vlado Milošević formed the Banja Luka Center for Folk Songs. Since the 1950s, ethnomusicological research projects have been organized by the Ethnographic Department of the National Museum in Sarajevo and the Academy of Arts and Sciences. By the 1970s, there was a marked change in the emergence of new and varying forms of music. Previously disallowed and regulated, musical diversity sprang up increasingly in the late 1970s. Various forms flowered in the 1980s as part of a breakthrough of grassroots discontent that culminated in song-filled demonstrations stretching from 1970s Poland to region-wide breakthrough demonstrations in the late 1980s. During this time, Sarajevo was a cultural center for yugo-rock musicians who took Western rock styles and incorporated folk melodies. Sabrina Ramet, political scientist and author of books about gender as well as music in the former Yugoslavia, writes that yugo-rock was “originally highly imitative of American trends” and that “Yugoslav rock came of age in the late 1970s and by the early 1980s, boasted a broad range of styles – protest, rock, punk, new wave, rockabilly, orthodox rock, and various kinds of revivals and syntheses” (S. Ramet and Crnkovic 2003, 175). 52 As opposed to state controlled folk music, newly-composed folk music (NCFM) was less regional in style, and thus, the genre became a uniting tool for many Yugoslavians. The “new folk” genre incorporated new folk melodies, lyrics and arrangements. The rise of NCFM in the 1960s was also driven by the “expansion of the market, stylistic possibilities, and most visibly, the appearance of singers as stars” (Rasmussen 2002, 11). To appreciate a particular song or singer was, and still is, not a culturally or politically inconsequential choice, “it is an indication of musical preference that is tied to cultural affinity and one’s own socio-cultural identity” (Rasmussen 1995, 251). Musical taste in relation to regional characteristics is still tied to identity, but most NCFM presented a shared theme of nationhood perhaps only strengthened by regional variations. As early as the 1960s, Radio Belgrade began to open up some programs to subscribers’ requests and noted an increased interest in “new folk music,” which in the 1970s was labeled NCFM, and decreased concern for artistic arrangements by the state. In the 1970s, newly-composed folk music served as an alternative to official styles by adjusting rural roots music to the tastes of urban audiences. Yugoslavian NCFM can be understood here as a counterpart to other transitional music and venues. The emergence of such a genre is a testament to the importance of music in the redefinition of both community and individual identity in relation to forces of globalization and modernization. I see the period of conflict in Bosnia, which followed the transitional phase explained above and marked the region internationally as a war zone, as an extension of a political and social climate which had been fermenting as a result of top-down socialist policies. Music played a central role in rallying troops as well as defining nationalist 53 aspirations. The stereotypes that were so well demonstrated in folkloric performances across the country allowed citizens to define the other (whoever he might be) as different, even if neighbor and “other” were one. The Politics of Turbofolk Turbofolk, the most popular form of music in Bosnia, originated in Serbia in the 1990s as Yugoslavia crumbled. The genre is a combination of various styles that arose out of newly-composed folk music (folk), but incorporates techno rhythms (turbo). For many of the alternative musicians discussed in Chapter Six (Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engagement), turbofolk is the genre against which they seek to be alternative. In Chapter Five (PSY(P)OP: Radio Peace, NATO, Psychological Operations), which addresses the PSYOPS radio station Radio Mir, the foreign organizers chose to exclude the turbofolk genre from their broadcasts and highlighted popular Western genres instead. While many Bosnians listen to Serbian turbofolk, there are also Bosnian turbofolk musicians. In this section I offer two music video examples from turbofolk stars Goga Sekulić and Selma Bajrami. Both female performers were incredibly popular in Sarajevo as well as the whole region during my research. In recent years, anthropologists, musicologists, and other social scientist have analyzed the genre extensively. For more in-depth and recent analyses see Baker (2007) and Grujič (2009). This small section on the genre is by no means an attempt to explain the complex social and political phenomena central to its development. This description is only meant to contextualize other chapters in this dissertation. 54 The term “turbofolk” originates from the Belgrade musician Rambo Amadeus,51 who uttered it as a joke and critique in an interview about his own work. According to Grujič, “the implied meaning of the term was to denounce ‘grotesque’ and ‘abnormal’ character of the so-called invasion of ‘newly-composed folk music’ in Serbian music scene, in a parodic war” (Grujič 2009, 3). Musically, turbofolk can be understood as a recent relative of the Yugoslav-era genre, newly-composed folk music (NCFM) addressed earlier in this chapter. In the 1980s, musicians began to incorporate synthesizers and electric guitars while borrowing visual and rhythmic elements from international pop music (Rasmussen 2002, 121). By the early 1990s, turbofolk musicians had incorporated hip-hop, dance, and techno music into their productions. Some scholars have noted that the turbo aspect of the music connotes “challenge, speed, fearlessness, and taking part in the latest trends” (Kronja 2001, 10). Bosnian composers of turbofolk integrate, or sometimes simply copy, melodic lines from popular songs in Turkey, Tunisia, Greece, and Serbia as well as Roma melodies. The singing style of both female and male singers bears resemblances to both NCFM as well as sevdalinke and other regional styles as it incorporates multiple melismas which Kronja terms pevanje sa trilerima (singing with trills) (Rasmussen 2002). Song structure is consistent with many international popular forms consisting of introduction, instrumental sections, verses, and chorus as well as sometimes employing a 51 In 1988, Rambo Amadeus released his album O Tugo jesenja (Oh, Autumn Sadness) which included a song titled “Turbofolk”. In her book With Their Back To the World: Portraits of Serbia, Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad explains that “Rambo Amadeus emerged on the scene in the late 1980’s with a new type of music and satirical lyrics about Yugoslav society. His first CD became a popular anecdote to the techo-inspired folk music that held Yugoslavia in a death grip at the time, with its nationalistic, warmongering, sentimental lyrics. You heard this odd hybrid wherever you went: in bars, kebab stalls, taxis and on the street. On TV the videos were in constant rotation, with nationalistic iconography stirred into a syrupy musical hodgepodge. Rambo ridiculed the whole phenomenon, calling it turbofolk – because a turbofolk never stops – and rode his disdain to the top of the charts” (London: Virago Press (2006), 56). 55 bridge. Some of the most famous NCFM singers are from Bosnia. To generalize, in their videos, female turbofolk singers are often scantily clad in flashy clothing that emphasizes their voluptuousness, while men stress material possessions and machismo in their performances. Among many cultural critics in Sarajevo, turbofolk is seen as a menacing style that is impacting the musical scene in a negative way. Indeed, Sonja Raljović, a fellow ethnomusicologist based in Sarajevo, has written extensively about the psychological reasons that cause audiences to flock to turbofolk concerts. During my research, she hosted a show on federal radio devoted to turbofolk songs sandwiched between her disparaging comments about the genre. Within the context of the conflict in Bosnia, the Serbian origin of the style is central to some people’s disdain for turbofolk. It is common in everyday conversation to hear people refer to clothing, cars, sunglasses as well as other objects of clothing with the adjective “turbofolk.” The term is interchangeable in meaning with sminka (makeup) with which people refer to overdressed and overly made- up women. Negative reactions to the genre by Sarajevans were sometimes based on its perceived connection to Belgrade and the wartime quest for greater Serbia articulated by the Milošević regime. Turbofolk is critiqued by local urbanites as backward and rural and has been defined by scholars such as Erik Gordy as nationalist, if not in content, then by association. This was exemplified by the Milošević regime’s close financial and personal relationship with turbofolk singer Ceca, who was married to the well-known and much-feared Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan.52 52 For a more extensive analysis of turbofolk lyrics in relation to Bosnian and Serbian nationalism, see Brana Mijatović, “Music and Politics in Serbia (1989-2000),” PhD dissertation, University of California Los Angeles, 2003, as well as Ivan Colović’s Bordel Ratnika: Folklor, Politika i Rat, published in 2000 by Čigoja štampa, Belgrade. 56 In his book, sociologist Eric Gordy concerns himself with the relations between culture and politics, and with the experience of life in the Serbian authoritarian state after 1990. Although he is not directly addressing the genre within a Bosnian context, Gordy’s findings about the politics of the turbofolk genre in Serbia are central to its identity outside of Serbia. This is especially true since many Bosnians watch the TV station TV Pink BiH which is a member of the Pink Media Group, the main broadcaster of turbofolk music videos in Serbia and Montenegro. Gordy employs the musical genre as an example of a music that received direct promotion for political ends by the political group, termed by Gordy as the “new nationalists,” that was headed by Slobodan Milošević. In Gordy’s interpretation, national homogenization, which was ultimately an aspect of Milošević’s consolidation of power, placed the regime in opposition to the open-minded orientations of urban cultural elite in Serbian society. The cultural and social conflicts between older and younger generations, between urban and peasant (as well as urban-peasant) outlooks, and more generally between open cosmopolitan and closed national orientations played roles in each instance of the destruction of alternatives discussed in this research. (1999, 6) With his concept of “destruction of alternatives,” Gordy explains how the Milošević regime sought to limit the public’s access to information as well as political, cultural, and social alternatives in order to maintain its rule. In his chapter titled “The Destruction of Musical Alternatives,” Gordy places music within the “realm of taste, orientation, personal identity, and pleasure, ” which he explains as a place in which the “conventional political philosophy in Western Europe and the United States … seeks guarantees against censorship by asserting the right to privacy and to all the activities assumes to fall under the categories of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’” (ibid., 104). Although he never directly defines the concept of 57 taste, it is clear that Gordy sees the concept as somewhat organic. Without political involvement through limitation or supplementation of certain cultural expressions, the Serbian public would still seek out musics in line with their socio-economic tastes. In the recent inter-war, period the urban and elite members of the Belgrade rock scene, termed rockeri, found their “natural” preferences toward the “outside world” limited by the promotion of popular forms of rural folk music. Although, within a different wartime context, it is possible to draw lines of similarity between the political engagement of the rockeri based in Belgrade and the Bosnian alternative genre addressed in Chapter Six of this dissertation. Gordy locates rock music, a commercial music in its own right, as the genre of sincere, and taste-driven popularity just as alternative musicians do. Although he is concerned with one period of time in which the rock music crowd felt they were marginalized by the success of turbofolk, his statements about that period are sill salient. “The nostalgia for international cultural forms carries with it a rejection of the domestic, and of lived experience as somehow not measuring up to the cosmopolitan standard” (ibid., 149). Such international forms as reggae, hip-hop, dub, and metal have increasingly gained popularity in post-war Sarajevo. The popularity of turbofolk and its relationship to the politics of the region, especially in terms of Serbian–Bosnian relations, is central later chapters in this dissertation. I have chosen the following two musical examples because both were extremely popular during my field research and help to contextualize later discussions of the politics of alternative music (Chapter Six). Goga Sekulić is a Belgrade-based turbofolk singer who released her first album in 2000. By 2008, with the release of her album Zlatna koka 58 (Golden Coca), she had become one of the leading female singers in the region, known especially for her appearance. The following lyrics are from her song “Gacice” (Panties) which was the first track on the album (see attached music video with subtitles). S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know devojka za jedno veče, misli, briga me a girl for one night, she thinks, I don’t care al' kod tebe su jos uvek moje gaćice but you still have my panties Plave oči, taman ten Blue eyes, dark complexion od onih sam što padaju na to I’m one of those who fall for this i ko da se kontroliše And who’s to control oneself kada mi se desi ludilo When madness happens Goli do jutra, zvaću te sutra Naked to the morning, I'll call you tomorrow svuda po meni miris tvoj all over me, your smell bilo je super, nikome ni reci It was great, do not tell a soul i telefona lažan broj (x 2) And a fake phone number (x 2) S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know devojka za jedno veče, misli, briga me a girl for one night, she thinks, I don’t care al' kod tebe su jos uvek moje gaćice but you still have my panties S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja She doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know znaće ona, znaće ona, reći ćeš joj ti She’ll know, she’ll know, you'll tell her kad joj komad crne čipke oči otvori When a piece of black lace hits her eyes Beli zubi, crna ćud White teeth, black temperament za srce si me jako ujeo You bit me in the heart i niko, niko, pa ni lud and nobody, nobody, even mad (crazy) preko toga ne bi prešao would let it go Goli do jutra, zvaću te sutra Naked to the morning, I'll call you tomorrow svuda po meni miris tvoj all over me, your smell bilo je super, nikome ni reci It was great, do not tell a soul i telefona lažan broj And a fake phone number S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know devojka za jedno veče, misli, briga me a girl for one night, she thinks, I don’t care al' kod tebe su jos uvek moje gaćice but you still have my panties S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja She doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know znaće ona, znaće ona, reći ćeš joj ti She’ll know, she’ll know, you'll tell her kad joj komad crne čipke oči otvori When a piece of black lace hits her eyes S kim si sinoć bio, da li ona zna Who were you with last night, does she know ne zna ona, ne zna ona, znam samo ja she doesn’t know, she doesn’t know, only I know 59 devojka za jedno veče, misli, briga me a girl for one night, she thinks, I don’t care al' kod tebe su jos uvek moje gaćice but you still have my panties al' kod tebe su jos uvek but you still have al' kod tebe su jos uvek but you still have al' kod tebe su jos uvek but you still have moje gaćice my panties (Sekulić 2008)53 The meaning of the lyrics are rather straightforward as a young woman expresses her pride at having left her undergarment behind at a married man’s apartment. The video begins with a lingerie-clad Sekulić dancing in a factory building in front of a large industrial fan. In the video, Sekulić wears bright red lipstick and her hair cascades around her shoulders. She delivers the first verse with a slight air of anger, and as is common, she ends some lines with melismas. An instrumental interlude with driving rhythm and orchestra flourishes follows, during which Sekulić appears dancing alone at times and at others with several men who wear black undershirts. The second verse descends along a minor scale and then ascends to complete a melodic minor conclusion as Sekulić expresses her lover’s characteristics, “blue eyes, dark complexion” and the “madness” that ensued when they met. The beginning motives of the chorus “Naked in the morning, I’ll call you tomorrow” again emphasize the rise to the tonic, but this time more rhythmically as the singer continues to dance with her many admirers and poses on a large red couch. The men holding panties around her remind the listener of the song’s title “Gacice” (Panties) while they perform her lover’s conundrum. Using the same melodic and rhythmic material, the lyrics then explain some of the singer’s emotional 53 Sekulić’s CD Zlatna koka was released by Grand Production. Grand Production is a Serbian record label based in Belgrade. The company has released some of the region’s top selling turbofolk albums as well as producing “Grand parada” (Grand Parade) a weekly variety show broadcast on RTV Pink. The show specializes in presenting artists on the Grand label. 60 confusion as at first she seems concerned that the panties she left behind might cause her to get caught (“she doesn’t know…”) while in the next verse being caught (“she’ll know…”) represents the power the singer may have over her lover’s wife “when a piece of black lace hits her eyes.” Video for the second half of the song is consistent with the first half as Sekulić poses for the camera and dances sexually. In 2005, the Bosnian turbofolk star Selma Bajrami released her self- congratulatory single “Kakvo tijelo Selma ima” (What a body Selma Has), which remained popular throughout the period of my research. The following is a transcription of the song lyrics (see attached music video with subtitles). Te noći me uhvatila kriza That night I had a crisis te noći bio si moj That night you were mine ni ime ti upamtila nisam I didn’t even remember the name samo te pamtim kao broj I just remember you as a number Otrovna je ljubav moja Poison is my love varljivo je tijelo moje Deceptive is my body pomisliš li da sam tvoja If you think I'm yours nestanem i gotovo je I disappear and it’s over A ti i dalje pričaj svima Go on telling everyone kakvo tijelo Selma ima What a body Selma has hajde hvali se jos malo Come, brag a little more ti nezrela budalo You immature fool Ti i dalje pričaj svima Go on telling everyone kakvo tijelo Selma ima What a body Selma has da si traga ostavio If you had left a trace ne bi te zaboravila I wouldn’t forget you Ja znam da si želio me dugo I know that you wanted me for a long time i ja sam željela to And I wanted it too a sada bi htjela nešto drugo And now I would like something else a ti ćes pravo na dno And you'll go right to the bottom Otrovna je ljubav moja Poison is my love varljivo je tijelo moje Deceptive is my body pomisliš li da sam tvoja If you think I'm yours nestanem i gotovo je I disappear and it’s over A ti i dalje pričaj svima Go on telling everyone kakvo tijelo Selma ima What a body Selma has hajde hvali se jos malo Come, brag a little more ti nezrela budalo You immature fool 61 Ti i dalje pričaj svima Go on telling everyone kakvo tijelo Selma ima What a body Selma has da si traga ostavio If you had left a trace ne bi te zaboravila (x 2) I wouldn’t forget you (x 2) (Bajrami 2005) The video begins with a strong rhythmic punch as Bajrami dances and intently watches the camera. The video is composed of two different scenes edited together. In the first, the singer is dressed in a white diamond-encrusted dress coupled with a white boa around her shoulders. The setting is reminiscent of a brightly lit modern airport passageway. In the second scene, Bajrami wears a more casual orange ensemble that exposes her midriff, a key detail as she dances across the scene. In the lyrics, the singer refers to the night she met a man by belittling him, saying that she only remembers him as a number. Male dancers appear moving in unison with hop-hop inspired dance moves. At other times, the viewer is treated to Baijrami’s gyrating hips. The second verse confirms the protagonist’s independence as she notes, “If you think I’m yours, I disappear and it’s over.” As if to dare the man she has met, Bajrami then unleashes her full voice on the chorus, “Go on telling everyone, What a body Selma has, Come, brag a little, You immature fool.” The video becomes more sexual as Bajrami is shown embracing a bare-chested man and then posing in a sparkling black dress or lingerie. In the final verse, the lyrics seem to hint at the demise of Bajrami’s lover as she claims “and you’ll go right to the bottom.” Ethnomusicologist Ljerka Rasmussen’s book Newly Composed Folk Music of Yugoslavia is, as its title reveals, a study of the genre. In the early 1990s, many NCFM lyrics were recast as turbofolk songs. She explains, “song lyrics tended to be realistic representations of existentialist and romantic sentiments that thrived on the condition of 62 emotional unfulfillment, typically unrequited love” (2002, xviii). Rasmussen and sociologist Erik Gordy (1999) locate the urban rural divide as a central theme and framework for understanding social phenomena. Although such divides were more obvious in NCFM videos and early turbofolk, a hyper-urban character is evident in the previous examples as both videos were set in modern environments. In this chapter I have sought to introduce Sarajevo as well as major periods of political and cultural occupation central to the development of Sarajevo. It is my hope that the broad description of socialist and present day musical genres in Bosnia helps to contextualize the case studies that follow. 63 Chapter Three From Siege to Celebration: Musical Renaissance During the Siege In 1991, a brutal civil war broke out in Yugoslavia. The Bosnian conflict was largely defined by the media and opposing sides as a division along religious (Roman Catholic, Sunni Muslim, Serbian Orthodox) and ethnic (Croatian, Muslim, Serbian) lines.54 Before, during, and after the war, a number of scholars criticized the media for having “gradually accepted and perpetuated the divide in ethnic categories, rendering invisible anyone who did not belong to the main groups of players, and thus effectively dismissing the very idea of diversity” (Iordanova, 138),55 although such ethnic terms existed as part of pre-war Yugoslav policy. In the autumn of 1990, two Yugoslav republics, Slovenia and Croatia, proposed that Yugoslavia should be transformed into a confederation of six republics that would allow for greater self-determination. By June 25, 1991, Slovenia and Croatia had declared independence from Yugoslavia. Over the next three months, the Yugoslav Army pulled out of Slovenia, but engaged in conflicts between Croatian civilians, the police, and Serbs living in the Autonomous Region of the Krajina in Bosnia. The Republic of Macedonia also declared independence in September of 1991 and under the United Nations banner, 500 US soldiers were deployed to its northern borders. On November 27, 1991, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 721 that established peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia. In the same month, Bosnian Serbs 54 Indeed, following World War I, the term “balkanize” came into common use to describe the “break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units,” see http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/balkanize. 55 For more on the media’s construction of ethnic categories, see The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence, edited by Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (New York: Zed Books, 1999) and “War Chants” by Kim Burton in Folk Roots (15/1): 30, 33, 41. 64 overwhelmingly voted for a referendum to establish a Serbian republic within Bosnia. The self-proclaimed assembly of Bosnian Serbs pronounced an independent “Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina” which was deemed unconstitutional by the Izetbegović-led government based in Sarajevo. The three political and military entities: Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, battled for the following three years. There was open fighting in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995. Throughout the conflict, Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat forces maintained sizable political and military support from Serbia and Croatia. In order to control Serbian territory, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) attacked communities across Bosnia. Violent attacks, ethnic cleansing, and systematic rape characterized the conflict. International involvement came when the UN entrusted the EU with the responsibility of mediating the conflict. By 1992, a 14,000 person peacekeeping force known as the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was dispatched to Croatia. In hopes of preventing a spread of the conflict to the rest of Yugoslavia, the UNPROFOR headquarters was placed in the Bosnian capital city, Sarajevo. It was only later that these peacekeeping forces were criticized by the international community for not having involved themselves enough in the conflict and not attaining their goal of peace and resolution.56 The political as well as cultural climate in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war is key to the way in which humanitarian organizations both conceptualized community 56 A well-known example of such criticism is the “safe area” that UN forces set up in Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia. Because of UN failed involvement in this “safe area,” the site became the worst case of genocide in Europe since World War II. In July 1995, the Bosnian Serb Army staged a brutal takeover in which, over a period of five days, the Bosnian Serb soldiers separated Muslim families and murdered over 7,000 men and boys in fields, schools, and warehouses. 65 needs and attempted to fill them. In her article about the process of cultural politics and musical production in Bosnia, native ethnomusicologist Mirjana Laušević writes that “music was not only used as a cultural weapon of choice by all warring parties in Bosnia but also as fuel for the war machine” (2000a, 290) and that “one of the first victims of this war was an appreciation of Bosnian cultural diversity and the interconnectedness of Bosnians of various ethnic backgrounds” (ibid., 300). She emphasizes radio and television stations as the institutions where “cleansing and ethnic labeling” took place. Radio and television producers who made decisions about what to include in their programs had to follow new rules in a wartime climate. As previously cited, prior to the war, the media as well as state cultural agencies were also the places in which state censorship took place. The war created a space in which individuals had to prove their “political correctness” and nationalistic awareness to ensure their own security and upward mobility. Membership choices as defined by politicians were few. Laušević notes that spoken and unspoken media policies acted as “reinforcements of difference” (2000a, 293) between the three ethnic groups (Serbian, Croatian, and Bosniak). There was some flexibility in the distribution, along ethnic lines, of traditional and popular music styles. Divisions within each ethnic group were obscured by a shared body of music. Laušević writes that “the power of music as a national symbol does not lie in the music itself but in the meaning assigned to it by a particular group of people” (ibid., 294). As in the socialist period, the community fragmentation that occurred as a result of the war was again highlighted by top-down nationalistic policies which sought to vilify an enemy and memorialize allies. Croatian and Slovenian ethnomusicologist Svanibor Pettan comments 66 that “due to political manipulation, [musicians’] sense of ethnic identity has been used to make them believe that they have more in common with their ethnic/national kinsmen than with their immediate neighbors” (1999, 288). It was into this complex and largely divided environment that international organizations entered with the intention of helping and healing, solving, and rebuilding post-war Bosnia. Vedran Smailović, National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina This image was taken during the Sarajevo siege in 1992 in the partially destroyed National Library by Russian photographer Mikhail Evstafiev. Bosnian cellist player Vedran Smailović played throughout the war, often for free. He was particularly known for his performances at funerals conducted during the war.57 Many have written histories and characterizations of life under the siege in Sarajevo.58 After Bosnia’s declaration of sovereignty in October of 1991, the Serb military surrounded Sarajevo in the hopes of pressing for a new Serbian state of 57 Http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-bosnia-cello.jpg. 58 See Malcolm 1994; Halpern and Kideckel 2000; Andreas 2008. 67 Republika Srpska. The Serb forces of 18,000 positioned themselves in the hills surrounding central Sarajevo and between April 5, 1992 and February 29, 1996, attacked the city. Although they used tank, mortars, machine guns, rocket launchers, and rocket- launched aircraft bombs, shooting from snipers had the most deleterious impact on the individual citizen’s psyche during the siege. The street running from the outskirts of the city to the center was informally dubbed Snajperska aleja (Sniper’s Alley) as it was the most dangerous path that citizens had to pass in order to gather water and food. Before, during, and after the conflict, the city lost many of its most promising artists, musicians, authors, professors, doctors, and other professionals.59 As I spoke with people about their experiences, it was common for them to express sadness not only for the people they had lost but also for their friends who had left and never returned. The city’s wealthiest families left during the siege because they could afford to get out. Sarajevan citizens who were unable to get out of the city as refugees on airplanes or who did not have enough money to pay to crawl through the damp tunnel people dug beneath the airport, experienced the longest siege in modern times. In the immediate post-war period, the alarming rate of exodus by educated Sarajevans from the city was termed by concerned journalists a “brain drain.”60 By some accounts, some university departments lost more than two-thirds of their faculty while student enrollment dropped as much as three-quarters.61 59 Statistics addressing the number of people who left Bosnia during the war vary. A good guess is that over a million people left the country, which represented around 25 percent of the total population. Several prominent musicians and artists who survived the conflict found themselves addicted to drugs or suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and many committed suicide. 60 In Landry 2002, he references a UN survey that states that “62% of young people now want to leave BiH and most want to leave forever…. The best and the brightest are finding it easiest to leave. This represents a brain drain of dramatic proportions and untold consequences” (19). 61 See the article “Plea to stop Sarajevo brain drain,” by Michael Gardner in Times Higher Education (July, 21, 1995), http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=94735§ioncode=26. There 68 When I first began organizing interviews and talking about the war and post-war period with Bosnians, I tried to be careful and kind. I was hesitant about my role in asking people about difficult periods of their lives and was aware of the line I might be crossing between public and private life. I have a few close friends who shared every detail of those years. Their accounts oscillated between the boredom of being stuck inside and the mix of fear, excitement, and thrill of living through impossibly difficult moments. For many young Sarajevans coming of age during the conflict, the extreme atmosphere led them to take care of others by donating their time. One friend of mine, who lived in Dobrinja, a neighborhood where much of the front line activity took place, volunteered to teach art in a makeshift school. She risked her life daily to help children. Some evenings she would walk to the television station, some forty minutes walk from her apartment, to participate in a short segment on clothing style. The stories of loss and tragedy were punctuated with those of sacrifice and generosity. As I spoke with more people, I began to understand the siege not only within tragic stereotypes of war but rather as a time of survival and creativity. People who had been living relatively urban lifestyles before the war began to grow vegetables in their apartments out of sheer necessity, only to realize they enjoyed the process of watching things grow. Some of the most poignant films and novels from Sarajevo were written during the siege. For many artists and musicians, extreme adversity produced an equally powerful creativity. Only one music club was able to remain open for the duration of the siege. Nonetheless, many musical and theater groups continued to meet throughout the four- were been numerous efforts to curb or solve the brain drain problem. In April 2003, with funding from Hewlett Packard and other donors, UNESCO entered into one such project titled “Piloting Solutions for Alleviating Brain Drain in South East Europe.” The partnership between HP and UNESCO has been a durable one as project organizers continue to install computer labs in universities across the region. 69 year siege. I have heard that members of the Sarajevo Symphony continued to practice throughout the conflict, sometimes playing by candlelight. From his wheelchair, Nermin Tulić, the director of the Sarajevo Youth Theater explained to me the theater’s activities during the siege. This theatre is 55 years old. I’ll give you a short history, I’ll give you as a gift a short monograph and that would be best. I’m an actor. And worked in this theatre as an actor. On June 1992 a bombshell exploded … and ever since then I have been in this condition. It took me a long time to recover, I barely survived. And then some people from Sarajevo convinced me to … well I accepted it but I want to point out that they persuaded me to be the director of this theatre. Since June 1, 1993 until today I’ve been the director of the theatre. If somebody offered me to be this position today I would never accept it. I wouldn’t be the director. But it was…. That was a different time and there was nothing. There was nothing, no electricity, no water, no food, no … no … no nothing. There was only adrenalin and … something human … something that every normal person has, something that’s resistance, battle and everything that goes with that. And morality of course. Arts in general. Not just theatre but culture in Sarajevo during those 1,000 days and I don’t know how many days there were of the siege of Sarajevo, but they were something that sociologist will study in the future. But not just the people who work with that artist. Because in a way that was a gun and battle but … something totally different from what has been done in today’s Republika Srpska. Serbs and Croats and Bosniaks and others worked here. We were working with texts … now I’m talking about the theatre. We were working with texts written by Serbian and Croatian and … and Bosniak writers … it takes me awhile to remember to name all of those. On the other side they only perform writers of one ethnic group. But … well that was a struggle. The theatres were full during that period. I’m just going to talk about theatre here. The theatre was like a church. People would come to see the plays that were on at 2 p.m., not in the evening, because in the evening we had curfew. There was bomb shelling but people weren’t running from the theatre to hide because they thought God was there. They thought that the theatre was a temple, they thought that nothing could happen to them in the theatre. Thank God nobody was hurt in this theatre, not in this one or the others in Sarajevo. All of the plays were held by candlelight like in Shakespeare’s times. By candles! Sometimes we had some electricity but then plays were mostly held by candlelight. In the theatres, in this theatre and the Kamerni theatre had mostly plays and artistic programs. Here as well as in the Kamerni theatre we held concerts and everything connected to that, exhibitions and…. There wasn’t a public announcement because when you go outside of the theatre and if you look up at the main entrance was directly in a line of fire. We were using the secondary entrance that was in a way hidden and we had only oral announcements: “Tomorrow we will have a play, tomorrow we will 70 have a concert, tomorrow we will have an exhibition, tomorrow this, tomorrow that,” but we couldn’t announce our program in the media. The radio stations were working, TV stations were working but that wasn’t publicized because if those up on the hill found out they would bomb us. Tulić’s impassioned narrative underscores the excitement many felt for the arts during the siege. His comments about the multi-ethnic character of the material presented in his theater are in keeping with many of the testimonies I have heard. Musicians recalled organizing secret and sometimes private concerts in homes or wrecked buildings. As Tulić explains, plans for concerts were often spread by word of mouth. Some events were advertised in the newspaper without directly specifying a place to avoid the chance that snipers would attack the location. The paranoia about sniper and bomb attacks was in keeping with the reality of life under the siege. UN officials estimate that over 10,000 people were killed or disappeared. The number of wounded citizens is estimated at about 56,000 people, including some 15,000 children.62 Because resources were so scarce, advertisements in the newspapers would also request that people bring specific items such as water, food, cigarettes, and alcohol. Parties with music would sometimes last several days and nights. Friends told me that gatherings were often extreme affairs where people engaged in sexually explicit activities as well as excessive drug and alcohol use. One friend explained that such parties were a social outlet because everyone was afraid that their lives would end any day. In the words of Adnan Calkić, a director of the student radio station in Sarajevo, “War is a very special situation, if you don’t die you are very very alive.” (Calkić 2011, interview with author). 62 “Final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780,” UN Doc. S/1994/674, May 27, 1994, http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/VI- 01.htm. 71 On a community level, many Sarajevans felt closer to one another during the conflict as they relied on each other for resources and safety. Many told me that the uncertainty of the future caused everything, including music, to taste and sound better. “Hundreds of new bands have sprung up since the war started. It's a paradoxical situation. In these depressive times, everyone wants to expend energy doing something creative.”63 During the war, more than thirty new bands started and played music in the city. They drew their influences mainly from popular musical genres of the time. In her article with Dijana Marjanović titled “Rock Under Siege,”64 Aida Kalendar differentiates between the musical styles of these groups and those from before the war, which had gained such prominence by incorporating folk motives and modern trends such as techno and rock. Many urban youth, who looked outside the country for inspiration, saw much like turbofolk as archaic and backward. They equated folk melodies with the ethnicity driven philosophies that resulted in conflict. Drawing a line between groups’ choices of musical genre and their political/emotional state, Kalendar wrote, “Sarajevo youth tried to escape from the surrounding town, from primitivism, helplessness and hopelessness of the times, trying to get a link with normal life. Bands who recorded and performed during the siege wrote sharp, ironic, cynical, aggressive lyrics … full of black humour and open for some of the taboo topics.”65 63 Srđan Vuletić, quoted in Strauss 1995. 64 Http://magazin.musiclife.ba/?op=read&id=183. 65 “Rock Under Siege,” by Aida Kalendar and Dijana Marjanović, 1996, http://www.kabi.si/si21/IASPM/aida.html. 72 Radio Zid (Radio Wall) Because during the siege few people had access to the electricity needed to power their televisions, radio became a major source for communicating with the city’s population. Radio Zid (Radio Wall) was “established in the beginning of 1993 as a non- profit media project primarily conceived as a mission of cultural and spiritual restoration in the wartime Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina”66 by a group of intellectuals, artists, musicians, and others interested in culture. Radio Zid was founded during the siege in 1993 by Zdravko Grebo, a lawyer who later became a professor at the Law Faculty at the University of Sarajevo and is the founder of The Open Society Fund-Bosnia and Herzegovina (Soros Foundation) as well as the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies of the University of Sarajevo and the Chief of the Department of the State and International Public Law. Indeed, Grebo’s role in developing Radio Zid endeared him to his students and has helped to make him a leading voice in cultural as well as human rights issues across Bosnia. During the siege, Radio Zid was supported by local and international donors and staffed by young volunteers. Radio Zid broadcasted twenty-four hours a day on the FM band, playing whatever music they had access to, ranging from jazz to techno to modern classical to Indian bhangra. The station even broadcasted when electricity to that section of the city was cut off, with only the use of a power generator. Once the ten o’clock curfew was imposed, DJs such as Kalendar, who had late shows, slept at the station and returned home early in the morning. 66 Http://archiv.medienhilfe.ch/Projekte/BiH/Federation/Slobosna/RadioZid/a-zid.htm. 73 Aida Kalendar, one of the station’s early volunteers, characterized the station as an “island of culture and island of some good spirit in surrounding of, of ... really horrible circumstances” (Kalendar 2006, interview with author). She explained to me that Radio Zid began with news segments meant to inform listeners about the facts of the siege and avoided nationalistic leanings so common of other radio stations. I began by trying to collect some information about life in the surrounding city. But at some point I moved somehow into music program, because I was very interested in alternative music. And ... together with my friend called Armin Jamakosmanović we started the program called Rock Under Siege.” (Ibid.) Jamakosmanović and Kalendar invited bands who were playing in Sarajevo to bring their demo tapes into the station. To their surprise, musicians braved the danger of being targeted by snipers on the streets and delivered more than forty cassette tapes. While many of the recordings were of low quality, as bands only had access to battery- powered mono recorders, Kalendar explained to me that the effort “showed us that something very important and interesting is (was) going on” (ibid.). Together, Jamakosmanović and Kalendar developed a “Demo Top Chart” made up of the songs of local bands from Sarajevo. The show became exceedingly popular. During the siege, only some parts of Sarajevo still had access to telephone lines so “people somehow joined, they gathered together and listened to this show and called in to vote for their favorite bands” (ibid.). Some nights, the station received as many as three hundred calls. According to Kalendar, for some the station was the only sense of community people had in a city that was locked down by fire from Serb forces in the hills, other than standing in water and food lines. Kalendar notes that at the time, receiving calls at the station “was for us really a sign that the city is not dead … that there is still some good spirit in city” (ibid.). Reporting on the siege in 1995, New York Times 74 reporter Neil Strauss chronicled the station’s rise, “One of a handful of private stations in Sarajevo, Radio Zid caters to the city’s youth, sending a nonpartisan mix of alternative- rock and educational programs across the war-torn Bosnian capital” (1995). In order to get to the station, most of the staff station crossed a central park with little cover because all of the trees had been cut down during the winter for wood. The commute, required for Radio Zid staff members, was indeed a dangerous one. In early August of 1995, one of Radio Zid’s young staff members, Karim Zaimović, who sought to interject humor onto the airwaves by broadcasting humorous news, was shot in the head while several others were injured. DJ Srđan Vuletić commented, “People who are working on the radio are real heroes … because most of them risk their lives just to get there” (ibid.). Speaking by telephone, the station disk jockey told New York Times reporter Strauss that “There is shelling, there are snipers in the streets, there is chaos, and all the time the radio still goes on” (ibid.). For many journalists, stories about Sarajevans’ will to survive struck both a tragic and inspirational chord in their reporting. Music especially seemed to illustrate the innocence of citizens who sought to live life, performing, and listening to music as in the rest of the world. Kalendar commented on this with a tinge of cynicism, “The Sarajevo rock scene was extremely interesting for foreign media. MTV, NME, Billboard, Blah-blah-blah, etc. did stories about it” (Kalendar 2006, interview with author).67 Despite some DJs’ negativity about attention given the music scene in the international press when countries in Europe certainly held the power to break the siege, statements such as that by Strauss, “[I]n times of struggle, music can be a vital cultural bond” did inspire interest from abroad (1995). The station 67 In his 2005 memoir titled Fools Rush In, Bill Carter offers a more comprehensive picture of the experience of an aid worker in Sarajevo. Carter gained notoriety for broadcasting U2 concerts during the siege and his documentary film Miss Sarajevo about the wartime concerts and broadcasts. 75 not only broadcast local bands. Some of the foreign music included songs from Orb, Sonic Youth, Bjork, Fugazi, Karen Black, and Adrian Sherwood. Rock Under Siege On the heels of the success and interest in the Rock Under Siege radio show, and in a cease-fire window, Kalendar and other staff at Radio Zid organized a concert. During his visit to Sarajevo and Pale, former US president Jimmy Carter negotiated a seven-month cease-fire between the Serbian aligned Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the makeshift Bosnian Army which was to come into effect on January 1 and last until August of 1995. According to historian Robert Donia, “the Carter cease- fire temporarily ended the shooting in Sarajevo and most places in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but all armed forces used the respite to group and replenish ammunition and supplies” (2006, 329). Unfortunately, the ceasefire only ended up lasting sixty days and was followed by the most violent period of the war. 76 Radio Zid, Rock Under The Siege The first big Rock Under Siege concert was held on January 14, 1995, fifteen days after the cease-fire had been declared. The Rock Under Siege project consisted of concerts and audio-video-print productions made from recordings of the concerts. Because the city’s electricity had been cut off, power for the speakers and amps was provided by generators. We organized this concert in Club Sloga (in the center of Sarajevo) and people really from all parts of the city walked, because in that time there weren’t any means of transportation. So, they walked for example from Dobrinja for 2 or 3 hours to come to, to the city center to be at the concert.” (Kalendar 2006, interview with author) The first Radio Zid CD made during the war was a compilation titled Rock Under Siege: The Gentle Art of Firing, and included songs of fourteen bands from Sarajevo. It consisted of live recordings taken from the Rock Under Siege concert and was produced by the OBALA Art Centre in the middle of 1995. Groups on the album include Down, 77 Pessimistic lines, D. Throne, Hindustan Motors, Gnu, Grafit, Lezi Majmune, Protest, Sikter, A.P. Sound, Bedbug, Beastly Stroke, and Ornamenti. All of the groups are considered alternative in style, although a few incorporate folk melodies into their compositions. The title of the album cynically hints at the brutality of the war with the incongruous phrase “gentle art of firing.” Reflecting on the recording, Kalendar commented, “I think that CD is really anthropological, you know, because it really somehow, it captured, captured the atmosphere of ... and spirit of young people in that time” (ibid.). Rock Under Siege album cover After producing the album and circulating it throughout the city and in the international press, Kalendar’s friend and colleague Armin Jamakosmanović managed to escape the city. According to her, he was forced to leave the city because so many of the city’s young men were being mobilized by the Bosnian Army and he feared for his life. 78 In 1996 after the Dayton Accord68 had been signed, with Kalendar at the head of the project, Radio Zid released another edition of Rock Under Siege. With the second release, Kalendar noticed a shift in band members’ excitement about the release. After the end of the war this musical scene really began to somehow dissolve due to different reasons. People somehow started to live their normal lives. Start, you know to settle ... they got married or went to study or whatever. So, at this moment maybe only one or two bands from that period still exists and is still active. (Ibid.) Of the groups showcased during the wartime concerts and on the subsequent albums, sadly only a few survived post-war peace intact, including Sikter and Protest. One of the most promising musicians of the wartime concerts was Adi Lukovac, who committed suicide just a few months after I interviewed him in mid-2006. While some talk about the post-war period as jubilant and full of hope, Kalendar’s long view of the alternative music scene after the war is rather negative. In my 2006 interview with her, she commented: Yeah, this is a really sad moment. You know, this guy Adi Lukovac he was very.... I met him in 1994 when he had a band.... And he was one of the most, he had the most noticed show on “Rock Under Siege.” And he was active for a long time but unfortunately many of this generation also died. That is extremely sad because I think of this generation … that they were somehow sacrificed. Because those people have been fighting on the front line and then in the meantime they tried to play some music. And after the war nobody cared about them anymore. And a year ago one guitar player from one very good band committed suicide. And now Adi Lukovac. You have really some people who really became very addicted to drugs, so it is an extremely sad situation. And sad destiny for this scene.” (Ibid.) Protest’s twenty-year-old bassist Edin sought to underscore continuity between the period before and during the war with comments like: “The situation we are in -- war -- doesn't really change our way of looking on all situations. The name of the group says 68 The agreement brought the three and one-half year armed conflict to an end and formalized and legitimized ethno-religious borders won during the conflict. 79 everything. We were protesting when it was peaceful and we are protesting now.”69 Not all of the bands’ songs are about war, many are filled with the generalized angst common to young rock bands around the world. The Dayton Agreement and Culture At the end of 1995, representatives of the three main factions in the war met at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio for a three-week conference meant to facilitate a peace agreement. Factions of the proposed settlement were represented by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović, as well as the Bosnian Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey. The US Secretary of State Warren Christopher and US negotiator Richard Holbrooke were accompanied at the conference by the EU’s Special Representative Carl Bildt and Igo Ivanov, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia. After an agreement was reached in November of 1995, it was officially signed on December 14th in Paris. The goal of the agreement was to bring an end to the conflict. President Clinton explained the agreement’s goal in the following way: “[T]o give all the people of Bosnia a much greater stake in peace than war, so that peace takes on a life and a logic of its own.”70 The agreement successfully brought the three and one-half year armed conflict to an end, as well as unfortunately formalizing and legitimizing ethno-religious borders won during the conflict. 69 Strauss 1995. 70 William J. Clinton, “Address to the Nation on Implementation of the Peace Agreement in Bosnia- Herzegovina,” November 27, 1995 in Public Papers of the Presidents, William Jefferson Clinton (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1995), vol. 2, 1786. 80 Bosnia and Herzegovina was the third of the republics to seek independence from the Yugoslavian political center of Belgrade. The semi-protectorate of Bosnia and Herzegovina was set up after the Dayton Accords of November 1995. In a genuine protectorate, the international administration would wield full powers to impose sanctions and would have the authority to exercise its monopoly of force to ensure that the requisite measures were implemented. Instead, a semi- protectorate was created in which police powers remained with the existing, highly dubious and corrupt administration. (Fischer 2005, 3) The semi-protectorate defined its goal as “democratizing” the region which was previously a socialist state, stabilizing Bosnia by building new democratic institutions, easing the transition from socialism to capitalism, and instilling democratic ideals in the minds of the public. 71 Organizational Chart of the Office of the High Representative 71 Http://www.ohr.int/ohr-info/gen-info/doc/org-chart.gif. 81 Several scholars have questioned this rule of post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming that the wish to be in charge and to colonize is the real motive for the international community’s mission.72 Under Dayton, the framework of the Bosnian state was to be highly dependent on international supervision. There was to be a one-year transitional international administration, in place until the first state-level elections in September 1996. After this, the formal powers given to the central state authorities were to be uniquely minimalist, even to the extent of excluding central control over the armed forces, while wide-ranging powers over government institutions were to be given to international organizations and externally appointed individuals for between five and six years. These new powers were written into the Bosnian Constitution…” (Chandler 2000, 1) They claim that international involvement echoes the paternalism of colonialism, while long-term international intervention is seen and explained by the EU, OSCE, NATO, the UN, as well as other organizations as the only road to peace and security. This was an attitude that was embraced by NATO as it took the leadership role of peacekeeping. High-ranking UN representatives, wielding full powers even though not elected by the Bosnian people, have had difficulty settling civil conflicts. The Dayton Agreement also solidified the political division between the Federation and Republika Srpska73 and produced an exceedingly bureaucratic Bosnian state in which three presidents shared power through a rotational system on an eight- month rotation. More than twelve years after the conflict, a foreign High Representative, who serves within the Office of the High Representative (OHR), still maintains a good deal of power in the country. The High Representative has the power to fire elected officials, edit existent bills, and appoint new judges. Such international oversight coupled with the large number of foreigners in the city is seen and expressed by many Sarajevans 72 See Chandler 2002; Halpern and Kideckel 2000. 73 Bosnia and Herzegovina is made up of two entities: Republika Srpska and the Federation, and one district: the Brčko District. 82 as adding to an environment of colonialism. Fifteen years after its signing, the Dayton Agreement still serves as the main legal document for the country. While journalists have even gone so far as to refer to the High Representative of Bosnia as “the European Raj”74 to emphasize the colonialist structure of leadership put into place by the Dayton Agreement, the failure or success of the agreement has received a great deal of attention in academic as well as policy making circles. On the tenth anniversary of the signing of the accord, institutes, think tanks, NGOs, and universities convened conferences devoted to the agreement in Europe and the US. Bosnia’s peace agreement, which effectively partitioned the country along ethno-religious lines, has continued to be referenced as a successful way of dealing with countries with ethnically divided communities. On numerous occasions, the late Richard Holbrook used the Dayton Agreement, with its emphasis on a shared central government, as a model for solutions for dealing with ethnic conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan.75 Sadly, many of the divisions and borders formalized by the Dayton Agreement have calcified since the war. Sarajevan cultural critic and journalist at Dani magazine,76 Ahmed Burić explained to me: “[T]he story is that the divided country which was left by the Dayton Peace Agreement was divided on paper and was divided in the minds of the people. And that’s the trouble” (Burić 2005, interview with author). While the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents ten cantons made up of a majority of Bosniak and Bosnian-Croat citizens, Republika Srpska is mostly inhabited by Bosnian Serbs. Community level divisions are easiest to see in rural settings where whole villages, many 74 Gerald Knaus and Felix Martin, “Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Travails of the European Raj,” Journal of Democracy 14/3 (July 2003): 60–74. 75 “Lessons From Dayton for Iraq,” Op-ed by Richard Holbrook in The Washington Post, April 23, 2008. 76 Dani is a weekly newspaper based in Sarajevo with circulation throughout the country. 83 of which were once multi-ethnic, are now only populated by one ethnicity. Community divisions in urban settings such as Sarajevo are more difficult to discern. Although major efforts have been made by organizations such as the OSCE and the UN to aid and create incentives for refugee return, many people who were forced out of their homes and communities during the war are unwilling to return. Driving through parts of the countryside, it is common to see villages where only one house of worship has been repaired, leaving the remnants of Bosniak mosques, Catholic churches, or Serbian Orthodox churches. Many wrecked houses bear the spray painted message prodaja kuca (house for sale) with a phone number scrawled after the message. Several of my young Bosnian Serb friends choose to buy houses and apartments outside the center of Sarajevo in Lukavica (Cyrillic: Лукавица), the Bosnian Serb section of the city, only a ten minute drive from the center of Sarajevo to their neighborhood in the municipality of Republika Srpska. Products such as pork and the Serbian beer Jelen are only available in this part of the city. During the Orthodox Christmas holiday, the streets of Lukavica are lined with vendors selling dry oak branches that they burn on Christmas Eve. As in Serbia, signs in Lucavica, as well as the rest of Republika Srpska, are in Cyrillic rather than Latinica script. While from the main bus station just outside of Sarajevo one can travel to destinations throughout Europe, buses to Belgrade or Banja Luka only leave from the rundown Lucavica station. These are just a few of the examples of the ways in which people’s everyday lives are still affected by the boundaries laid out in the Dayton Agreement. Many of the cultural figures and organizers I spoke with expressed their frustration with the Dayton Agreement’s impact on the post-conflict development of 84 culture in Bosnia. No provisions for culture are made in the agreement other than a reference in Annex 8 to the maintenance of cultural heritage. The Dayton Agreement regulates that cultural responsibilities be held by each of the two entities independently. This means that the one commonly shared entity between all factions, the state, bears no responsibility for culture. Even ministers of foreign affairs have few initiatives involving culture. Although the Federation has a minister of culture, the majority of power and government funds are dispersed on the cantonal level. Sarajevo is the largest of the cantons. In his report prepared for the EU titled “Togetherness in Difference: Culture at the Crossroads in Bosnia Herzegovina,” European culture expert Charles Landry comments on the damaging impact of the Dayton Agreement upon cultural development in the country, “This is a complicated hybrid structure reflecting the realities at the moment of settlement at Dayton. It is an unsustainable long term structure for cultural development, even though some of its principles could and should be maintained in a more rational structure and calmer environment” (2002, 29). Aida Kalendar, who organized the Rock Under Siege and Futura festivals, also shared with me her somewhat more negative opinion of the agreement’s influence. Of course Dayton had value because it stopped war. That is the biggest value of Dayton and ... in fact the only value of Dayton. The biggest failure, in the field of culture, was that they didn’t leave the ignorance for culture on the state level. They put it on the entity levels. And it is ... understandable in one point, because some cultural reasons were used to start the war. It is still very, very difficult to have common goals in the field of culture for all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, obviously [the] field of culture was [an] extremely sensitive field. Even then. But for me.... It is much more important to do these technical reforms, really to bring new people, to bring together.... To somehow have transparent institutions, to have experts deciding about [the] distribution of money. You know, it doesn’t matter if it’s on the state level, or if it’s ... 85 decentralized, but the biggest problem is that it is still corrupted extremely. And they didn’t decide about this in Dayton. (Kalendar 2006, interview with author) Beyond the structural impacts of the Dayton Agreement, others I spoke with noted the degree to which the peace agreement affects the cultural market and especially cross-entity sales. Dinko Delić, author and editor-in-chief of the Bosnian cultural journal Diwan,77 explains his belief that the Dayton Agreement has actually destroyed markets that existed before the war. But, what’s wrong all the way from the beginning in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Dayton constitution. The Dayton constitution divides Bosnia and Herzegovina into two, actually three parts, and it’s destroying the market and relations between people. Just because of that neither small projects in culture, nor big projects could ever function. Because one publisher, one magazine from Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica … they aren’t going to be accepted in Mostar equally. There is no market … it’s not going to be accepted in Banja Luka and never the less in Zagreb, Beograd etc. To make a long story short the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is being disturbed as well as its economical base. We don’t have that. You can’t create a country with three or four centers of political power. That’s a mistake of higher politics. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not developing and not growing, it’s just spending money. We’ll start developing only when we relive our political system, when we make it technically function. And now, well, it’s not functioning. (Delić 2005, interview with author) In an article published in Dani Magazine titled “How Is Culture Financed; Poor spirituality,” the author Vedran Seksan interrogates one of the ministers of culture about his role new role. The new Minister and his Deputy are not very pleased with this role, but the fact remains that they do not have the authorization over culture institutions. “We do not accept that function, because what can we coordinate – chaos?!” says Lovrenović. Well, what are they doing then? “We sponsor those projects which have a special importance for the Federation,” replies Deputy Minister of Culture and adds that in the period from April to September of the current year there were one hundred and one of these projects, what is much better than last year, when in the same period sixty four projects were supported. 77 Http://www.diwanmag.com.ba. 86 Unfortunately, the list of all sponsored projects can only be looked at, but not obtained to have it because it is “not organized.” What at a first glance sticks out is the item – airline ticket for Mr. Emir Nuhanović. Important for Federation? “We believe that the job Mr. Nuhanović performs is not only important for the Federation, but for the entire B&H. It is tragic that we have to finance the tickets, but that is the world we live in,” replies Lovrenović. How then to find even that little money that is being allocated? “Why not even through taxation,” asks Lovrenović, who adds that Sweden allocates KM 500 for culture per capita while Bosnians set aside from their poor budget only nine. “The problem is that there is no systematic solution here. Therefore, we have incited an initiative to sign an agreement between cantonal governments and this ministry and to determine what are, in fact, whose responsibilities and how much money everyone allocates when festivals are concerned. For such a step, the support of the Council of Ministers is also needed, which would in such a way be, if nothing else, then at least symbolically involved in detangling of this knot,” says Lovrenović.78 When the Dayton Agreement was first signed, few could anticipate that the agreement would be the only constitutional document in Bosnia. For more than fifteen years since the end of the war, the Dayton Agreement has continued to act as the main document of governance in the country despite negotiators intent that it only be used to establish a lasting ceasefire. Post-War Foreigners: “You Feel That In The City” The first few years after the war were inspired by a local excitement at the hope of reconstruction, a new beginning. Most people who had survived the siege responded to the news of peace with celebration. To a certain extent, Sarajevans felt that local resistance had left their city victorious, although the Dayton Agreement softened the exhilaration of ending the war by either side through military might alone. Nonetheless, different factions continue to hold vastly diverse conclusions about who perpetrated the 78 From the Dani Magazine article “How Is Culture Financed; Poor spirituality,” by Vedran Seksan, November 8, 2001. 87 conflict and who was the victor. In my interviews, when talking about the period of immediate peace, many confided to me their hopes at the time that things could only get better. What they did not anticipate was the effect of a new community of foreign workers (“do-gooders”) who descended on Sarajevo after the war. Bosnians often define “international” or “foreign” projects as distinct from their own local efforts. As a foreign researcher, I was often met with skepticism as some interviewees were careful at first not to be negative about the foreign community in Sarajevo. It sometimes took several meetings for me to uncover people’s true thoughts about foreign funded projects. The historical portion of this work traces several long periods of occupation79 to contextualize present critiques by “locals” of stranaci (foreigners) as well as to show the degree to which “foreigners” have consistently entered Bosnian society at the status of elites. Scholars such as Kimberly Coles (2002 and 2007) have addressed how foreigners have differentiated themselves from local communities by a system of international governing. The local economy was directly affected by the “new foreign elite” as the apartment market skyrocketed and the black market economy, which found its roots in the socialist gray market and the siege period in which the market met wartime necessities, was only expanded (Jašarević 2008; Andreas 2008). This was exemplified by such cases as the Arizona market80 outside the NATO base, in which NATO solders and citizens could purchase pirated local as well as foreign music recordings. Humanitarian gifts (new NGOs, reconstruction of buildings, jobs, … etc.) flowed into the country, with Sarajevo being the central clearinghouse for funding. 79 Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Serbian (Belgrade) domination of Yugoslavia, post-war protectorate with foreign head. 80 See anthropologist Monika Palmberger’s article “Hier am markt sind wir alle gleigh: der Arizona Schwarzmarkt in Bosnien als Friedensträger?” in Friedienst Zeitschrift für Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung, Nr. 4/2005. 88 Foreign embassies bought up prime real estate in the city for their new buildings and began filling their budget lines with cultural events and reconstruction projects. Some scholars have estimated that expenditures by internationals totaled 2.5 billion DM per year (Papić 2001, 9) during a period in which Bosnia’s gross domestic product was 6.9 billion DM. As most foreign journalists who had covered the war returned home, many foreigners engaged in humanitarian work stayed on in the city. For most Europeans, as well as Canadians and Americans, there is no visa requirement or tourist tax for entry into the country. For Europeans, this made the country a relatively easy place to visit. Foreign organizations that had operated from headquarters outside of the city set up offices in Sarajevo and many of them invested in rebuilding their office buildings. Just as cultural organizations that had existed before the war again established themselves and began to rebuild from the rubble of war. Based on her ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 1997 and 2000, anthropologist Kimberly Coles offered this description of Bosnia’s international community. She coined a term “sheer presence” to explain the large number of internationals in the city. Sheer Presence refers to the overwhelming number and scope of internationals, international organizations, and international funding in Bosnia-Herzegovina: the magnitude of it all. International personnel in Bosnia-Herzegovina probably numbered between 28,000 and 70,000 in the five years after the war, decreasing over time. (2002, 90) She notes that even by 2001, the three largest international organizations (UN, OHR, and OSCE) had as many as 3,000 internationals as staff. The sheer number of internationals served as a constant, visible reminder of the international community’s might. Internationals were the body representation and manifestation of the political, military, and economic power used by the 89 international organizations and individuals to force issues, to frame the terms of reconstruction, and to implement policies. (Ibid.) When I began visiting Sarajevo in 2001, I noticed the number of foreigners just by listening to the various languages they spoke on the street. Sarajevan Žarko Papić, who is now the director of the Independent Bureau for Humanitarian Issues, commented that “This influx [of foreigners] is creating a completely artificial virtual picture of Sarajevo, a picture of normal life, a European city, without any basis in the reality of the economy and the city itself (2001, 10). Others further connected the influx with development efforts commenting that “every day, more foreigners pour in to do every conceivable task, and the more they do, the less the Bosnians do for themselves (Chandler 2000, 3). Aida Čengić, who at the time worked for the Soros Open Society Fund, shared the following anecdote about the first time she really noticed the impact of foreigners in Sarajevo. Čengić: You know ćevabdžinica, you know the place. And traditionally you eat meat, traditionally you drink mineral water or yoghurt, some drinks sometimes, but it’s, it’s basically yoghurt, mineral water, coke and so.... And then once, I think it was ‘96. And then there was ... you know seldom get any salad. The only salad you could get, I mean I’m talking about before the war, was some onion. And I cannot say that I ever in my life before the war saw alcoholic beverage in [a] ćevabdžinica. Beer or wine, no way. And then once I was sitting in [a] ćevabdžinica which is, one really traditionally laid out with low tables and so on... EH: In Baščaršija? Čengić: Yes. And I saw two women in uniforms. I believe, I’m not sure, the one had [an] Irish flag and they ordered glasses of wine and salad in [the] ćevabdžinica. And I was like ... “What’s going on here?!” Everything turned upside down. But that’s what people asked for and, you know, the owner will provide that. Traditionally nobody who was born here would ask that in [a] ćevabdžinica. Especially, and before the war I’m not sure that you could buy wine in [a] glass, per glass. You could buy a bottle. But not [a] glass. And I was like “What’s going on here?!” So this is one of ... it’s [a] tiny little thing. But ... yes, 90 that’s, that’s the change. And of course there are a lot of restaurants here now and you can drink wine in glass.... And.... Before the traditional restaurant offer was schnitzel and potatoes, and now you have everything. I mean, everything. You know, different things from Chinese to Sushi, to ... I don’t know. So, I believe those things would happen, of course, without the war, but you know I’m not sure if it would happen so fast. With the changes in restaurants and property costs, a significant amount of international development aid flowed into newly independent Bosnia after the war. Tangible cultural aid came primarily in the form of new facades for historic buildings as well as new bridges that had been destroyed during the war. A portion of cultural aid was directed toward musical projects such as cultural centers, festivals, and music companies. The stream of foreign development aid coupled with a post-war celebratory environment also caused a rise in the frequency of musical events and festivals. Some foreign actors even founded radio and television stations to spread democratic messages of peace and reconciliation.81 Akcija and the Post-War “Futura Festival” After the war, the radio scene was not as active as during the siege. Aida Kalendar, who had founded the Rock Under Siege festivals and CD projects, continued her work as a journalist and in 1998, with friends from Radio Zid, she organized an NGO called Akcija (Action) because they wanted to continue to engage in the alternative music scene. They organized many concerts between 1998 and 2002. These were events held on a very small scale, with the first in a nightclub in central Sarajevo. Kalendar and her friends then founded the first international electronic music festival in the city called Futura Festival (Future Festival). Several of the festivals were organized in 81 I address the radio station Radio Mir in Chapter Five “PSY(P)OP: Radio Peace, NATO, Psychological Operations.” 91 unconventional spaces, like factories or damaged buildings, in an effort to bring the city back to life by making use of properties which had been bombed during the war. “For us these were always very ambitious projects, to somehow try to change the nature of the buildings, which had, by that point, been lost or forgotten” (Kalendar 2006, interview with author). The Futura Festival “developed extremely well, and it showed that there was a need for good, quality cultural productions for young people” (ibid.). Two years after its inception, Futura’s audience had swelled to more than 15,000 people. The fact that all cultural projects initiated during the war were not just an incidental occurrence of spiritual resistance is proven by the continuity of the Rock Under Siege project to support the urban rock scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the peace agreement (November 1995) foreign bands started doing concerts in Sarajevo (Laibach, Dodgy, Chokebore, The Young Gods...). Yet at that point there weren’t any local recording company, no distributors, no musical market. The old mainstream rock and pop stars became the “state (or party) rock performers.” There were renewed hard times for alternative culture - back to the underground status. We got lots of invitations from different parts of the world, but had no hope at home. Many wartime bands have split. The second CD compilation produced by the radio ZID was – “Rock Under Siege B.” We are still under the siege. It is still hard to communicate with the rest of the world, as there are lots of barricades in the minds of people. There is no certain future. (Ibid.) The Akcija NGO, which organized the Futura Festival, was financed completely with international money mostly through embassies or through international foundations for culture such as the Soros Open Society Fund. Connecting the demise of Akcija and the festival with the withdrawl of foreign financial support in 2002, Kalendar explained: When they (foreigners) decided to withdraw their support for cultural life during donor fatigue, [the] cultural scene in Bosnia our festival also came to the point of crisis. Because nobody from local governments wanted to take any part of responsibility or ownership, liability, or support for this, this type of event. So ... In year 2002 we had to stop. And Akcija had some ... small breaks in our work. I 92 went to study in 2003 in the Netherlands and then I somehow realized that I'm not interested anymore in the production of events, or production of the cultural products, because I realized that every time I finished one ... I'm at the zero point. There isn’t any legacy, or anything that will help me and us to somehow ... continue. (Ibid.) I have seen many projects and festivals fail because they were unable to maintain continuity in funding. Locally conceived initiatives that were founded directly after the tumultuous war years, such as the Futura Festival, faced major financial barriers as international support lagged around 2003 and 2004. Kalendar and her colleagues took their understanding of the local market and the youth of the city and created a cultural event which was successful in terms of numbers while some foreign conceived projects with far less local context and fewer regional connections survived. In this chapter I have outlined the development of war in Bosnia. Individuals’ narratives about their wartime experiences have been central to telling this story, with Radio Zid and the Rock Under Siege recordings and concerts exemplifying the explosion of interwar creativity. The Dayton Agreement punctuates the Sarajevo siege and marks the influx of foreigners into Sarajevo some of whom later engage in developing post-war cultural projects. 93 PART II – THREE POST-WAR EXAMPLES Introduction to the Case Studies The research for the following case studies was conducted over a three-year period from 2004 to 2007. For me, choosing which projects and phenomena to focus on was an organic process. In the course of talking to people about music projects, I was introduced to many more cases than I could include here. I have come across several music projects; for example, a Dutch group called Musicians Without Borders that donated instruments to the Sarajevo Music Academy, the Sarajevo Drum Orchestra, the Mozaic Foundation’s support for the folkloric KUD in the village of Guca Gora, the Goethe Institute (a nonprofit German cultural organization) cooperative music release titled Sevdalinke, Sarajevo Love Songs,82 the Pontanima Interreligious Choir,83 the Humanitarna organizacija Drugačija umjetnost - Alter Art (Humanitarian Organization if Different Art) in Travnik,84 OKC Abrasević Youth Center in Mostar,85 and the Silvertown Shine Music Festival in Srebrenica.86 In previous papers,87 I have written extensively about one of the most publicized cultural center in Bosnia, called the Pavarotti Center. Millions of euros were donated, through the organization War Child, and then lost or stolen. The center’s inability to function after such large-scale investment 82 The album, in which international artists perform or sample sevalinkas, was released in cooperation with the small Yaman record label based in Sarajevo. 83 See the choir’s website: http://www.pontanima.ba/pontanima.html#history. 84 Http://www.alterart.ba/. 85 See the center’s website: http://www.okcabrasevic.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=176&Itemid=58. 86 See the OSCE announcement about the 2010 festival, http://www.oscebih.org/News.aspx?newsid=4&lang=EN. 87 See “Aiding Harmony? International Humanitarian Aid and the Role of Applied Ethnomusicologists,” in Shared Musics and Minority Identities: Papers from the Third Meeting of the “Music and Minorities,” Naila Ceribasic & Erica Haskell, eds., Study Group of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), Roc, Croatia, 2004, 303-314, as well as Haskell 2003. 94 remains a stain on Bosnia’s donor history and tarnishes future foreign investment into the cultural realm. My ethnographic research brought me into contact with hundreds of people. At the end of my three-year stint in Bosnia, I had collected more than one hundred formal interviews, attended many concerts and festivals, as well as amassed many recordings. Although this dissertation is structured to offer a broad overview of the post-war cultural funding phenomena, particular individuals inspired me to choose specific case studies. Each organizer or director expressed excitement about their project and that energy impacted my own work. In the end, I have chosen case studies that best represent the different kind of funding that existed after the war. The object of each case study represents a different sphere of musical expression and international investment (festivals, a radio station, a record label). Chapter Four (Funding Festivals: Bringing the World to the Capital) focuses on staged multi-day multi-performance events commonly called festivals and their shift in the post-war period toward foreign programming. In Chapter Five (PSY(P)OP: Radio Peace, NATO, Psychological Operations), I address a military radio station that played primarily European and American popular music. The final case study titled “Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engage” is devoted to a Sarajevo based record label that received consistent funding from the Swiss cultural organization Pro Helvetia. Through each chapter, I explain the various instrumentalities of foreign funding. Together, the case studies show a cross-section of projects, which have succeeded and failed according to local and foreign gauges of success. They are chosen to emphasize continua of excessive versus small-scale funding, large versus small 95 audiences, consistent versus ad hoc funding, and partnerships versus hierarchical funding arrangements. Specifically, descriptions of each project highlight their long-term or only short-term viability. I am not the only one interested in these matters, the case studies have all been well covered in the local media and have been familiar to the people I have interviewed and even those who are not directly engaged in the cultural sector. This is important because successes and failures have shaped both the way Bosnians view cultural projects and the way they understand the larger international development project across Bosnia. Also, media exposure has meant that everyday Bosnians, even those not directly involved in the projects, have been able to freely critique projects. 96 Chapter Four Funding Festivals: Bringing the World to the Capital “[I]t is possible to organize a concert at a high professional level without entertainers’ charity, which all kinds of humanitarians from around the world dumped on this city over the last four year.”88 The Post-war Scene This chapter is devoted to the “festivalization” of Sarajevo after the signing of the Dayton Agreement and the donor environment that supported foreign rather than local performances. I highlight the tendency of donors to de-emphasize difference, be it ethnic, cultural, or religious, as a way of creating politically safe aiding strategies. Scholars who write about the impact of festivals on urban settings note that such events have the power to transform spaces, draw tourists, and impact the global and/or local image of the city (see Harvey 1991; Laopodi 2002; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998; Richards and Wilson 2001). In many cities across Europe, cultural organizers work with city officials to shape concerts and festivals. My emphasis is to uncover why the “festival model” was attractive to local and foreign cultural organizers. Here I write about the reorganization of the Sarajevska Zima Festival (Sarajevo Winter Festival) as well as other festivals that existed before the war and continued to produce such events after the war. One of the figures I introduce in this chapter, Ibrahim Spahić, the Director of the Sarajevska Zima Festival, commented to me that international involvement in Sarajevo had made it possible for him “to connect with the modern world especially after the war.” Throughout this chapter, 88 From an article in Dani (August 1996) titled “Mladen Vojičić Tifa,” describing Tifa’s upcoming concert in Sarajevo. Mladen Vojičić is known regionally as Tifa and is a Bosnian rock vocalist who was known throughout the former Yugoslavia for a short stint in the 1980s as the lead singer of Bijelo dugme. Interestingly, the Yugonostalgia concert in 1996 was organized by a local newspaper and the majority Bosniak Democratic Action Party (SDA). I was unable to find any evidence that the concert was funded by any humanitarian bodies. 97 Spahić’s comments offer a personal narrative that helps to illustrate comparisons between the pre-war and post-war cultural climate and explain the conundrum organizers faced in drumming up support to put on their festivals. Spahić’s narrative bears a strong resemblance to that of other cultural organizers who were active before the war and worked to establish themselves within the socialist system. His story illustrates the shift in support for cultural events from state funding, before the war, to what we could call “hybrid” support from foreign entities (embassies, organizations) and local governments. I argue that the expansion in festivals and more particularly international ones that took place following the recent conflict, was partly the result of Sarajevo’s new identity as a capital and post-war city, and the increase in international presence and funding that resulted. The historical overview of the Sarajevska Zima allows for comparisons of content between early festivals that were focused on local expression and post-war festivals that have been more “international.” The description of the festival is informed by my attendance at the festival (2005, 2006, 2007), extensive conversations with founder and director Ibrahim Spahić and other employees, festival materials, as well as cultural critiques and media reports. This section will also underscore the lack of a partner relationship between the local organizers and the foreign funders of the Sarajevska Zima Festival, in particular, and other festivals like it. Staff explained to me that they are rarely in a position to choose or even recommend content based upon local interest rather than foreign input. In other parts of this chapter, I describe two festival events I attended during my research. These examples help to unpack overlapping understandings of meaning by local 98 and foreign audiences and performers. I include sections that address local criticisms of foreign embassy funding practices, claims that the cultural sphere is corrupt, as well as local assertions that rural communities are left out of the festivalization process. Because of the sensitivity of discussing ongoing foreign funding, one of the festival directors I spoke with opted out of being named in my dissertation. By the end of our candid discussion, he politely asked me not to use his name or that of his festival when referencing particular statements. His concerns underscore the smallness of the pool of cultural organizers, as well as a fear that individuals he deemed corrupt might withhold support for his events. In small communities such as this one, it is difficult to obscure an individual’s identity; nonetheless, I have attempted to protect his anonymity while including some details of his project. There were also others I spoke with about the topics of corruption and foreign funding who requested that I not attribute their names to their comments. As I have discussed previously, the Dayton Peace Agreement, as well as a general lack of government funds for culture, tied the hands of local governmental officials and left little incentive for them to support annual cultural events. These circumstances made it especially difficult for such figures to sustain the operating costs of cultural institutes and organizations. The festival model, of several concerts over a short period of time, offered local and foreign organizers the opportunity to make use of a multitude of active donors in the new capital of Sarajevo. The fact that some festival events bordered on being spectacles was, by and large, positive to foreign donors who sought publicity and prominence in their home countries and the city in exchange for their contribution. Several festivals were founded after the war by Bosnians who sought foreign donor 99 funding at the start and hoped that one day their event might become independent. Over the years, indeed some of the most successful and long-lasting festivals have found a way to combine corporate funding (most often by beer companies or banks) with development aid. By the time I began my research, the variety and number of festivals was staggering. The following is a partial list, along with the approximate dates of operation of several post-war festivals: Baščaršijske noći (Nights of Bascarsija, 1980s-2010),89 Sarajevo Jazz Festival (1997-2010), Internationalni Muzicki Festival Bosna (Bosnian International Music Festival, BIMF, 2005-2010), Zetra Festival (2005-2006), Sarajevo Snow Fest (2004), Internacionalni Dječji Muzički Festival (International Children's Music Festival, 2004-2010), World Oriental Music Festival (WOMF, 2005-2009), Diječiji i Omladinski Muzički Festival (Children and Youth Music Festival, 2006), MESS Theater Festival (1960-2010), Sarajevska Zima Festival (Sarajevo Winter Festival, 1984-2010). The director of one of the festivals, Baščaršijske noći, counted more than I had. We have about 30 festivals in Sarajevo, right? So many! [Sarajevo] Art is the cantonal public cultural institution and is the executive director of two festivals. The biggest summer festival in the region is the summer cultural festival Bascarsija’s Nights. It is organized for eleventh time since the war, although its content is smaller then it used to be before war and since the eighties, the middle of eighties. (Kuburović 2006, interview with author) In the above quotation, Kuburović explains that Baščaršijske noći is one of two events he organizes through the concert agency Sarajevo Art and notes that his festival existed since the 1980s. Of the many festivals I have listed above, only Baščaršijske noći, 89 As noted in the later part of this chapter, this festival was called Dani Baščaršije (Days of Baščaršija) before the conflict. 100 along with the MESS Festival and Sarajevska Zima, pre-date the war. Before the war, these three festivals received government support which was contingent upon presenting inclusive content illustrative of socialist multi-ethnic ideologies. In post-war Sarajevo, as government funds were limited, new foreign embassies were a rich source of cultural sponsorship. During the period of my research, the most active embassies in the cultural scene of Sarajevo were the Japanese, American, French, German, Turkish, and British. It is, however, difficult to pin down budgets on embassy funding and indeed my requests to my own embassy for their cultural budget were not honored. Most governments cycle cultural attachés and other foreign service officials through individual embassies at a fast clip. In my experience, some cultural attachés are fairly knowledgeable about the country in which they work, sometimes even speaking the language, while others are new to the region and its cultures. Many embassy staff who are not Bosnian live rather protected lives and socialize primarily with others from the embassy. Even at large parties of foreigners, I seldom met embassy staff. For local festival directors who visit the embassies to gather financial support for their events from embassy officials, this makes it difficult to anticipate who will be the recipient of their requests from year to year. Several festival directors I spoke with asked me for insight about the American cultural attaché at the time of my research hoping that more information might help them to make realistic requests. They requested that I, as an American, act as an intermediary in their requests. I willingly engaged in negotiations between a festival director and the American cultural attaché to invite a brass group from New Orleans only later to find that the American official had decided that the cost of bringing the band was too high. Even if they had developed close relationships with 101 embassy staff, because of the constant turnover, festival directors found it almost impossible to predict what kind of funding they might garner from year to year. There were also numerous rumors of festivals that were never actually organized. These include a rather humorous proposal to organize “Woodstock 3” “where everything that has a value in the world’s rock music should be gathered and which should be attended by 300,000 viewers.”90 In 2006, I met two young female students from Sweden who had been studying concert organization at their university. They arrived with high hopes and claims about the famous stars, including Bjork and Sting, that they would bring to Sarajevo. After meeting them, one of my Bosnian friends joked that she had met a lot of students “playing in Bosnia like it was their sandbox” (Fazlić 2007, interview with author). When I asked what she meant, she explained that Sarajevo was a good place to try out ideas without there being any ramifications. If the girls succeeded in finding financial support and their invitations were honored, then everyone in Europe would know, but if not, nothing would be lost. A year later, I met film students from the Netherlands who wanted to found a film archive “to house all of the old Yugoslav films and art-house theater where they could screen them.” They were unaware that for the last fifty years the Kinoteka Bosnia i Herzegovina (Bosnian Film Archive) had been archiving Yugoslav and more recently Bosnian films. Anyone interested in watching films could visit the archive and watch the films in the building’s small theater.91 Some Sarajevans reacted to this kind of meddling negatively. The idea that some foreigners 90 This story actually made its way into Dani Magazine in October of 1997 with a description of the German politicians Daniel Con Bendit as “one of the 1968’s leaders of the hippy movement.” The article continues, “According to him there is already an elaborate plan for the festival which is supported by, among others, Coca Cola, Volkswagen and the European Parliament,” at a time when few corporate sponsorships of anything were available. I could find no evidence that the event ever took place. 91 In 2010, one of the local theaters (Meeting Point Cinema) began showing a selection of Kinoteka’s Yugoslav films held and restored in the archive. 102 wanted to engage in developing new institutions or events when they only visited for short periods of time was offensive. The changes they proposed were often inconsistent with the cultural landscape of the time. A friend of mine commented: They get in the media and everyone talks about them, and then a year later it just kind of … well what happened? And those people at War Child or those festivals, they go back to their country and they say: “Oh, at the age of twenty one I organized a festival,” you know they say, “What a great success!” and they never come back and what they did doesn't matter. (Ibid.) In the previous scenario, foreigners stand to benefit more from their ill-informed efforts than people living in the city. This is one of the many examples in which the “gift” of a volunteer or donor can sometimes be more advantageous to the giver than the recipient. It should be noted that the music festival model that I discuss here was, by no means, the only one for organizing events. After the conflict several large concerts, most notably those of U2 and Laibach,92 were held in Sarajevo. Speaking of the 1997 U2 concert held at Kosovo Stadium in Sarajevo, which was attended by more than 40,000 people, Bosnia’s past ambassador and representative to the United Nations, Muhammed Sacirbey, said, “We are perfectly satisfied with the result of the concert which was held to promote a sense of normalcy, peace and reconciliation.”93 In the celebratory and festive aftermath of the war, foreign, diaspora, and refugee musicians visited Sarajevo and other cities in the region to mark the conflict’s end. For many of these concerts, 92 The Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach is a music group formed in 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia. At one of their concerts in Sarajevo directly after the war, the group passed out fake passports to audience members as a political statement upon the inability of Bosnians to cross their country’s borders. For more on Laibach’s political statements though their musical performances, see “Peace Through Means Of Art: Dealing With The Present, Past, and the Future,” edited by Patricia Schneider and published by the Academic Network South East Europe, Neighborhood Cooperation and Bridge-building Peace Policy: The Role of Slovenia, Hamburg, Germany and Ljubljana, Slovenia in December 2008, http://www.akademischesnetzwerk-soe.net/download/Peace-through-means-of-art_2009.pdf. 93 From a short article about the concert: www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=44104. 103 audience members were charged admissions fees that went to pay for the rental of equipment and venues, as well as musicians’ flights and staff.94 Although I have discussed a few of the many performances which took place during the siege in previous sections of this dissertation, there are several other examples of locally organized non-musical festivals. The most noticeable of them are the MESS Theater Festival and the Sarajevska Zima Festival.95 Both carried on in line with smaller inter-war performances and showings by expanding their programs into multi-day festivals. Another category, which I do not address here but should be investigated in the future, is that of concerts organized by political parties. Based on articles in the local press and conversations with friends who were in Sarajevo in the period directly after the war, the Bosniak party called Stranka Demokratske Akcije (The Party of Democratic Action, SDA) was the most active party in this respect. Many of the concerts organized by the SDA showcased turbofolk musicians, some of whom were also active in wartime parties and concerts. In the socialist period, most festivals and manifestations had domestic content and were locally and nationally funded. In 2000, when I began living in Sarajevo, I noticed a multitude of festivals, especially in the summer months when good weather made it possible to gather people in outside venues. Many of the posters and concert programs recognized foreign embassies and NGOs for their financial assistance. In the present situation, these festivals have a markedly more international flavor as they present musicians and artists from outside Bosnia with only a few performances by local artists. 94 U2 concert tickets were sold at reduced prices for people living in some especially poor neighborhoods. 95 Both of these festivals received extensive support from George Soros’s organization, the Open Society Fund. Along with the Sarajevo Jazz Festival, these festivals have become the most known and successful in Bosnia, drawing audiences from throughout Europe. 104 Commenting on the number of embassies in the capital after the war, journalist Aida Tabaković of Dani Magazine included the following description in her article from December of 2001. In the capital city of our old homeland [Yugoslavia] there was, and probably still exists, an elite street where almost all embassies and consular offices of friendly countries of that time were located. In the capital city of our homeland [Bosnia and Herzegovina] there is no such street. There are even more embassies than an ordinary citizen might guess, twenty-two in total.96 In my interviews, I also found it was common for Bosnians to make claims that the cultural sector was rife with corruption and money laundering. A dominant local opinion is that money laundering is one of the primary goals of foreign institutions and governments when they invest in cultural events. Such claims have undermined some positive features of festivals such as gathering people together, reconciliation, and foreign/local exchange and have put into question the use of foreign monies for cultural events. I address these claims as well below. I attribute the generally pessimistic attitude regarding foreign involvement by many Bosnians to the long period of reconstruction following the war and also the cynicism many feel about the future. Ibrahim Spahić: Winter’s Showman “This festival [Sarajevska Zima] has an international character due to the many foreign participants performing in it.”97 “Sarajevo is today again a symbol of life, hope and belief in the future.”98 96 From the Dani magazine article “Ambasade u BiH: dvadeset dvije ambasade i jedna dama” (Embassies in BiH: Twenty Two Embassies and One Lady) December 15, 2001. 97 From an article in Dani introducing that year’s Zima Festival (December, 23 1996). 98 Comment by Daniel Tarschy, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, from Geneva, when Sarajevo Zima Festival became a member of the European Association of Festivals, http:/sarajevskazima.ba. 105 Ibrahim Spahić is the director of the Sarajevska Zima Festival which is often referred to as “Zima Festival” by locals. Unlike other parts of this dissertation that are driven by my own research process, here Spahić’s life story guides this section. I interviewed Spahić on several occasions. Each time I found him to be interested in and open to sharing with me. Our discussions were always held in his private office, which doubles as the Sarajevska Zima Festival and the Građanska demokratska stranka (Citizen’s Democratic Party, GDS) headquarters, in central Sarajevo. Spahić’s name is also inseparably tied to the Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games of 1984 because of his role in organizing the events. Those who are old enough to have attended the Olympic ceremony often tell their histories in relation to that year in phrases such as “before the Olympics,” just as they speak about the last twenty years as before or after the war. His office was covered with past festival posters and photos of him with politicians and other famous people. CDs and DVDs were piled on his immense carved wooden desk and when occasionally he would refer in the interview to something he wanted to share with me, a frenetic search for the document or recording would ensue. He would summon his secretary and any other nearby staff to help in the search and then promptly dismiss them when the item was found. Each time he only allowed me to ask a few questions before he leapt into a monologue about his life, cultural policy, his festival, and anything else that he thought relevant. Perhaps because he doubles as a festival organizer and a politician, I sometimes got the sense that Spahić was more interested in presenting himself positively than anything else. But then I had anticipated this might be the case as he has held political office and had to present himself to the public from a young age as the director of several organizations as well as the Sarajevska Zima 106 Festival. Although my transcripts of the interviews are riddled with interruptions from phone calls and his secretary’s disruptions, in the end Spahić shared a good deal of his life, work, and opinions with me. Throughout his long career, Spahić has held a large variety of positions, not exclusively in the cultural realm. To illustrate the span of his roles before the war, he was the President of the Council of the Daily Newspaper “Sport,” and was a member of the Executive Committee of the World Competition in Gymnastics as well as the Council of the Association of the People with Hearing Disabilities. He has held political positions in the two most powerful multi-ethnic parties in Bosnia. In 1990, he was the President of the Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine (Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SDP), in the city of Sarajevo the President of the Građanska demokratska stranka (Citizen’s Democratic Party, GDS) in 1993, and maintained that position on and off until the most recent election in November of 2010. GDS is a marginal party that maintains very little power in Bosnia’s government. Because Spahić led it in the past, many people have referred to it as the cultural party.99 In Spahić’s life we see how in Bosnia the political world can intertwine with cultural life and through his comments I seek to illuminate one popular figure’s understanding of the development of cultural events over time in Sarajevo. Ibrahim Spahić was born on May 10, 1952 in Sarajevo where he also finished grammar school. He received his first degree from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo. At the age of fifty-two, when I met him, Spahić had a strong 99 Filmmaker Danis Tanović, who was the winner of the Academy Award in 2002 for his film for his movie No Man's Land, recently founded a multi-ethnic party called Naša stranka (Our Party). Tanović has rallied several other cultural figures to join his party. Unfortunately, this tactic and the party’s support for minority rights, a decentralized state and individual rights, only garnered the party 4 percent of the votes in the recent election. 107 presence and a deep voice that made it possible for him to easily dominate the conversation. When I asked him about the first Sarajevska Zima Festival he organized, he responded by explaining to me his first involvement in Sarajevo with cultural events, beginning in the 1960s. That was the year of one of the best Winter Olympic Games, some people say the best Olympic Games up until that moment; the 14th Winter Olympic Games were held in Sarajevo in the month of February 1984. And inside the Olympics program there was one special program dealing with cultural festivals, cultural heritage and the presentation of cultural heritage of Bosnia. I organized the event. One generation of 1968, during the time of student riots in America and in the world, we made a new music scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which there were, among others, the main figures of the music scene of ex-Yugoslavia and of the Balkans today. Like Goran Bregović,100 like music editors today on television of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sinan Alimanović,101 who during the seventies constructed, with our generation, the first professional jazz space in what is now St. Vinko Church in Titova Street. We made the Centar za kulturu studenata (Cultural Center of Students), which we made in 1973 or 1974 at the time when I was leading the Organizacija studentskog vijeća (University Organization of Student's Council) in Sarajevo. That was the only university [University of Sarajevo] in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the seventies.102 We formed the Centar za kulturu studenata where there was music, especially jazz and ethno music and other different projects that at that time corresponded with the modern music of Europe and the world. Also in Sarajevo during the sixties and seventies there used to be various local and regional festivals of music, which made Sarajevo the musical center of Yugoslavia. Among other things, there were guitar festivals, then various vocal 100 Born in 1950, Goran Bregović is a musician and composer originally from Bosnia who incorporates Serbian, Bosnian, and Romani musical styles into his compositions. He was one of the original members of Bijelo dugme (White Button), one of the most influential yugo-rock bands of the 1970s. He is particularly well known internationally for his compositions and performances in which he uses Romani brass band music. In addition to his musical releases and concerts around the world, Bregović has composed many film scores for Emir Kusturica’s films Time of the Gypsies, Underground, and Arizona Dream. During and after the war, many in Bosnia saw Kusturica’s work as a proponent of Serbian nationalism. Bregović’s association with Kusturica, several nationalist statements he has made in interviews, as well as his choice to live in Belgrade mean that many Bosniaks do not openly approve of him. 101 Sinan Alimanović is a jazz pianist who left Pristina in the 1970s and then helped to develop the jazz scene in Sarajevo. He is the founder of the group Sinan Alimanović Quintet made up of jazz musicians from across the Former Yugoslavia that he founded in 1980. 102 Since the war, several internationally funded universities have sprung up in Sarajevo including the American University of Bosnia, which also has campuses in Banja Luka and Tuzla, as well as two Turkish universities on the outskirts of Sarajevo in Ilidža. There are also several new universities that cater to specific national communities, including the University of Mostar which is attended by mostly Bosnian Croats and the University of East Bosnia with campuses outside of Sarajevo and in Pale for majority Bosnian Serb students. 108 instrumental ensembles, later rock, pop etc., until hip-hop, which is very interesting today. During those years the Kulturno-sportski centar Skenderija (Cultural-Sport Center Skenderija) was opened, and forming a part of it there was Dom Mladih (Youth House), which is now being reconstructed by some foreign organizations from Norway, together with volunteers from Sarajevo. Among others I joined them, because I started my first job there at sixteen years of age exactly that year 1968 and that is our generation. (Spahić 2005, interview with author) One of the major performance and sports halls, Skenderija, was also built in 1969 in front of which large socialist political gatherings were held throughout the year. The hall was later remodeled and expanded for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Referring to the hall, Spahić noted, “in fact, that was the biggest, the most modern and the most interesting hall in the region of ex-Yugoslavia (ibid.).” Spahić experienced a kind of rebirth of the city as a member of a generation that strove to develop new institutions and modern scenes for art and music. As Sarajevo was to a certain extent in competition with other large cities in the former Yugoslavia, his answer also reveals the regional (Yugoslav) character of festivals, events, and the cultural scene in general. Later in the interview he also explained the weight of international influence. So, there was one ... there was one good connection during the seventies. The meetings that we organized in the students’ department were always international meetings. Yugoslavia was present, but also the neighboring countries were present together with their universities, and there was different cooperation with other universities in the world, and that can be seen in its biography. That period was about some beginning. (Ibid.) Later in the interview he added: [w]hether it was because of that time of long hair or because of the so-called influence of the western culture, Yugoslavia was specific. Actually, it was like in a sandwich, put between east and west, north and south. Yugoslavia played a good role at the time for all those generations, and you don’t have the classic dissidents either with writers, intellectuals, or with any others. You have some people that used to have opened roads toward the world, on a condition that the province doesn’t suffocate them. That is some ... precise term I am using. If they 109 don’t get “suffocated” by the province, a communist party, or the structure, then they can come to the surface and become an example. That’s why we had such strong movements. (Ibid.) As the interview progressed, Spahić explained to me how his generation also founded the “most important” cultural institutions in the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately, upon more research I realized that he was not correct about his claims and that many of the institutions had been founded soon after World War II, including the Muzička akademija u Sarajevu (Music Academy of Sarajevo) and the Sarajevska Filmska akademija (Sarajevo Film Academy).103 However, the Akademija likovnih umjetnosti (Academy of Fine Arts) was founded in the 1970s and its professors and students would later greatly impact the Sarajevo art atmosphere. The founding of new institutions may have had more to do with the general decentralization of institutions that resulted from the Yugoslav constitution of 1974 than any impact by Spahić’s generation. He is also correct in his comment that “almost all of the students from that generation, as well as the first generation from the fine arts domain, also from music life, they are the professors at our universities now” (ibid.). His historical misrepresentation does, however, illuminate his feelings about the time period in Sarajevo and his generation’s role in developing Sarajevo’s cultural scene. Throughout my conversations with Spahić, he consistently noted his view that those in his generation, while working within the political system of the period to get things done, were actually striving to create an alternative cultural milieu to that of Zagreb or Belgrade. 103 Spahić is actually incorrect on this point. The Music Academy of Sarajevo was actually established on May 20, 1955. The founder of the academy was Professor Cvjetko Rihtman (1902-1957). He was a researcher of Bosnian folklore and also founded the Insitute za proučavanje folklora (the Insitute for the Study of Folklore) between 1947 and 1957. I had the honor of meeting his daughter, Dunja Rihtman- Augustin, who is also a well-known folklore researcher with a specific interest in Bosnian folk music. 110 In Sarajevo, that was an alternative scene too. That was in contradiction to the events in politics at the time, because then Bosnia was treated, in political life of Belgrade and Zagreb, like the space of some dark light, a dark world, but generally the music scene, the art, the literal scene, as well as architecture was very, very important to the rest of the country. (Spahić 2006, interview with author) To explain his cultural activities as a student before founding the Sarajevska Zima Festival, Spahić described to me two events he organized outside official performance spaces, in already existing outside spaces in the old part of the city. That his events were not physically held in “official” venues makes both a local and political point about his attempts to work conceptually outside of the governmental structure of the time. For him, these events helped to frame cultural life within the context of the city rather than the state. According to Spahić, modern art exhibitions and performances by yugo-rock and jazz musicians transformed Sarajevo into an urban space. And we shaped it [this concept] through two big projects before Sarajevo Winter Festival was even an idea. One of them was called Zajedno (Together) with the students of the art academies and the other was called Poetika prostora (Poetics of the Place). These were with professional artists and with young people. That Poetika prostora is a project which I was doing for a few years in Baščaršija, in the old part of town, and that was when we discovered these culhans (small garden courtyards), and all of these ... actually all of the places they “were discovering” numerous times, but actually during the seventies and eighties we’d discovered the places one by one, which means that the most important artists, the whole generation gathered around the group named Zvono, and the musicians from that period precisely identified the urban places of the old town. The spots where you could hold a program. And actually that is the first generation after the fifties, after World War II, which identified the town as a cultural place. Not galleries, not music halls, but the town, the squares, the streets. That was my job. Done with those friends of mine, colleagues, of my generation, younger or older. (Spahić 2005, interview with author) The artist’s group named Zvono was organized in Sarajevo in 1982 and was active until the outbreak of war in 1992. They named themselves after the Zvono café (the Bell Cafe) in which these artists met. Dunja Blazević, who is the present director of 111 the Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Arts, reflects Spahić’s telling of the philosophy behind the Zvono artists’ exhibitions. [Zvono were] well-informed about current artistic ideas, not yet accepted and recognized into the infrastructure of the existing art system they started to exhibit and present their works and performances in the most out-of-the-ordinary places: in bars, in the streets, in stadiums and shop-windows. This was, up to that time, the most radical behavior ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina modern art. Meanwhile, their stadium games, parodies and parties, that merry search for generational self-identification, must be separated from their individual search for their own plastic forms and poetics. In their individual works, they brought the formal characteristics of the “New Image” of the eighties. (Blazević, Zvono award description http://www.scca.ba/zvono/zvono.php?lang=en)104 Spahić’s description of his involvement in grassroots or alternative cultural scenes is consistent with his later post as president of a minor political party and his involvement with student organizations who sought autonomy from the greater socialist structure while participating within it. He comments, I was the man who was mostly involved in development of the NGO system in ex-Yugoslavia.... At the same time I was a Yugoslavian students’ leader, that's important to know. So, at 20 years of age I became a deputy [with the party]. In the name of that generation of that population. I was elected. I’m always elected never selected. (Spahić 2005, interview with author) It is fair to say that Spahić’s history of working within the socialist system made him an attractive figure in 1984 to organize the cultural section of the Olympic celebration and the festival which later became an annual event. After contextualizing his development, and that of the cultural scene in Sarajevo in the sixties and seventies, 104 In 2006, along with other centers for contemporary art in the region, the Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA) decided to name a student award “Zvono” in honor of their exhibitions. The original Zvono group consisted of Biljana Gavranović, Sadko Hadžihasanović, Sejo Čizmić, Narcis Kantardžić, Kemal Hadzić, and Aleksandar Saša-Bukvić (considered to be the initiator of the group’s collaborative work and the driving force behind its organization and promotion). Most of these artists had graduated from the newly established Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo in the 1980s. 112 Spahić depicted for me the Sarajevska Zima Festival’s first event. We started the festival 20 years ago with Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. And that became a hit for seven to eight years, not just in Sarajevo but in the whole region. And in 1999 we made that ethno concert of all ex-Yugoslavian countries on the opening of Biennale in the National Theater. Practically it was the first gathering of artists from ex-Yugoslavia. So, our festival has some social dimension, some kind of a direct intervention in the process of reconciliation, in the process of trust and development. It’s the truth, because…. For example, it’s a festival that didn’t project connections with artists neither during the war, or before, or after the war. So, it really is an important function ... and it’s noticeable, I mean, with the festivals, not because it has some concerts, performances, no. But because of an atmosphere, I don’t know how well you’ve been following this year’s festival. But if you visited five to six places, you could see that good atmosphere. (Ibid.) Here I note that in telling his story, Spahić jumps directly from the first festival in 1984 to the reopening of the festival at the concert in 1999. Inspired by his experience of organizing art and music events in Sarajevo as a student, Spahić was honored to take on the task of overseeing the cultural section of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo. The first Sarajevska Zima Festival acted as an extension of the Olympic events and lasted for almost three and a half months from December 21, 1984 to April 6, 1985. The long length of the festival, sometimes lasting as long as a month during the winter, has been a consistent characteristic of the festival. Spahić reliably holds hundreds of performances throughout the festival. Poets recite, musicians and dancers perform, artists exhibit, and filmmakers screen their films around the city. Despite the cold weather in the winter, the opening of the festival is usually held outside in a public space. All events are free of charge to everyone. Upon the 20th anniversary of the festival, Sarajevska Zima published a large format coffee table book. Bosnian author and professor Tvrtko Kulenović contributed to the publication by writing the following beginning sentences of 113 his introduction that indicate changes in the character of performances from regional to international. Founded in 1984, as a concurrent event of the XIV Olympic Games, the “Winter” did not stay in the background of the major event, although it was criticized a lot, but so was the Olympiad itself, and the question was raised “what do we need it for?” The further it went, the more justified its existence through the range of manifestations. At the beginning, it was not an international event: it involved participants only from Yugoslavia, a territory with a rich cultural and artistic heritage that had a lot to show.105 Later in the introduction, Kulenović’s remarks take on an angry tone as he recollects the overtly political atmosphere at the Olympic Games in which the Belgrade leadership took control of the event. He calls 1984 an “Orwellian year” and connects the period to Serbia’s aggressions during the war. Anyway, the programme [the book] is deceitful and cruel thing. It says nothing of the horrible change that happened between the last “Sarajevo Winter” from the time of peace and the first war “Winter.” The year of 1984 was not just the year of “Sarajevo Winter” but the Orwellian year too, which hit us in nine years later in all its horror, injustice, aggression and intolerance that Orwell himself could not have imagined. However, there are artistic documents shown for the first time, as “Sarajevo Winter” manifestation, and they have remained lasting testimony to suffering, struggle and dignity of the citizens of Sarajevo. (Sic, ibid.) In this passage, Kulenović casts the festival, once an expression of the greater cultural Yugoslavia, at the Olympic Games, as a representation of Bosnia’s fight for independence and survival against “horror, injustice, aggression and intolerance.” The volume’s first forty-four pages hold the greetings, memories and appreciation from Bosnian cultural figures and politicians. Many recount the horrors of war and tie the festival’s life to that of the city’s while others marvel at the sheer size and length of the event year to year. For Spahić the size of the festival is absolutely important. [S]ince the very beginning that was the biggest event of Yugoslavia, because at 105 Tvrtko Kulenović, “Introduction,” in The 20th Year Anniversary of Sarajevska Zima Festival, edited by Ibrahim Spahić and published in Sarajevo by Bemuse and the International Peace Center in 2005, 7. 114 the opening there were more than 100.000 people present on the 21st of December. A lot more than at the Olympics, for example. That was a first class event and today people still talk about it and remember it, and in fact they didn't recover from it yet, even after 20 years have passed. (Spahić 2005, interview with author) Its size has caused many critics to ask why it must be so large. Cultural critic and festival organizer Aida Kalendar explained to me that “[t]his is the type of festival where the producer of Zima fest goes all over the cities to every embassy and ask ‘what do you have for this position’ and the response is ‘ok, we have dancers.’ And its …very often [the festival] doesn’t have any concept, nothing to organize it” (Kalendar 2006, interview with author). Kalendar’s claim is consistent with other critiques of this festival as well as the Baščaršije noči Festival which mostly works with embassies to import folkloric musicians from abroad. It is difficult to generalize about the contents of the numerous performances and exhibitions that were part of the Sarajevska Zima Festival in the years between the Olympics and the fall of Yugoslavia. In fact, the huge variety of events deserve a detailed study. For the purpose of this chapter, however, is it critical to note that in the festivals before 1992 participants were almost completely from Yugoslavia. Throughout the festival programs it is clear that Spahić chose to highlight artists and musicians whose work was conceptually modern. Although this emphasis was by no means exclusionary, as one can see in the festival programs numerous classical concerts by the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra and classical chamber groups of Mozart, Brahms, and Chopin. The programs were divided into categories including Ceremonija Otvaranja (Opening Ceremony), Pozorište (Theater), Koncerti (Concerts), Film, Kulturna Baština (Cultural Heritage), Premijere (Premiers), Amateri (Amateurs), Poetika Prostora (Poetics of Place), 115 Kulturno-Naučni Susreti (Cultural and Scientific Meetings), Turističko-Zabavni Program (Tourism and Entertainment Program), “Zajedno” – Susret studenata umjetničkih akademija Jugoslavije (“Together” – Meeting of Students of the Art Achademies of Yugoslavia, Gostovanje Nacionalnih Kuhinja (Visiting National Kitchens), and Program Takmičenja na Olimpijskim Borilištima (Program of Competitions at Olympic Venues). In 1986, there were three performances in the amateur section: Pjesmom i igrom kroz Istru (Songs and Dances from Throughout Istria),106 Jugoslavija u pjesmi i igri (Yugoslavia in Song and Dance), and Koncert hora RKUD “Vaso Pelagić,” Banja Luka (Concert Choir RKUD Vaso Pelagic, Banja Luka). 107 That year, the national cuisine section included food from Hungary, Holland, Germany, as well as cuisines from regional cities and towns including Novi Sad, Subotica, and Vranja (all now in Serbia), although it is unclear how these national cuisines were chosen. As a comparison, by 1999, several years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, the categories in the program had been simplified as follows: Ceremonija Otvaranja (Opening Ceremony), Teatar (Theater), Muzika (Music), Izložbe (Exhibitions), Književnost (Literature), Film, Kulturno-Naučni Susreti (Cultural and Scientific Meetings), and Ceremonija Zatvaranja (Closing Ceremony). In the theater category for that year, groups from India, Venezuela, Italy, Greece, Poland, France, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Belarus, the US, and Spain performed in Sarajevo. Of the thirty-three theater performances, only five were local productions, while three were from Slovenia and one was from Croatia. 106 Istria is a peninsula on the Adriatic. It is shared by Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy and located between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner.   107 Vaso Pelagić (1838-1899) was an important revolutionary figure who participated in uprisings against both Turkish and Austro-Hungarian authorities. He was an early proponent of socialist ideas. 116 The decision to create a program that centered around international acts was largely based upon the festival staff’s ability to find more foreign than domestic funding. One of the Sarajevska Zima Festival staff members I spoke with explained the process of preparing for the festival each year. As part of their preparation for the festival, Spahić and his staff visit embassies in Sarajevo. Funding requests were almost always dismissed. However, they were almost always met with the suggestion that the embassy invite musicians from their respective countries. To generalize, embassies offered to pay for transporting artists and musicians to Sarajevo. The Sarajevska Zima Festival programs between 1997 and 2010 reflect this reliance on embassy funds. This is not to say that audiences did not enjoy some of the international concerts and exhibitions. “A Zagreb” or “A Paris”: Where Are We Anyway? If you maintain a system without local criteria you will “produce tuxedo events,” you know … receptions and invitations and red carpets. It’s horrible. At my festival you can wear jeans and come sit on the floor and you can do anything you like. (Zubčević 2006a, interview with author) As part of my research for this paper, I attended many of the Sarajevska Zima Festival performances between 2005 and 2007. Because I had previously met Spahić in 2007, he offered me invitations to events he thought I might enjoy. I was excited to receive the nicely printed invitations, but confused about why I needed invitations for free events. On February 16th, I attended a concert which was part of the Sarajevska Zima Festival titled “Carmen & David Duo (Canada)” in the festival program. In preparation for the concert, I had learned that the jazz guitarist David Jacques and jazz standards 117 singer Carmen Genest were from Quebec City.108 The concert took place in the newly refurbished performance hall called Dom Mladih (Youth House) and as I walked into the hall, I noticed that the first ten rows of the small amphitheater style hall had been reserved for embassy staff and VIPs. At Sarajevska Zima Festival events, I had become accustomed to seeing seats blocked off for VIPs. As was common, even after the concert began, only a few of the VIP seats were filled, only emphasizing the importance of a foreign hierarchy as all other guests were forced to sit or stand far from the stage. Before the musicians appeared, Spahić lavished the obligatory praise upon the sponsor of the event, who in this case was the Canadian ambassador. Beginning events with appreciative speeches was common at the Sarajevska Zima Festival and other foreign funded events. As the concert began, the walls, where psychedelic images might be projected during a rock concert, were covered with Canadian flags. The flags literally wrapped the stage in red and white. For one of their selections, the singer introduced the jazz standard “A Paris” (in Paris) and then in a nervous afterthought, the guitarist added “A Zagreb” as a way of including the audience. A silence followed his joke as the audience realized that he did not know that he was in Sarajevo and not Zagreb. For many Sarajevans in the audience it seemed impossible that someone could mistake their city for the capital of Croatia. At this moment, the excitement of the event seemed to vanish from the room. The gift Spahić had just thanked the ambassador for no longer seemed as special. It was as if the musicians might have performed in Zagreb or some other city. As explained by anthropologists “genres of performance are … both fundamentally 108 For an announcement of the concert see: http://www.efa- aef.eu/fr/festivals/calendar/event/22157/Concert%2c%20Carmen%20%20and%20%20David%20Duo%20 %28Canada%29/?-session=s:B24D15A11b77e257ABNTxV939CB9, as well as the musician’s website: http://www.davidjacques.com. 118 interactive and inherently risky. There is always something aesthetically and/or practically at stake in them, and something can always go wrong” (Schieffelin 1996, 60). In her writings about the politics of music, anthropologist Kelly Askew has also noted the “tenuousness of performance – its susceptibility to modification, unrehearsed action, unanticipated response and the contingencies of everyday life – renders it a powerful social force” (Askew 2002, 5). At this moment in the concert, a small failure to remember which city they were in had made a larger statement of seeming disregard to the city and its tumultuous history. To be fair, it is common for musical groups on long tours to forget in which city they are performing. It was an understandable mistake. Many foreign embassies hire musicians to tour throughout regions of the world as package tours for their governments. For most musicians visiting from outside Europe, Bosnia is relatively unknown even geographically. It is common for musicians to know little or nothing about the place they are visiting. The US has a cultural diplomacy tour project like this called “The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad.” In 2010, “ten American hip-hop, gospel, bluegrass, blues and jazz groups will have traveled to more than 40 countries performing public concerts and conducting master classes and workshops.”109 Projects like this highlight the “top-down” model of embassy events and problems with the importation of culture as foreign funded performances rarely have local appeal. The Canadian duo Carmen & David performed well, but they lacked a connection with the audience. People I spoke with after the concert expressed mediocre satisfaction with the Bosnian phrase tako, tako meaning “so, so.” Music does not always need context for it to be efficacious, but in a 109 See US State Department website: http://exchanges.state.gov/cultural/rhythm.html. 119 post-conflict environment, audiences hope that performers will at least know something about them. After the concert, I attended the invitation-only reception that was populated primarily by foreigners and a few chosen local organizers and politicians. As guests schmoozed over wine and food bought by Canadian dollars, the ambassador walked around and asked guests if they thought the concert was worth funding. He said that he was not sure if such events were helpful and wondered if he would fund another group the following year. A friend of mine who was working at the festival and acted as the guide for the musicians later expressed her shock at finding that the musicians “didn’t even know who Tito was.”110 Although it is by no means a requirement that visiting musicians know about the history of the cities they visit, for my friend this realization impacted her view of Canada and its citizens. This is just a small example of the pitfalls of cultural diplomacy abroad. It is difficult to gauge how effective this concert was for the Canadian Embassy. The flags alone must have made an impact on many people at the concert. The concert did introduce the duo to the Sarajevo audience, although according to their website they have not visited the city again, but they did visit Zagreb the following year. As with most countries, Canada’s cultural policy includes a statement that defines cultural diplomacy. “Canada's cultural diplomacy is intended to help improve professional opportunities for Canadian artists and to facilitate, along with other members of the cultural community, a 110 Because of her ongoing involvement in cultural projects in Sarajevo, my friend asked me not to reveal her identity. 120 place for Canada in the mainstream of international artistic excellence.”111 To me it is clear that the concert was consistent with efforts to promote Canadian musicians. Baščaršije noči Festival In the summer of 2002, I attended a performance that was part of the Baščaršije noči Festival. Like Sarajevska Zima Festival, the Baščaršije noči Festival112 was organized after the war and is very similar to a festival held before the war called Days of Baščaršija (Dani Baščaršije). It is organized by the Sarajevo Art Agency, which was a state agency before the war and is now a commercial agency used by the government as a kind of contractor for events. Similar to the Sarajevska Zima Festival, before the war its events were almost completely national in character. Consistent with my findings that Sarajevska Zima Festival has relied heavily on embassy funds, Halid Kuburović, the director of Baščaršije noči, commented: Well it’s very common that while you’re organizing an international festival with performers, groups, orchestras, soloists from abroad and the whole world to cooperate with certain organizations. For example we work with foreign embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They help us in a way that artist from their countries come to Sarajevo. It’s even bigger help if they pay travelling expenses to those artists or give them some kind of honorarium. This year we got more than 300 requests and ideas from embassies and musicians. So we said “it’s really great for you to come. We’re interested in your performance, your arts, etc. but we don’t have money to pay your travelling expenses or any kind of honorarium.” We always try to find a solution. I contact the embassies, in the case of the United States that’s the Office of Public Affairs, and ask them for support. Usually they bring someone in for Independence Day or something like that so Embassy gave financial support. They found sponsor to pay for their travel expenses and they managed to organize themselves. Then embassies pay for the event venue, a theater or something, which means that they needed about 1500 KM to pay for this venue for rehearsals, performance … that’s one whole day, right. They need 111 From the “Canadian Country Public Policy” entry from Compendium – Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/canada.php?aid=242. 112 I have written more extensively about this festival, and specific events, in my master’s paper, see Haskell 2003. 121 to hire some people since it’s summer, some technical support, lights, sound system and everything that is needed. Embassy paid for all of that directly. So we end up making everything possible through cooperation with someone. That’s how Italians brought one band, Rafaelo Simeoni, it took place July 2nd. Then we had Turkey, etc. (Kuburović 2006, interview with author) When I first wrote about the Baščaršije noči Festival, I was focused on what I understood as a duality between grassroots cultural projects, on one hand, and on the other hand those I termed “top-down.” I was concerned with the power international donors wielded in the post-war environment. I worried that international funders were impacting what had been, before the war, more domestically oriented performances. After several years of living in Sarajevo and more conversations with Kuburović, however, I have come to understand the relationships between embassies and local organizers as less simplistic and more dynamic. Unlike Spahić, Kuburović was employed by the state before the war. After the war, he was well positioned politically to receive state support for his events. The Baščaršije noči Festival might not have taken on such an international character had the Dayton Agreement or a Bosnian cultural policy document allocated cultural funds to existing institution such as Kuburović’s Sarajevo Art Agency. In the case of Spahić, his focus is on continuing to produce a large, long, and visible cultural event every year. His cultural profile in the city feeds his political persona. And although I have no doubt that he is fully committed to bettering the cultural environment in the city, maintaining the Sarajevska Zima Festival as it was before the war often takes precedent over concerns that his festival is dominated by foreign performances. In many cases, cultural organizers in Sarajevo, such as Spahić and Kuburović, are attempting to create a sense of continuity in their own careers and festival organizations 122 by holding on to power they established before the war. The long-term problems created by festivals that rely primarily on ad hoc embassy funding are the result of both local and foreign parties. In particular, the shift from local folkloric performances before the war to international ones more recently, may also be the result of a regional shift away from conceptions of ethnic identity so well defined in the socialist era. In one interview with Spahić, he described the connection between the Sarajevo Cantonal Ministry of Culture and the Baščaršije noči with some indignation. His frustration was born out of the fact that over the last few years, Sarajevo Art Agency has been able to combine support from the Ministry of Culture and embassy funds to put on the festival, while Spahić has been largely limited to embassy and EU funds. Spahić: For example, they organized Baščaršijske noći on their own. So, the Ministry invented an agency and they make programs in the Ministry of Culture in the canton. It’s basically their own agency. And when they have something on mind they say: “Do this, make it like this.” EH: But this organization was a part of the previous system right? Have they just changed the name? Spahić: Yes. The name of that organization was Koncertne agencije (Concert Agency). For example as far as relations between me and the Concert Agency, I was the chairman of the festival, and the agency was doing professional organization. It was a part of the government, every republic had its own concert agency. (Spahić 2005, interview with author) Both Spahić and Kuburović share a reliance on embassy funds that impacts the kinds of events they organize, and they readily admit that these donors are essential to their festivals. Kuburović offered the following statement about the sensitivity of working with embassies and the downfalls of such an ad hoc system. Now it’s usual for us [to depend on embassy funds]. It’s very common to have cooperation with some embassy but you also expect this cooperation may not work at some point, when a new representative arrives. We are working this year 123 and then the next year we don’t have support. Or for example we have two programs this year and the next two or three years we don’t have anything. It’s all continuing but spontaneous at the same time, you know. Basically we don’t have any rights to funding. You know, if they like me that year and we have the right connection then maybe we will get support. It [funding] depends on a lot of things. This group fought a lot. They have their interest in this. Their interest would be ideal. You know, it would be ideal if we could ask them if they have artist to send and we’ll pay for everything. You’re welcome. That would be ideal way of cooperation. Then we could choose musicians we liked, that might be interesting for Sarajevans. For example we have continuing and very good cooperation with Goethe Institute in Sarajevo and the German Embassy. With Americans we have cooperation regarding some other thing but then when we had a little break, it’s already a little bit.…Well it depends on people, personalities and subjectivity of the person working there. (Kuburović 2006, interview with author) Corruption in the Cultural Realm Many Bosnian citizens have made claims in the media, and to me personally, that the festival system, and more generally the cultural sector, is infected with corruption and money laundering. Local cultural officials have also been the target of corruption complaints. Such claims have undermined some positive features of festivals such as gathering people together, possible reconciliation, and foreign-local exchange. They have also put into question the use of foreign monies for cultural events. In 2006, Emir Nuhanović, clarinetist and the long-time conductor of the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra, became the target of corruption complaints in the festival scene of Sarajevo. Along with several high-power local politicians, Nuhanović organized the World Oriental Music Festival with the unfortunate acronym WOMF. The first program for the multi-day event which was to take place in Zetra stadium, included musicians from throughout the Middle East. In their announcement of the upcoming event, Nuhanović and the appointed director of the festival, Mensura Brdara, likened the festival 124 in size and attendance to the Sarajevo Olympics of 1984 and the Sarajevo Film Festival. “However, WOMF turned into one of the biggest cultural debacles and examples of the opaque process and needlessly spent money from the Federation of BiH (Bosna i Herzegovina) and Sarajevo Canton and taxpayers’ money!”113 Faruk Borić, who broke the story that later made the front page of many of the local newspapers, claimed that Nuhanović and Brdara had travelled throughout the Middle East and Asia on a government sponsored trip. On the trip they were alleged to have asked key cultural figures to send musicians to Bosnia as well asking for financial support for the WOMF Festival. Boric claims that WOMF’s organizers used the names of several local politicians who later denied any involvement in the event.114 When WOMF actually took place, it was only a one-day festival with far fewer performers than the organizers had originally suggested. From the incriminating evidence found by requests from the ombudsman, the journalist claimed that the “public institution of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra was maintaining a separate budget, one of private business arrangements and international favors (ibid.).” The festival was dubbed “a spectacle” and “the biggest cultural debacle.” Scandal followed Nuhanović a year later when former violinist and concertmaster of the Sarajevo Symphony, Siniša Marković, claimed that the conductor had been siphoning off the group’s income and international donations through musicians’ bank accounts. After his resignation, Marković claimed that members of the orchestra would receive payments through their accounts and then be required to withdraw the money and give it back to the symphony’s coffers. He explained to me that, 113 From Dani Magazine article by Faruk Borić titled “Chasing Orchestrated or Directed Crime,” January 18, 2006. 114 Those included in the accusation were the Minister of Culture and Sport (Ivica Saric), The Minister of Science Education (Emir Turkusić), as well as the Minister of Culture and Sport of the Federation (Gavrilo Grahovać), Hasan Muratović, Haris Silajdzić, and even Enes Karić. 125 Nuhanović is on the road to destroy the musical quality of the orchestra because of our program of events … [we play] for banks, insurance companies and whatever companies from which musicians usually only saw crumbs or not even that. That kind of agony in the orchestra has been there since the end of the war while at the same time the files of Nuhanović, who was a professor of clarinet and on the list of the JNA, until 1992 and a person who used to only own a small garsonier, during only several years of artistic engagement in the orchestra suddenly gets great deal of financial success. (Marković 2007, interview with author) In our conversation, Marković also claimed that Nuhanović took advantage of musicians in the symphony by asking them to perform for free on several occasions. If they were unwilling to meet these requests, musicians were promptly fired from their positions. Marković’s claims have been largely substantiated through investigations into Nuhanović’s personal records. It seems that, in addition to Marković’s claims, members of the conductor’s family were on the symphony payroll and bills for travel to gather funds for the WOMF Festival were under his son’s name. It is clear to me that corruption in the field of culture, and specifically festivals, is not only the failing of individuals. In the post-war environment, an opaque ad hoc system for funding cultural events has been created with the joint efforts of locals and foreigners. For me, Marković’s final plea in our interview was most salient. Each citizen, especially me, should have the right to see where the money goes, its not possible that during the daily working day to work for the ballet, the orchestra, the opera, and everything at the same time. At the same time we are missing tens of thousands of KM, the business agreements protected as a secret. All of that should be show in a public budget report and if not it ends in the pockets on unknown. (Ibid.) Publicized examples of corruption in the cultural realm, such as that above, have led many critics to assume that other festival directors may also be engaging in corrupt activity. As noted previously in this work, corruption and black market activity is part of everyday life in the city. 126 Criticisms of the Festival Model: The Cultural Mafia et al. As was the case with WOMF, a major complaint launched against internationally funded festivals is that the Bosnian organizers are corrupt. Spahić’s dual role in Sarajevo as a festival organizer and politician has placed him at the center of a group of men some call the “cultural mafia,”115 who run the most visible cultural institutions in the city (namely festivals, National Symphony, National Theater, Music Academy, National Museum, etc.). Many citizens and journalists believe these figures have some involvement in organized crime.116 Such assumptions have gained more traction as accusations (the Siniša Marković case, for example) by several high profile musicians have been made against local cultural leaders. Interviews with Spahić have offered insight into these allegations and caused me to ask why the cultural sector is seen by many Bosnians as a method for money laundering and thus as a worthless use of international funds. Political corruption and black and gray markets are common experiences in most Bosnians’ everyday lives so it makes sense that the cultural sector could not be independent from local economic woes or local corruption. Directors’ only mechanism for gaining annual support from embassy staff is through relationships, however long or short-term. This system offers little transparency to audiences such that many assume festival directors are benefiting personally. But there are people who are really able to manage, you know, from their connections. And one of them is this guy who runs the festival Sarajevska Zima. 115 A Sarajevan artist named Alma Fazlić first introduced this term to me. We later became close friends as she helped me with some of the research for this dissertation. 116 The phrase “cultural mafia” is also used within the US context to describe folklorists and other culture workers based in Washington, DC, in organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. This phrase my have origins in the 1980’s, during the Clinton administration, when folklorist Bill Ferris became the head of NEH while ethnomusicologist Bill Ivey headed up the NEA (Titon, personal correspondence, December 2010). 127 It has lasted for so many years and we got used to having it, every year we had that festival but now its gone from very good quality to low especially for local performers. They just mostly bring people from outside the country and who knows how much that guy makes by doing that.” (Djeka 2006, interview with author) It is difficult for me to verify claims such as these. Claims of corruption are made by citizens, journalists, and organizations at most levels of Bosnian society. When I asked one cultural organizer about corruption in the cultural sphere he simply responded: Well, there is possibility of corruption; everything has corruption at all levels. Politicians are mostly corrupt. Isn’t one president of one country corrupt in a way if he has his interest in some international relations one way or another? Life is corrupt its just that people use different styles to do that. Some are corrupted because of the way they write rules in their favor and to decide how high their salary should be. I don’t want to give any examples but embassy people often want favors. We have a lot of foreigners like that, I’m not talking about you of course. I have to, I worked with them all. I was an assistant of the federal minister for culture during one mandate, and I saw how everything goes day to day. Someone comes to visit him and while our citizen earns one KM he will earn 100 KM. That’s new colonialism, new imperialism. For sure! (Anonymous 2006, interview with author)117 The lack of transparency in the realm of cultural funding is yet another area in which internationals could have made great strides in the post-war environment. My requests for embassy budgets were met with hesitancy by embassy staff. Both Spahić and Kuburović avoided my requests for their budgets. Other than in comments from people I interviewed, I have no direct evidence of corruption within either of these festivals, as I was not privy to the festivals’ books or funding history. Nonetheless, the appearance of corruption can certainly undermine organizations’ ability to present transparent and inclusive events. 117 This interviewee asked me not to attribute the comments he made about corruption in the cultural sphere. 128 Shifting Toward Regional Representation In 2009, the Sarajevo Film Festival made a major shift in their programming to include and actually highlight films produced in the region of Southeastern Europe. The festival now includes a professional development element aimed to help local filmmakers present their work, called “Regional Forum,” as well as a regional competition that honors one film from the region a year. The Sarajevo Film Festival website includes the following description: Today, we are proud to say that Sarajevo Film Festival represents the main meeting place for all regional producers and authors and is recognized by film professionals from all over the world as the pinnacle point for networking for all wishing to learn more about the possibilities this region has to offer.118 From its founding after the war, the Film Festival had always included films made in Bosnia during the war, although bigger budget Hollywood and European films were always shown on the largest screens where they drew large audiences. Like the Sarajevska Zima Festival after the war, the Film Festival’s original focus had been on screening international content, directly in line with the “bring the world to the capital” model. Similarly, the Jazz Festival (run by Edin Zubčević) now includes diaspora musicians originally from the region as well as jazz musicians from Belgrade, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and other neighboring cities. Aida Kalendar believes that these decisions are not only positive for developing a strong cultural scene in Bosnia, but also a strategic decision that will pay off in terms of funding in the future. There is an obsession with kind of bringing outside culture into the city. This is the approach. We bring, you know, the world to Sarajevo in seven days, So, you feel special during this week and then, the week after that you feel really miserable ... because nothing is left behind. So, that is the concept. Although for example, Sarajevo Film Festival they realized quickly … this problem. And now they are somehow trying to profile themselves as a regional film festival. They 118 From the festival website: http://www.sff.ba/en/festival_2009?site=sff. 129 now put stress on their regional program. That is their most important program where they bring local authors and filmmakers from the region, the Balkan region. And I think that is really good strategic step to profile themselves apart from thousands, hundreds of thousands festivals that exist in the world, in Europe. Plus they can raise money for that focus. (Kalendar 2006, interview with author) Embassy support has created a highly volatile ad hoc system that favors inviting musicians from outside the country. As illustrated by shifts in the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Jazz Festival, the ad hoc system of embassy funding as the prime source of support is changing slowly. As noted earlier, unfortunately, one of the long lasting impacts of embassy support and the Dayton Agreement is that the Federation has not had to address its own cultural policy. Since the war, with heavy support from the international community, the city has maintained some level of cultural activity. In the case of domestic festivals funded partially or completely by embassies, festival directors have found it difficult to maintain the local character of performances. Urban Excess – Rural Marginalization Before the war, locally and nationally funded music festivals took place in urban centers as well as towns and villages throughout the region. Noting the urban emphasis of much of the humanitarian aid, as well as cultural efforts, is important within the scheme of post-war national policy as it highlights the shift from Yugoslav policy to post-war ad hoc policy. These socialist supported national-in-character festivals have been overshadowed and replaced with a more centralized urban festival tradition. Foreign donors who subsidize the global orientation of these festivals aim to decentralize the everyday ethnic tensions they imagine may be present among festival attendees. By featuring international performers and musical traditions that are oriented towards the 130 global, donors attempt to defuse attention placed on linguistic and cultural differences by highlighting cultural expressions that are seemingly neutral with regard to audience members. From the position of foreign sponsors, it is a foregone conclusion that the de- emphasis of difference, be it ethnic, cultural, or religious, is a politically safe strategy. However, cultural expression is never neutral and audience members draw different interpretations from the programming than intended by the festival organizers. Many foreign sponsors identify ethnic and religious performances with social divisions so evident during the conflict. As both directors have explained, year to year embassy support changes. Unreliable international funding allotments take on the characteristics of gifts, which some organizers feel must be reciprocated with corresponding offerings of VIP seats, invitations, and receptions. I believe that such exchanges are unbalanced and, in the end, detrimental to the goals of both the funders, who aim at cultural diplomacy, and the festivals that seek to organize viable and well-constructed events. Based on my question about the effect of embassy support, one of the Sarajevska Zima Festival’s staff explained to me her frustration with the quality of the festival, especially in terms of the overall notion or theory behind the event: “So, in a sense Sarajevska Zima is … well, its not a good festival anymore. Sometimes you have really good programs but … the concept for the whole festival doesn’t exist” (Sarajevska Zima Festival staff member 2006b, interview with author).119 A Bosnian musician from Banja Luka who had attended the Sarajevska Zima Festival on several occasions echoes the staff member’s thoughts: 119 This staff member asked me not to include her name in my dissertation as she still maintains a position within Sarajevo’s cultural sphere. 131 “Nobody thought of the overall picture of the festival, its just made up of what the foreigners will give. It’s sad” (Djeka 2006, interview with author). Several people I spoke with suggested, as the director of a local record label and the Sarajevo Jazz Festival Edin Zubčević did, that towns and villages outside of Sarajevo would benefit from festivals, especially if they offered platforms for local musicians to perform. Aida Čengić of Pro Helvetia120 commented on her organization’s efforts to fund festivals in towns. Yeah, we also do festival funding, but not so much in the capital. No, but.... What we try to do, and that's my second point.… In small towns ... perhaps it's ... it's easier. During the summer we get so many different applications of the festivals. Different kinds. Youth festivals, this festival, that festival. So we help to bring local musicians to smaller towns to that people have sense of what is happening around the country. For small community, smaller towns and communities I really don't see that much chance to see anything else except when there is a festival. (Čengić 2006, interview with author) The focus of this discussion has been on Sarajevo’s cultural sphere. Many large cities in Bosnia receive much less foreign and domestic funding than Sarajevo. As the epicenter of the international community and the location of embassies, the same issues addressed here do not exist to such an extent in other locales. For this reason, almost everyone I spoke with expressed their interest that towns and villages receive more cultural support. The Alluring Red Carpet Another recurring complaint about festivals is that they only happen once a year, without trying to forge any ongoing activities throughout the year. In the following quotation, Edin Zubčević, director of the Sarajevo Jazz Festival and founder of Gramofon 120 Aida Čengić and the Swiss donor Pro Helvetia are central to the case study in Chapter Six: Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engagement. 132 Records, also complains about the trend of “dressing up” events with red carpets and receptions. One of the problems is this festivalization of culture, which somehow creates very fancy events only in one period of the year, and then nothing in between. So, for me it would be much more important to somehow invest in the regular programming at some cultural spaces throughout the year. So, it would somehow create much better ambient, cultural atmosphere, climate. (Zubčević 2006b, interview with author) The elaborate elements of some festivals lead some citizens to question how and why money is spent. An artist friend of mine who later assisted me in my research for this dissertation spoke nostalgically with me about the first exhibition of conceptual art which took place in the original National Gallery exhibit hall. Alma Fazlić’s exhibition was funded by the Soros Open Society Fund (through the Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art). It is worth mentioning her conceptual piece because, even in 2001, artists such as Fazlić were already forecasting the limitations of cultural development aid. She regaled me with stories about what an honor it had been for her (and the group/generation of artists to which she belonged) to be invited to exhibit in the newly renovated gallery. The facade of the building, which was funded by the Swiss in exchange for an exhibition hall on the top floor, was one of the first to be finished in that part of the city. At the time, the clean yellow and white paint of the Austro-Hungarian building glowed in comparison to the dour buildings around it. Just after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord, Fazlić spent weeks looking for the largest swath of red fabric or carpet she could find. For once in her life, money was not a limiting factor as George Soros had agreed to cover all of the costs associated with her exhibition. When visitors walked through the doors of the new facade, they entered on a red carpet that ran the length of the hall, but then climbed vertically straight up the wall, a vision of the luxurious path paved (rolled out) by 133 foreigners and the impossible climb it recommended. In telling me the story, Fazlić explained to me her shock at the opposition she faced when she proposed the plan to the director of SCCA. Dunja Blažević found Fazlić’s proposal cynical and not appreciative of the “gift” of the honor of the exhibition. To a young Fazlić, it represented an opportunity to tell the truth without the confines of post-war Sarajevo. She had spent the foreign money given to her lavishly on the highest quality carpet she could find, just as she saw Soros spend on the program booklet, or the Swiss on the facade. The impossible climb up the red carpet represented the ridiculousness, and yes, cynicism that she and her generation felt at the possibility that anyone could ever climb the red carpet. “What we needed was a ladder, a simple one, with wide steps. Carpets are slippery and impossible to climb vertically” (Fazlić, personal communication). Beyond the general disregard for everyday people’s interest in the concert, there are additional ramifications for international concerts and events funded by foreign donors. Although the performance was relatively unimpressive by local standards, it was highly publicized, especially in poster form. For most Bosnians, the excessive use of money on a seemingly below par performance seems wasteful and has led many to question the legitimacy of such performances. In conclusion, funding for the Sarajevo Zima Festival, Baščaršije noči, and other festivals has been largely based upon multiple embassies’ support, as well as some minimal governmental support. Some cultural organizers, included here, have faced the transition from the pre-war to the post-war system by attempting to maintain the consistency of their festivals. Immediately after the war, foreign ad hoc funding, mostly through embassies, was the most accessible source of cultural funding. Because limited 134 provisions were established in the Dayton Accords for state support of culture, some festival directors sought financial and material support through embassies. Embassies have an active role in choosing which of their (national) musicians or groups perform in festivals. Most embassies seek to promote music from their respective countries, as an extension of cultural diplomacy, by importing individuals or groups of musicians from their respective countries. From my interviews and conversations with cultural organizers, it seems clear that support from embassies in the city will always exist at such a high level and that once Bosnia has developed a cultural policy, local institutions and government funds may take over much of the responsibility for supporting festivals. Unreliable embassy funding has meant that festival organizers have found it difficult to remain connected to local taste as they are required to be attuned to international funders’ goals. I have to say that I believe that all those projects that cost over a million of KM for our situation are mega projects and a huge problem. That does not mean that we do not need festivals. We need them and they will remain, but if you sum up the expenditures of those festivals, you have spent all of our budgets. The situation we live in, when there is a lack of funds for pensions or salaries, it is difficult to offer a serious product in the area of culture.” (Ivan Lovrenović)121 Perhaps the final question is how embassy funds might have been used to establish long-term institutions rather than one-time events that might contribute to Sarajevo’s cultural life throughout the year. In the last several years, a few embassies have opened cultural centers. They vary greatly in their goals and efforts. The British Council runs a large multi-level center complete with an extensive library. They offer English classes and have cooperative relationships with testing agencies so that Bosnian students can enter into exchanges with 121 From the Dani Magazine article “How Is Culture Financed; Poor spirituality” by Vedran Seksan, November 8, 2001. 135 British universities. In my opinion, the Turkish Cultural Center is one of the most modern and interesting buildings in Sarajevo today. They too have a library and reading room, as well as a mosaic-decorated café that looks out across the city where one can order Turkish tea. The cultural and education arm of the German Embassy, the Goethe Institute, maintains a small center near Baščaršija where students take German classes. The Americans have chosen not to base their cultural activities solely in Sarajevo. Instead they have cordoned off rooms in existing public libraries and filled them with English language books by embassy staff. These rooms are called American Cultural Corners. The Iranian Embassy has rented a small storefront on the Ferhadija in the center of town where they display religious texts. Seeing investment into the infrastructure of the city is inspiring. Unlike one-time events, cultural centers offer Bosnians the opportunity to engage in educational and cultural exchange year-round. Perhaps most importantly, the centers reinforce their claim of being interested in Bosnia’s development and role in the world. During my research, limited year-round arts funding was dispersed by the Federal Minister of Culture Gavrilo Grahovac. With little transparency, such as open calls for grant applications, Grahovac has overseen the funds. As noted in other parts of this work, Grahovac’s office was unwilling to schedule a meeting with me to discuss the details of arts funding, although based on my interviews and local media reports, a large majority of the funds are granted to Sarajevo Arts (the cultural institution that funds Baščaršije noči Festival, as well as the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Sarajevo Orchestra). Sarajevo Arts is also responsible for publishing the monthly calendar of cultural events and listing of cultural institutions. The program, which during the time of research was taken up by a lengthy listing of 136 embassies, is available to Sarajevo’s visitors in the local tourist agency. Missing from such a granting scheme is the possibility for less known or established groups to achieve basic operating costs. My tendency is to hope that had there been a more substantial pot from which to draw, Grahovac might have turned his attention to dispersing funds in a more transparent manner. The point here is that the administrative structure created by the Dayton Agreement left local cultural officials with little reason or incentive to present fair funding practices including open and fair applications. 137 Remnants of a Radio Mir Poster122 Chapter Five PSY(P)OP: Radio Peace, NATO, Psychological Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina I first became aware of Radio Mir not in the usual way one might be introduced to a station, by hearing it on the air, but rather when I saw a large billboard advertisement on Marsala Tito Street,123 the main and largest street in Sarajevo in the summer of 2005. Despite the post-war political transition, the street continues to be called Titova for short. The billboard showed a pretty, stylized cartoon woman looking over her glasses. I knew that in Bosnian mir meant peace but only later did I find that Mir was also an acronym for 122 Photo by author, 2006. 123 Named after Josip Broz Tito the leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980. The street is affectionately known as “Titova Street” (the diminutive of the name Tito). It is also informally referred to by its wartime name “Sniper Alley” because it was lined with Serbian snipers’ posts, and was one of the most dangerous streets for civilians to traverse. 138 “Music and Information Radio.”124 As cars sped by me, I remember being confused by the massive, seemingly anti-local slogan on the billboard that read “Radio Mir, no folk music, only the best music.” I wondered why the exclusion of folk music and the concept of peace were being billed together. It was only when I walked up close to the board, read the small print “SFOR” and noticed the military logo next to it, that I realized the station was funded by the Stabilization Force in Bosnia (SFOR), the multinational peacekeeping force that was responsible for maintaining the peace brokered by the Dayton Peace Accord. This billboard was, by far, the largest and most prominently placed radio advertisement I had ever seen in Bosnia. There on the sidewalk a wave of questions came to mind. What did Radio Mir broadcasts sound like? Why was SFOR making aesthetic comments about the exclusion of folk music and what did they mean by this term? In the difficult post-war funding climate in which most cultural institutions were having trouble maintaining their staff and facilities, this billboard stood out as a brazen testament to foreign economic power. Who was the audience for this station: Bosnians or foreigners? If the former was the case, why was the foreign military advertising to the general Bosnian public with an external radio station? If Radio Mir avoided folk music then what did they play? How had members of the foreign military determined not only which music was the “best music,” but also how was “peacefulness” broadcast by the music they chose, as the name of the station hinted? 124 There are actually two radio stations by the name of Radio Mir in Bosnia. The other station is based in the famed religious town of Medjugorje in Herzegovina, close to the Croatian border, which is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world. In 1981, six children are said to have experienced numerous apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The station’s use of the word mir may have been drawn from Mary’s label as the Queen of Peace. For many, Radio Mir is a misnomer, as it only broadcasts spiritual programming in a political climate in which religion has been used to divide communities. Medjugorje’s importance to Catholics, and proximity to the border, meant that during the late 1990s, non-Catholics were expelled from the area and it was the site of violent conflict. For more on the religious site see Mart Bax, “The Madonna of Medjugorje: Religious Rivalry and the Formation of a Devotional Movement in Yugoslavia,” Anthropological Quarterly 63(2) (1990): 63-75. 139 Was there such a thing as music for peace? John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” came to mind, but then I cast it out as being rather irrelevant to the Bosnian case. When I later tuned into Radio Mir, I heard American and European pop music, interspersed with bits of news in English and Bosnian and public service announcements advising listeners about post-war issues such as turning in their weapons, being aware of landmines, and reconciling with their neighbors. The broadcast was strong from my apartment in the center of the city, and I later found out that the station had stronger frequency than any other station in the country.125 The short two-minute announcements or messages expressed SFOR’s political, social, or military objectives of the month. On first listening, the station sounded like any popular music station I had heard in the United States or Europe. Unlike Bosnian stations, there seemed to be a prohibition of local music in the hours when I tuned in. I could only tell that Radio Mir was a peacekeeping station if I listened carefully for taglines at the end of news and music programs. The production level of the station’s broadcasts was high, with clean transitions and professional sounding news and public service announcements. As is common on local stations, there were a few call-in shows where Radio Mir DJs played requested songs and pre-recorded dedications. I counted thirteen news updates a day, starting at 7:00 am and running until 7:00 pm, but there were so many public service announcements that I did not count them. Radio Mir’s local news covered a number of regional events which had been the result of international involvement or reform, in a positive manner. I heard reports about the signing of a political agreement for the return of refugees, preparations for the summer children’s festival, and the qualifications of the 125 In my interviews with managers of other stations, Radio Mir was often mentioned as having the most powerful frequencies in the country. One manager, who asked that I not quote him directly, told me that he suspected Radio Mir had gotten first dibs of frequencies after the war, which he regarded as unfair. 140 new high representative who would govern the country. I noted that there was also a scattering of international news that seemed to focus on more celebrity happenings than world events. Radio call-in shows and discussions often revolved around ways in which Bosnian institutions (especially those that related to the youth demographic such as educational institutions) should and could improve in the future. I later learned that Radio Mir was produced and broadcast by the Psychological Operations arm of the NATO peacekeeping forces. As defined by the US Department of Defense, Psychological Operations are Planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of psychological operations is to induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the originator’s objectives. (“Psychological Operations,” The Information Warfare Site, http://www.iwar.org.uk/psyops) Perhaps the most common PSYOPS activity referred to in historical accounts is the dropping of leaflets to notify civilians and troops of the intentions of an occupying power. In 1920, a British military analyst and historian, J. F. C. Fuller, is believed to have been the first to coin the term “psychological warfare” in a scholarly analysis of lessons learned during World War I. While musing about the future character of the battlefield in a treatise on military tanks, he asked if someday traditional means of warfare might be “replaced by a purely psychological warfare, wherein weapons are not used or battlefields sought … but [rather] … the corruption of the human reason, the dimming of the human intellect, and the disintegration of the moral and spiritual life of one nation by the influence of the will of another is accomplished.”126 126 J. F. C. Fuller, Tanks in the Great War, 1914-1918 (London: Murray, 1920), 320. 141 Although he is believed to have been the first to record the phrase, I was unable to find a direct connection between his use of the term and a pervasive adoption of it by Americans on the eve of World War II. However, the British did not embrace the term to describe what both they, and the Americans, hesitated to portray as propaganda operations. They instead adopted for the term “political warfare” to describe those activities that Americans came to identify as psychological warfare or PsyWar. One of the earliest recorded uses of the term “psychological warfare” in an American publication can be found in an article titled “Psychological Warfare and How to Wage It,” published in January of 1940.127 In 1945, Captain (later Real Admiral) Ellis M. Zacharias of the US Navy employed the term “psychological operations” in an operation plan designed to hasten the surrender of Japan. Unfortunately, the term is used without any explanation or description, “All psychological operations will be coordinated both as to times and trends in order to avoid reduction of effectiveness of this main operation.”128 By 1951, the Truman Administration had renamed an inter-agency strategy committee as the “Psychological Operations Coordinating Committee.” It seems that neither of these uses of the term “psychological operations” elicited much reaction. It was not until the 1960s that “psychological operations” came to be replaced by “psychological warfare” as the all-inclusive term.129 By the late 1960s, the United States military was engaged in 127 Anonymous, “Psychological Warfare and How To Wage It,” Current History and Forum, LI (January 1940): 52-53. 128 Ellis M. Zacharias, Capt. USN., Secret Missions: The Story of an Intelligence Officer (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1946), 345. 129 Ronald De McLaurin, Carl F. Rosenthal and Sarah A. Skillings, The Art and Science of Psychological Operations: Case Studies of Military Application, vol. 1. (Washington, DC: US Department of the Army, 1976). 142 widespread use of psychological operations in Indochina, and the psychological objective of military assistance and civic action, for example, was more fully stressed. Holt and van de Velde chart the beginning of psychological manipulations by the military from the moment at which the US gained world dominance in World War II. Early operations were focused not on music, but rather on air-dropping propaganda leaflets to notify people about the (good) intentions of US troops. Perhaps the most famous use of music for torture rather than propaganda by the branch of American PSYOPS was in the agitation of Manuel Noriega by playing American hard rock music in an attempt to oust him from his residence in Panama in the late 1980s.130 The term “psychological operations” may elicit scenes of torture, skies full of fliers announcing occupation, or (most recently in Iraq) media propaganda. However, according to Chuck Payne, a PSYOPS officer, the US section of PSYOPS is concerned with “the dissemination of truthful information to foreign audiences in support of US policy and national objectives.”131 While most PSYOPS efforts involved spreading information about invading or liberating forces, “information” is sometimes a pseudonym for propaganda. When PSYOPS messages are peaceful in nature, unlike in the case of Noriega, their delivery inevitably represents an inconsistency, as soldiers and generals disseminate messages of peace while dressed in military garb holding weapons. An example of such a situation was recounted to me by a friend when she described a SFOR tank that drove 130 Ronald H. Cole, “Grenada, Panama, and Haiti: Joint Operational Reform,” Joint Force Quarterly (Autumn/Winter 1998-99) 20: 57-64, http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/1220.pdf. 131 Testimony of General Bryan D. Brown, US Army, commander of the US Special Operations Command, before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services. Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats And Capabilities, regarding the special-operations command budget request for fiscal year 2005, March 11, 2004, (cited in Col. Chris Boyd, “The Future of MISO,” Special Warfare (January/February 2011) 24(1): 22-29). 143 through Sarajevo’s bullet-pocked Grbavica suburb blasting the Beatles song “Imagine” while soldiers with guns threw candy to Bosnian children on the streets. As a result of a lack of wartime regulations on radio stations and a heightened interest in broadcasting nationalist/factional opinions during the war, the radio climate in Sarajevo was rather competitive following the war. Nationalist sentiments from both sides were broadcast from more than 300 stations, some of which were fledgling stations set up in people’s basements or even kitchens (Odabablić 2004, interview with author).132 At the time of my interview with Radio Mir staff, there were 153 legally registered stations in Bosnia (ibid.). Most of the Bosnian stations I listened to played local popular music including turbofolk, newly-composed folk music, yugo-rock, and alternative genres. Although official rankings were impossible to find, the most prominent stations at the time were Radio Sarajevo, Radio Stari Grad, eFM Studentski Radio, Federal Radio, and Radio Kalman Radio. Based on informal discussion, I found that of the private stations, Radio Stari Grad and Kalman Radio were the most popular. They both devote a large percentage of their broadcasts to the turbofolk genre. In the public radio realm, Federal Radio also broadcasts turbofolk. As I spoke to my Bosnian friends about Radio Mir, most were puzzled to hear that the peacekeeping force produced it. They had focused on the music the station broadcasted, rather than its sender. When I described my discovery about Radio Mir, that it was a tool of the psychological operations wing of the peacekeepers, they explained that they were less interested in the public service messages than in the music they heard. As with private/commercial radio stations, Radio Mir listeners patiently sat through 132 Odabablić was with the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) of Bosnia. CRA regulated all radio and other media registration and licensing for the country. 144 messages styled as advertisements about reconciliation and peace, in anticipation of the next hit. Their listening habit of disregarding advertisements did not change when they tuned in to Radio Mir. According to most media polls, Radio Mir was ranked third among Bosnians between the ages of 15 and 25. Later I learned that, in addition to their radio broadcasts, Radio Mir was involved in a number of other cultural activities. They maintained a website, organized radio parties in rural hard-line areas around the country, held a popular demo festival called Moj BiH (My Bosnia and [i] Herzegovina), and even released an album of the winning contestants. I also noticed the military logo at the bottom of pop music posters and on the back of concert programs and tickets. While most of the concerts SFOR subsidized were performed by foreign musicians visiting Bosnia,133 they also supported a few local pop musicians. Along with popular local stations such as Radio Stari Grad (Radio Old Town), eFM (Student Radio), and the famous station Radio Zid (Radio Wall)134 founded during the siege, Radio Mir could be heard in bars and taxis as well as in shops and people’s homes. In this chapter/case study I tell the story of the development, life, and death of a post-war peacekeeping radio station. I investigate the long-term impact of the peacekeeping efforts, within the division of Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), upon the cultural landscape of Sarajevo and the broader country. By looking at how Radio Mir staff used music and musical events as “message carriers” and how the audience received or did not receive these messages, we may come to understand not only the intended, but 133 In Chapter Four “Funding Festivals: Bringing the World to the Capital,” I discuss the rise of festivals funded by foreigners. 134 In Chapter Three “From Siege to Celebration: Musical Renaissance During the Siege,” I discuss Radio Zid (Radio Wall) and some of the station’s activities during the siege. 145 also unintended, consequences of the long-term presence of peacekeeping troops. Although Radio Mir may have been heard by local listeners as a cultural media institution that impacted the local radio scene by broadcasting European and American music, its foreign staff defined the station’s aims with phrases such as “winning hearts and minds” and “spreading democracy.” Within this discussion I attempt to weigh overt messages with the unintended consequences of those policies described to me in several interviews with Radio Mir staff. The first Radio Mir logo, circa 1997 The Beginnings of Radio Mir In January of 1996, Yamila Milović,135 a native of Sarajevo who had studied journalism in England, was hired by a United States colonel to run the American military radio station based in Sarajevo. The station was founded under the guise of the NATO- led multinational Implementation Force (IFOR), which had a one-year mandate.136 Its codename, Operation Joint Endeavor, explained IFOR’s effort to implement the military 135 I interviewed Milović at a particularly difficult time as EUFOR had just told her that Radio Mir would be closing. Our discussion was peppered with careful comments and evasion of my questions. It was only after the station had closed that she truly opened up to my questions. 136 IFOR’s year-long mandate, 1995-1996, was followed by the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR). SFOR became EUFOR in December of 2004. 146 annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having taken over from the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Milović’s high level of fluency in English, journalistic credentials, and intelligence placed her in the small but much coveted category of Bosnians who were highly employable by international organizations in the immediate post-war period. Some have claimed that as much as 5 percent of the local population was employed as translators and other staff by 1994.137 As discussed in other chapters, it was individual actors’ long-term commitment to foreign organizations, such as Milović’s devotion to Radio Mir, which accentuated the effectiveness and ability of these same organizations to secure funding beyond originally planned mandates. Although Milović was early in her journalistic career, she had some experience in radio. During the Sarajevo siege, she had run the UNPROFOR radio station but, when the Dayton Peace Accord was signed and the UN force was reorganized, that station ceased to exist. Destroyed Zetra Stadium where UNPROFOR was based (circa 1996) 137 For details about the large number of Bosnians employed by international organizations, see Ivana Macek, War Within: Everyday Life in Sarajevo under the Siege (Uppsala: Uppsala University Press, 2000), 98. 147 On her first morning, Milović reported to work in a large American Navy truck complete with broadcasting equipment. It was parked outside the Zetra athletic stadium, which had been the center of the Winter Olympic celebrations in 1984. Underlining the rough and impermanent circumstances of the first days of the station’s operation, she explained to me that in January of 1996: We were in the mud of the destroyed, totally destroyed and ruined, Olympic Zetra facility. And actually I brought some personal audiotapes that I had … some music … and together with the Americans … three American Navy officers … soldiers and their people, we played music and I had live programs with bits and pieces of the Dayton Peace Agreement I had translated [into Bosnian] myself. (Milović 2006a, interview with author) Radio Mir’s original target audience was the local population, although like other post-war or wartime stations, such as Voice of America, peacekeeping troops were also a part of the station’s audience. Radio Mir originally broadcast in English and Bosnian to best communicate with both audiences. However, there were additional reasons for the bilingual format. We had issues of credibility and whatnot, so we decided to have it [news and information] in the English language as well … which was a good decision at the time, because it helped us develop our credibility. At the time a lot of media outlets used to distort information, so with English people actually did believe us. It took years, of course, to develop that. (Milović 2006a, interview with author) Issues with credibility to which Milović refers stemmed from the local audience’s concern with the sheer number of new, primarily nationalist, radio stations founded during and immediately after the war. It was important to the Radio Mir staff that listeners be able to discern between local stations and Radio Mir. After a few months of broadcasting from the truck on military audio equipment, Milović and her colleagues were moved to a tent, and then downtown into sea containers which served as makeshift 148 offices and storage spaces. As peacekeeping forces decreased in the years following the siege, Radio Mir was moved to Camp Butmir, a military base located on the outskirts of Sarajevo. From 1998 to 2007, Radio Mir was based in those containers where I visited Milović and the other staff for my first interview. Trip to Camp Butmir Sarajevo Cityscape138 A journey from the city center to the SFOR military base is its own history lesson of the post-war period, highlighting political and economic transitions that resulted from the war.139 In November of 2005, I made my first visit to Camp Butmir to learn more about Radio Mir. My taxi ride took me out past rows of tall socialist-era high-rises,140 some of which had been seriously damaged during the siege. On the buildings that had 138 Photo by Trevor Haskell, 2007. 139 Butmir is also the name of the neighborhood in which the military camp is located. Beyond its recent history, Butmir is also known for archeological finds, discovered by Austro-Hungarian archeologists, that date to the Neolithic period (Donia 2006, 90). 140 In a way, traveling out to Butmir dovetails with the “walk through city/history” part of the introductory chapter, picking up where the history section left off. 149 been damaged, I could see how individual residents had patched up the holes in their walls with used bricks and other materials. Because of the changed political landscape, reconstruction efforts in formerly socialist government-owned and maintained buildings were taken on in the post-war situation by individuals and families. We drove on past the suburb of Grbavica141 and then Dobrinja, a neighborhood about two miles from the center of the city, where the front lines of the conflict were held for almost two years. This was the closest the JNA (Yugoslav National Army) came to occupying the city. There have been confirmed reports of rape, starvation, murder, and other war crimes in Grbavica during the war. As we turned from the main road, we passed the vast new concrete and marble mosque built with Saudi Arabian funds in early 2000. It cost an estimated $10 million to build, and was named by the Saudis for King Fahd Ibn Adell Aziz. It was opened in September 2000 by a Saudi prince and can accommodate some 5,000 faithful. Several friends expressed their belief that it was “the largest mosque in Europe.” Robert Donia comments, “As was the case throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, monies were liberally invested in new religious structures in the Sarajevo area.” He later notes that the aforementioned mosque “dwarfs most of the other structures in the city” (2006, 345). The story of post-war development would not be complete without stressing the impact of foreign funding for religious institutions in Bosnia. This trend has made a noticeable impact upon the architectural face of the city.142 We continued on our way past Butmir International Airport, which bears the name of the military base near it. During the siege, the airport was the single most 141 In 2006, an internationally acclaimed film was released under the name Grbavica: Land of My Dreams, directed by Jasmila Žbanić. It is filmed through the eyes of the main character Esma, who shows how everyday life is still being shaped by the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. 142 Dzenana Karup-Drusko, “Magnificent Mosques for Hungry People” (English translation of Bosnian original), Dani Magazine, 22 October 1999, http://www.ex-yupress.com/dani/dani30.html. 150 important asset for the Bosnian Army as it was the only port for bringing anything into the city, and the only escape route.143 On the far eastern side of the airport, amidst a small enclave of mostly demolished houses, sits an unassuming rebuilt house that is now home to a major war-tourism attraction. After a knock at the gate and payment of an entrance fee, tourists and others can descend into a tunnel constructed beneath the airport runway during the siege. The passageway was used to transport goods, people, and later electricity and gas to people living in Sarajevo. By a side entrance, visitors enter the small house to find a museum that chronicles, in stark nationalist tones, the tunnel’s use to supply the city in opposition to the Serb-imposed siege. Just across a small bridge from the enclave, in front of Camp Butmir, is an empty muddy parking lot. In the years immediately after the siege, this parking lot was the location of one of largest markets for pirated CDs and DVDs in the city. According to many of my Bosnian friends, the evils of piracy evidenced in this parking lot were originally introduced by foreigners doing humanitarian work and, in particular, peacekeepers.144 As I arrived at the camp, it struck me how far the station was from the city center (approximately fifteen minutes by car). While many of the popular Bosnian stations broadcast from the center of town, Radio Mir’s affiliation with the peacekeeping forces made it impossible for it to be based anywhere other than the military camp. As a result, the station was both symbolically and physically cordoned off from the rest of the city and its audience. In later discussions, Milović explained that at several points in the station’s development she had pressed the military management to move the station into the center of town but that her requests had been denied. 143 See Andreas 2008. 144 The issue of piracy after the war is addressed in Chapter 6 “Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engagement: Gramofon Records and Pro Helvetia.” 151 We used to be placed downtown, which was actually better, much more convenient for us in terms of being able to access, have quick access, to all of the press conferences or events. And to have people come visit us to do live interviews. It’s a bit difficult to have people coming in and out of the military base, with all of the signing in and signing out. (Milović 2006b, interview with author) On the phone, Milović had explained to me that in order to visit her and the station, I would be required to make an appointment two weeks in advance and to provide my passport to walk past the layers of razor wire and security doors that encircled the base. The Bulgarian soldiers who checked me through the gates when I arrived at the Butmir base seemed jovial, which, at the time, I attributed to the fact that, by 2006, Sarajevo was one of the safer places in the world to be stationed. Milović met me at the entrance and led me past the large gymnasium and mini versions of Burger King, Pizza Hut and the Italian, Spanish, and American PXs.145 As with many American and European bases around the world, businesses that might find the local economy too unstable to invest in were willing to build on bases, and indeed received some subsidy as they supplied contractors. American chain restaurants, such as those mentioned above, could only be found on the base. To me the base seemed a world unto itself. Radio Mir logo 145 Abbreviation for Post Exchange: a store at a military base that sells food, clothing, and other items, often at reduced rates. 152 As we walked up a temporary wooden ramp that led into the Radio Mir containers, Milović explained that she had organized a “meeting” in which I could meet everyone at the station. This was a surprising development in our plans. In my other interviews around Bosnia, I had found one-on-one interviews to be one of the best ways to hear people’s stories and opinions. One of the difficulties of doing ethnographic research in and about institutions was getting at people’s individual opinions. Within the work setting and surrounded by colleagues, it was often difficult for individuals to comment beyond mere restatements of their organizations’ goals. My apprehension toward this meeting grew once I entered the office. While ushering me along a narrow low-ceilinged corridor through the office, as if to prepare me for the interview, Milović explained that I would be meeting “the most important people in the branch” and by this she meant the PSYOPS branch. We walked into a small room with twelve chairs encircling a fake wood conference table set neatly with small bottled waters and paper/pen sets. This was much more formal than I had anticipated. Seconds later, I was shaking hands with several uniformed solders. Three were Austrian, two German, and two French. Milović later explained that two of the men were officers and that all of them were on short-term stints of six months to a year at Camp Butmir. These short-term commitments meant that even when soldiers had multiple deployments to Bosnia, and were able to work for PSYOPS for several years, Milović and her local Bosnian staff of three held all of the institutional memory for the station. Other than Milović, the Bosnian staff members were excluded from our meeting/interview, offering a hint as to the hierarchical nature of the office. I was, however, fortunate to meet with them briefly after speaking to the military men. 153 Although the station was structured in a hierarchical way, those with the most power (foreign staff) often ended up bowing to the local and long-term expertise of Bosnian staff members.146 147 PSYOPS EUFOR staff 146 A friend of mine who worked in another section of the Butmir base confirmed this, adding that local staff often took on the responsibility of training foreign soldiers in the skills and knowledge required for their new jobs on the base. 147 Photo from Radio Mir website. 154 148 A SFOR soldier editing audio files using ProTools for a PSYOPS message segment 149 A EUFOR soldier listens to a pre-recorded interview for possible use in a PSYOPS message 148 Ibid. 149 Ibid. 155 Message Campaigns: Selling the Message – Hearts and Minds My first questions to the cadre of soldiers concerned the music Radio Mir played and how it was chosen. Those in the room seemed more intent on talking about the goals of the station than answering my questions about their methods for achieving those goals. Milović, the only Bosnian in the room, sat quietly as one of the German soldiers explained in broken English, “We are, as I like to call, a non-lethal weapon, because we ... we are called PSYOPS. And PSYOPS only works with the mind and hearts of people. That's our message” (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author).150 The foreign military staff seemed uninterested in the station’s effect upon the local music scene, as their main concern was boosting Radio Mir’s audience so that military and public service announcements would be heard by the largest number of people. Milović explained, “You see, instead of having commercials we just have PSYOPS messages. That’s the thing we do, sell messages” (Milović 2005, interview with author). Later, in private, she compared the struggles she faced in persuading Radio Mir listeners to stay tuned to the station through PSYOPS messages with commercial radio’s task of selling products. You know it’s much easier to sell Coca Cola than to sell the Dayton Peace Agreement … you have to really make it different and interesting to have people listen and avoid people turning it off once you start broadcasting these messages. And you have to broadcast these messages to keep people who sign our paychecks [as] happy as possible, but also not lose listenership. So it’s a very tricky business. (Milović 2006b, interview with author) While many Bosnians whole-heartedly embraced everyday changes in the post- war period, such as access to different products and media, the process of planting new ideas of Western democracy and free market economies was a slower one. For Radio Mir staff, their successes were sometimes difficult to quantify, “We never know what they 150 At the request of the PSYOPS staff, I have not included the names of each individual officer or soldier present at the meeting and instead attribute quotations to the general “EUFOR soldier.” 156 [Bosnians] get, how much progress they will make, you know, it’s a long process” (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author). Based on a short film local Radio Mir staff produced titled “Da li ste probali…Radio MIR Video Presentation” (Have you tried it…), the station had engaged in extensive research into their listenership. They claim that listeners tuned into the station for an average of 236 minutes a day and that 6.4 percent of all listeners from all backgrounds listened to the station. According to the promotional video, this statistic placed Radio Mir near the top of the list for most popular stations. In response to one of my questions about how the lofty goal of winning the hearts and minds of Bosnians is achieved, one soldier answered with almost missionary language. We’ve got seven campaigns run to do that … to make the people believe in the future … to foster their thinking of democracy, to bring … to teach them, to develop, sort of this … work with students of today or, perhaps, if we’re lucky enough tomorrow. So, we can win their minds and their hearts, and it's possible that they in the future make decisions that don’t lead to a thing that happened in the past. And of course a lot of things could help, like, some magic words. “Tolerance” is one of the magic words. And to accomplish that you should reform police, reform armies, and whatever. And … whatever we can, we should do it to help the people. (Ibid.) Translated into Bosnian, the “magic word” becomes tolerancija. Interestingly, this word came into the language following the most recent war when foreigners involved in the post-war social reconstruction process sought to combat ethnic tension with such terms.151 Other institutional words like organizatija (organization) and aplikacija (application), projekat (project), and corupcija (corruption) were also introduced by foreigners. While words with similar meanings existed in pre-war Serbo-Croatian, 151 See linguistic anthropologist Kirstin Swagman’s dissertation “Ideologies of Standardization: Differentiation and Socialization in Bosnian Schools” from the University of Michigan, where she has written about changes in the language as a result of an emphasis on nationalist demarcation and foreign involvement. This conclusion has been confirmed to me by others, as well as several friends who are translators for the “international community.” 157 foreign institutions have tended to favor novel words for concepts they consider new and in contrast to socialist policies and rhetoric. In the post-war climate, which they hoped to showcase as different from other political and economic periods, officials tended to avoid terms coined during socialism, even if they were developed to instill inter-ethnic cooperation. PSYOPS used new words and phrases in their “campaigns” in print and radio service announcements, billboards, TV announcements, websites, and in press releases about the progress of the peacekeeping mission to express how Bosnians should act and how the country should be in the future. Unlike slang words, which are often used in verbal conversation and introduced to the general public through artistic media (in musical lyrics or in films and on TV), these bureaucratic words were deposited directly into official documents (in the form of translations) and/or speeches to the public about the future of Bosnia.152 This process of introducing new foreign-derived, official vocabulary to the public through governmental and non-governmental institutions could be described as a “top-down” policy. By top-down I mean that the policy of using new words or choosing monthly messages is determined from outside Bosnia, received by foreign soldiers at Camp Butmir and, with relatively little editing, put into Radio Mir service announcements. One soldier did hint at a little linguistic impact local radio staff might have upon the way a message was phrased. And to do the job right we meet people in our team, like Milović, and the other two guys in my team, Mustafa and Amir, who are local people. I may have some questions. But I am Dutch, so I don’t understand how people think here, not as they do. So if I have a question I could say, “hey, Mustafa” and he would say “ok the question is good, but I would phrase it like this in Bosnian.” Then we find the magic phrase in Bosnian. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) 152 See the SFOR website where short articles chronicled progress in the campaigns, http://www.nato.int/sfor/organisation/mission.htm. 158 Magic is an interesting adjective for such terms, as there was a general belief by foreigners that (symbolic concepts such as) peace and democracy in Southeastern Europe could be achieved magically by just being there,153 acting as an example to people, and initiating the use of new concepts and ideologies not evoked by socialist policy. It is difficult not to notice the similarities between PSYOPS efforts to win “hearts and minds” and what has been derogatorily called “Yugoslav propaganda.” Foreign PSYOPS staff seemed unaware of these similarities. An example of a Yugoslav political slogan, which I also mentioned in Chapter Two, is bratstvo i jedinstvo (brotherhood and unity). This phrase typified the official socialist policy of inter-ethnic and inter-racial relations. Top-down slogans summarized policies that officially recognized various ethno/national groups and recommended the peaceful coexistence of a sometimes fragile coalition.154 Just as socialist propaganda phrases were extensions, and sometimes even at the core, of maintaining social policy and propagating it to the public, so have the phrases used by Radio Mir and other organizations and institutions resulted from specific policy decisions. The act of introducing new vocabulary to the post-war scene is often explained and commented upon by Bosnians as they reflect on changes in their communities and country. I remember being lost on my way to an interview in a high-rise neighborhood on the outskirts of Sarajevo and asking an older man if he knew where I could find a particular street. He shrugged and explained that before the war he had known the names 153 See Coles 2007. 154 In the socialist period, some prominent people were imprisoned for actions deemed to threaten “brotherhood and unity,” among them were Alija Izetbegović (the late former president of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Franjo Tuđman (the late former president of Croatia). Adem Demaçi (a Kosovar Albanian) was imprisoned for almost 30 years for his criticism of the plight of Albanians in Yugoslavia. 159 of the streets but that after the war they had been “newly composed.” In this case, he referenced the renaming of the streets after the war to incorporate new heroes’ names into the landscape and to remove names that had become politically awkward, given the war’s outcome. The term “newly-composed” is most often used in the local language to refer to newly-composed folk music (NCFM).155 While most Bosnians and foreigners can agree that reconciliation and inter-ethnic harmony are positive goals, friends expressed to me their distaste for the tone of the message campaigns. Top-down efforts, such as Radio Mir’s messages, are often interpreted by urban youth as simplistic and manipulative. Part of the disconnect results from the station’s physical distance from its audience, but also from the reality that messages distributed in Bosnia originate from top foreign military officials. They are simplistic so as to be accessible to the largest audience, and are insensitive to locals because, at their essence, they are not informed by local context. The following posters were placed in restaurant and bar restrooms across the country as part of the Harvest Campaign in which PSYOPS urged civilians to turn in their weapons. One friend of mine was particularly troubled by what she perceived as assumptions about gender in Bosnian society. She considered these posters to be vile and disrespectful. 155 NCFM is a genre that was developed long before the most recent war. The genre developed into a style of music that is currently popular called turbofolk, a fusion of folk melodies and timbres incorporated with rock and techno beats. I address both of these genres in Chapter Two of this dissertation. 160 Harvest Campaign PSYOPS messages posted in men’s and women’s restrooms across Bosnia A Sarajevan rock musician friend of mine described his opinion of PSYOPS radio and print messages in the following way: Basically, they think we will do simply what they say. If they tell us to turn in our weapons, they think we will. I have to say after all of this time I’m tired of doing what they say, what they tell us. A few years ago, I told my father, “keep your pistol,” just because I don’t think we have to be part of this Harvest Plan [campaign]. (Anonymous 2005, interview with author) When I asked him why he continued to listen to Radio Mir, he explained, “I guess I like the music most of the time. They play popular stuff from the EU and the US. It’s good to know the new hits, you know, for my own songs and all” (ibid.). Others liked the fact that Radio Mir seemed to them to play longer music sets than other stations. It was common for my more urban friends to explain that they enjoyed listening to a station where they did not have to hear turbofolk. As is to be expected, no one said they listened to Radio 161 Mir for its messages. Listeners appropriated the station, and specifically the music, for their own uses. As explained by Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, pop culture can be described as a site of struggle and resistance. Although his theory refers primarily to such resistance in relation to the control of outlets, resistance and struggle can be expressed in a number of ways as audiences/consumers accept and reject aspects of media. Bosnian audiences appropriated the station for their own uses and did not equate listening to the music with embracing the station’s messages, whereas Radio Mir staff and the military hierarchy equated high audience numbers with high message receipt. Audiences have agency as they take what they want from the station, thereby getting around the PSYOPS goals. Nonetheless, PSYOPS staff at Camp Butmir were strong believers in their ability to influence the opinions of Bosnians. Reiterating the value of PSYOPS messages, one solder explained how message campaigns changed over time: Again, the overall message is what we call ... promoting peace, and tolerance; and reconciliation, and changes, you know. It was the top priority in the post-war Bosnia peace, now we have switched to things that are more appropriate things after war, such as the combat of organized crime, corruption, or to promote police reforms, or entity armed forces reforms. So, with the changes on the political scene, of course, our campaign has changed. Overall, they are all targeted to help the peace process and … inter-entity cooperation and reintegration of the country. [The] Radio Mir target audience is the 15-to-25-year-old Bosnians that cover about 25% of the country. And we are one of the 3 leading radio stations in the top of audience. Across the entity lines in Sarajevo we are the only radio station that has listenership on both sides of the entity border. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) As expressed in this quotation, Radio Mir’s longevity and vitality was based upon the station’s ability to constantly change the focus and goals. When the original messages of reconciliation were no longer as salient, as the conflict period slipped into the past, the PSYOPS messages needed to be changed. Although the soldier is correct that specific 162 messages might have changed over the period of the presence of peacekeeping troops, new messages continued to fall under the same general categories of democracy and peace while incorporating new ones such as landmine awareness. A PSYOPS print message warning the public of the dangers of mines left behind in the conflict.156 Shifts in PSYOPS advertisement topics, while important to their broadcasts, were essential to the PSYOPS wing’s ability to stay in Bosnia. One of the many criticisms of foreign institutions in Bosnia was their insistence on extending their stay by constantly changing their goals in a process coined “mission creep.”157 The peacekeeping force is not an exception. As the EUFOR soldier explained above, in the ten years following the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord, PSYOPS informed the Bosnian public about what the military believed to be key issues important to their efforts and aimed to instill a positive view of the international military force. The issues Radio Mir’s public service announcements addressed varied depending on the military’s needs. For example, directly following the conflict, the peacekeeping force, which was then called SFOR, was primarily tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. PSYOPS invested heavily in a 156 (Sic, circa 2005). 157 To my knowledge, the phrase “mission creep” was also used in relation to the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia. See two Washington Post articles by Jim Hoagland (“Prepared for Non-Combat,” April 15, 1993 and “Beware ‘Mission Creep’ In Somalia,” July 20, 1993.) 163 series of public service announcements, coined the “Harvest Campaign,” mentioned above, to urge Bosnians to turn in their hidden guns and ammunition. These announcements were distributed and broadcast through the airwaves as well as in print media and on posters and billboards. Ten years later, PSYOPS messages were focused on less immediate goals, such as a major youth campaign which warned kids of the dangers of drugs, and an anti-corruption campaign aimed at the general public. One of the soldiers explained the structure of the broadcast week and how topics for discussions revolved around PSYOPS messages. All of the DJs and journalists have to do at least two interviews, live interviews, so that's fourteen interviews a week. One has to be PSYOPS related. Getting kids information on whatever educational reforms, or whatever, they can get. Something that is of interest to our target audience. And the second one is on entertainment, like this week, for example, one of the journalists talked about diabetes. And then we will have also an interview on whether economic interests can be a political option. In terms of, you know, whether the economy can help in integration of people, regardless of their political affiliation. When we talk about corruption, for example, we try to find topics that are of interest to our target audience. So, we talk about possibility of professors being corrupt, rather than, you know ... policemen or civil servants, or whatever. That's how you lead them into the topic. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) His emphasis here seems to be upon the importance of touting messages in a way that is accessible to their audience. When I began a line of questioning about the audience’s understanding of PSYOPS messages, one soldier informed me about the differences between white and black PSYOPS. He seemed to say, if we wanted to, we could do this in a much more manipulative way. You should know about PSYOPS … that PSYOPS is not only the PSYOPS what we're doing now. We're now doing the only thing we're allowed to do is white PSYOPS. You've got black PSYOPS, gray PSYOPS, or white PSYOPS. Black is during a war. EH: So black PSYOPS is when you drop flyers? 164 Yea, you're getting there. For example, during the war, a plane comes over and drops leaflets on people, saying: “Now we are dropping leaflets. Tomorrow we'll drop ... food or something.” That's black PSYOPS. And in black PSYOPS you never tell what you do, that's especially for the Americans. There's a very famous example you can make research for that in the Internet. It was for a famous station radio in Tikret in January 2003, I think, I don't know exactly. The Americans started to broadcast radio broadcasts.... In the North Iraq Tikret region and they were first Pro-Saddam and for weeks they changed and became more critical. But they never told who they are, this black PSYOPS. So, we are never allowed to do this. Especially, with us Germans. It's for me, for example, it's strictly forbidden. Or for you also [pointing to another soldier]. We don't do it, because we will lose credibility. We are not allowed to lie, we are always to say who we are. And we do that. (Ibid.)158 The line between informing and not informing the public of the entity that is sending the message was important to Radio Mir staff. They felt that as long as they identified themselves as military peacekeepers, the rest was fair game. News as Information: The “i” in Mir In addition to the messages that are sandwiched between songs and programs, Milović spoke about how news broadcasts were constructed and the general opinion PSYOPS staff had of their value. PSYOPS is very simple. News is news. There is no PSYOPS in that. We have disclaimer as we pay lot of money to catch ... and local news wide service.... In order to have the most accurate and quickest news as possible. The format is very simple. There are five news items in each news edition. We go first with three headlines whatever is that, there are two news items on regional front, regional meaning, whatever is happening in the former Yugoslavia, or whatever has anything to do with the peace process. If the UN Secretary General makes statement, talking or mentioning [the] peace process or anything of importance to BiH or any other country of former Yugoslavia, it's considered regional news, because it's basic news. And there are two world news, obviously whatever is taking place in another part of the world. And then we have, what we call, “hot story” or entertainment, show biz or anything that will, sort of, lighten up everything. Then weather forecast and road conditions. That's basically two minutes. (Milović 2006b, interview with author) 158 To me, his statement seemed incongruous here as he had just given an example of what they would do the next day. 165 Just as the choice of music is central to the “target audience,” so is the news format. “People who are twenty years old don't want to listen to one hour [of] news. That's what other local stations do. They kill with political shows, you know, debates and ... and people get tired of it and then tune to Radio Mir” (ibid.). As is made clear in the above quotation, political controversy and discussion is generally discouraged and PSYOPS news is particularly disengaged from the local scene. When local news is discussed it is more often portrayed in the light of positive change for the future. This disengagement is only mirrored in their choice of foreign music programming. The messages and news are set between five to seven songs in playlists. Milović explained to me their original reasons for choosing the genre of pop music. We actually wanted to give them something that none of the local radio stations were able to give them, and that’s the best music from abroad. It actually started in the truck [when the station was first being formed] because some of those American guys had tapes of American pop music and Sarajevo had been in a siege. So it was somehow special that they had that music that was hard to find. (Milović 2006b, interview with author) As the popularity of the station grew and more money flowed into Bosnia for peacekeeping efforts, the staff of Radio Mir grew, along with the equipment needed to broadcast throughout the whole country. In a process of consolidation, other peacekeeping stations, which had been set up in populated areas by IFOR, in Tuzla, Banja Luka, Mrkonjić Grad, and Mostar, were closed as Radio Mir took on the united voice of all peacekeeping forces in Bosnia.159 Five years after Dayton had been signed, Radio Mir had become a twenty-four hour station complete with billboard advertisements, a large staff, and the equipment to make their own messages. Because of 159 The NATO station in Banja Luka was the exception to this rule, still broadcasting in 2008. Also see Major Arthur Tulak, Military Analyst, “PSYOP C2W Information Operations in Bosnia,” The Information Warfare Site, http://www.iwar.org.uk/psyops/resources/bosnia/psyopc2w.htm. 166 this rigorous schedule, music content was needed to raise listenership and fill the space between messages and news. The Power of Funding Although I had a number of interviews with radio directors in Sarajevo, I was only able to watch radio broadcasts in one station other than Radio Mir. The experience helped me to understand the financial realities public radio stations faced in the post-war period. In comparison to many national stations in other countries, in which their public funding sometimes allows them to be independent from market pressures and gives them the freedom to critique some music while sustaining fewer popular genres, the station I visited was so under-funded, its employees could hardly complete their broadcasts. In the summer of 2005, I visited the public station based in Sarajevo, Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RTFBiH), to watch a friend’s music show.160 Sonja Raljević, a Bosnian ethnomusicologist, had explained to me how woefully under- funded they were and that she had not been paid in more than six months. As is true with many post-socialist institutions, the station had developed over the years into a bureaucratic monster. In preparation for her show, Sonja was required to fill out a number of forms requesting specific recordings from the station’s archive. The form required archival codes, which meant that she had to sort through a large card catalog. The completed form was then given to someone who brought it to the basement recording archive. Yet another employee was responsible for pulling each requested recording out 160 The public broadcasting system of the country consists of Radio-Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) as the main public broadcasting system for the whole country, and two entity broadcasters, Radio- Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RTFBiH) and Radio-Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS). 167 of the stacks. All recordings were on reel-to-reel tapes, as the station could not afford to upgrade their system. The studio from which Sonja broadcast her show was divided into two rooms. One was filled with six reel-to-reel players that were manned by a “recording engineer,” who placed the reels onto ancient machines and queued each song. He was also responsible for repairing broken machines and faulty reels which Sonja informed me was a common occurrence. Sonja sat in the soundproof second room, and when she had finished introducing each song, she motioned her colleague to play it. When the broadcast was completed, Sonja filled out yet another form required for the return of the recordings to the archive. The reels were placed onto a cart, and a young girl arrived to bring them to the archive, where the process would begin again. Radio Mir used a vastly different model, having a small staff and exorbitant funding in comparison to RTFBiH. In a depressed post-war period such as Bosnia’s, consistent long-term funding is difficult to find. As noted previously, most foreign funders were more interested in financing new projects than becoming embroiled in post- socialist ones heavy with complex bureaucratic structures and excess staff. One soldier explained Radio Mir’s superior funding in relation to other stations and the ways in which all of the aspects of PSYOPS work together: We're the only ones who can afford to have the latest news on our plate. We can play music directly from New York with this company Radio Ventures, whatever is being played on MTV is, even before that, played in our radio station, because we have the special contract where we get bonus songs and that's how we get it. Between these great music hits we have PSYOPS messages, that's what we call them. We have two breaks within each hour and that's how we sell our “products” [makes quotation marks with his hands]. We sponsor different concerts or events that should attract our target audience and in the turn we get our PSYOPS messages either played on [a] video wall, either leaflets by distributors which is having the banner on radio Mir or Mirko161 which makes people then tune in or read the magazine. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) 161 Mirko was a teen magazine PSYOPS published in Bosnia. 168 In comparison to other popular radio stations in Europe or the United States, Radio Mir’s format of two breaks within each hour is relatively little. Radio Ventures,162 a New York company, is paid by the international military force to create compilations of pop and rock chart hits from European and American sources such as Billboard’s Hot 100, European Top 40, and MTV. On their website, the company describes themselves in the following way: Radio Ventures distributes music services to meet the specific needs of radio broadcasters. We regularly release the best new hit music from America, the best new European hit music, the best new dance music and the best new Latin music. Our team of worldwide music reporters alerts us whenever a new star emerges on the scene from any place in the universe. We keep you up-to-date on ALL the new music and ahead of your competition.163 From the context of the interview, it is difficult to know how much the soldier actually knew about the local music scene and whether his comment about folk music being kitsch actually came from his own experience. His feelings about folk, by which I believe he meant turbofolk, are consistent with critiques expressed in Chapter Two of this dissertation. A CD from Radio Ventures arrives weekly, complete with new tracks, music video clips, interviews, and background information about the top chart bands, celebrities, and stars. Radio Mir’s billboards claim that they offered the “best music” was then not a result of the local staff’s sentiment, or even that of the military higher-ups, but rather an ad slogan used by the contractor from whom Radio Mir bought their music. Perhaps more importantly, as far as the international military is concerned, the company paid for all broadcasting fees. In their first years, Radio Mir was the only station that 162 When I contacted Radio Ventures, they were unwilling to comment on the cost of subscribing to their services (as I was not representing a large company or organization), and would not send me examples of the CDs they provide to their subscribers. 163 Http://www.radioventuresinc.com/MainPage.html. 169 could afford to pay all royalties required by Bosnian law. During and immediately after the war, most local stations played whatever music they had access to without regard to paying for intellectual property rights, as there was no governmental or international oversight protecting musicians and artists within Bosnia. In 1997, an agency called Sine Qua Non164 (Latin for without which [it is] not [possible]), became the indispensable overseer of the payment of author’s rights in Bosnia. The agency was charged with chronicling broadcasts of local and foreign music, as well as commercial sales. Radio stations were required to submit their playlists weekly or lose their license and incur substantial fines. By 1999, the local press estimated that only 10 percent of the total sale of recorded music was legal, while the remaining sales were made on the black market.165 Estimates for the broadcast of music without artist payment to Sine Qua Non directly after the war are even more dire. In April 2002, a national law on copyrights and associated rights was adopted. It was written to be compliant with international standards. As national legal institutions have gained respect and power (leveling increasingly large fines) over this jurisdiction, radio stations have had to become more compliant. Because of its consistent funding from NATO, the staff at Radio Mir never had to concern themselves with these rising costs. Unlike local radio stations that struggled to pay (or avoid paying) artist royalties, Radio Mir was able to maintain a legal status vis-à-vis local and foreign legal institutions, not because of its success in the post-war market, but because of its consistent foreign funding. 164 Sine Qua Non d.o.o. is the Agency for Representation and Protection of Copyrights. It is authorized to perform these activities by the Bosnia Herzegovina Institute of Standards, Measures and Intellectual Property, the authorization from the professional associations of the authors (musicians, writers, painters, film makers, etc.). In addition, Sine Qua Non is a member of CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers). 165 Dani Magazine (December 10, 1999). 170 Extending their efforts from legal compliance to preaching to the public about the evils of piracy, in 2005 Radio Mir launched a film anti-piracy campaign just in time for the summer Sarajevo Film Festival. We don't play, for example, music that we don't have copyrights for. We don't make spots with sound loops or music loops that we don't ... that's how we respect it. And we also have promoters. For example, there is a huge .... You might have seen at the Blockbuster season 2005, we are sponsor .... We get our TV spots played as movie trailers and we help in promotion. The blockbuster people, the company that's organizing it, have issued a statement that they're going to give 1,000 KM award to anybody who brings a pirate copy of the blockbuster movie that is going to be shown, in order to stop the piracy. And we inform people of this, we give away tickets for the blockbusters movies and things like that. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) Music as a Tool In my interviews with Radio Mir staff and Milović, I came to understand that they understood music as a tool for achieving a goal rather than a means of expression or a marker of identity. The topics of popular songs were insignificant in comparison to the messages placed between them, while the exclusion of folk music was a political and aesthetic choice. Because it’s the music that ... it’s the music that gets played on the international charts, it’s music hits, it’s commercial music. We are the only radio station that doesn’t play, what we call here, folk music, which is the utmost form of kitsch. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) Extending upon his colleague’s comment, another soldier commented on what seemed to me might be a Pavlovian response from the audience. So, music obviously has been a strong tool. I mean, you can't brainwash people with music. But you have to give them incentive how to listen to whatever it is that you want to tell them or sell to them. And obviously young people like good music, so if you want them to catch your message, you have to give them good music. And if you have juicy voices, [a] radio personality, you know, they can link it up together in music. (Ibid.) 171 While the choice of genre may seem secondary to the locals and foreigners who work at Radio Mir, other messages may be perceived by local audiences if the label “good music” is only bestowed upon foreign pop music. Commercial stations make statements all the time about one song being better than another. What might Bosnians understand, when those who espouse the importance of reconciliation label “good music” as that which excludes local folk music? While I was interested in which music Radio Mir was broadcasting 90 percent of the time, the military staff was only focused on how effectively the music brought listeners into the audience that heard PSYOPS messages that took up 10 percent of the air time. When I brought up the issue of aesthetics, especially in relation to the station’s preference for American and European pop music, rather than local pop music inspired by traditional forms such at turbofolk, Milović simply explained that Radio Mir had cornered the market on the genre. Superior funding meant that Radio Mir could broadcast new songs before anyone else. By broadcasting a narrow selection of popular music from Europe and the United States, the station capitalized on an already well-entrenched local attitude about turbofolk. For Radio Mir staff, music was simply an issue of supply and demand, just as other businesses such a McDonald’s or Coca Cola might defend the quality of their products by noting their popularity. Further evidence of emphasizing the global rather than local spheres is the fact that Radio Mir broadcasts were originally in two languages, Bosnian and English. When international troop numbers were high, Radio Mir had an interest in appealing to foreign, as well as local audiences. According to Radio Mir’s staff, using the English language also added to their credibility as a viable, legal, and balanced station. A majority of the 172 urban population of Radio Mir’s target audience is able to understand English and many would be proud of their understanding and equate it with sophistication.166 The issue of credibility was of particular importance because, during the war, the number of nationalist stations had increased.167 Radio Parties But Radio Mir was about to extend their impact on local music culture. In the eight years after the war, the station had helped to fund and advertise pop music concerts, but Radio Mir staff had focused their efforts exclusively upon honing their skills at producing PSYOPS messages and building their listenership through broadcasting pop music. In 2003, as a result of ramped-up funding and an impression that peacekeepers would continue to have a presence in Bosnia for years to come, Radio Mir staff began to organize “Radio Parties.” The parties were organized in hard-line areas, which are mostly near the border with Serbia. In one of her interviews with me, Milović explained that she and her fellow staffers were originally inspired to hold the parties when they traveled into rural areas. [W]e thought was rather good idea. In order to give people a chance to actually meet the faces of their radio personalities, favorite radio personalities. We started what we call Radio Mir parties or Radio Mir karaoke and DJ nights. (Milović 2006b, interview with author) The parties, often held in cultural centers, gyms, or even bars, were an opportunity to raise Radio Mir's profile and familiarize the youth demographic with the Radio Mir 166 During my fieldwork in Bosnia, I taught for a year in a madrassa (Islamic school) for the United States Embassy, Sarajevo – US Department of State ACCESS Project. My students expressed to me their pride in speaking English and marveled at being able to understand films, music, and other broadcasts in English. 167 Now, after a process of legalization of the media sector has taken place, there are only 153, which is still a rather large number given the size of Bosnia. 173 message. Karaoke competitions with European and American pop music were central to these events. Radio Parties were meant primarily as another outlet for PSYOPS messages, but had the ancillary effect of bringing divided communities, and even youth from ethnically-cleansed towns, together. Milović explained: It's a smart way, I think, to achieve two aims. The first is to boost the listenership. The second, also very important, and in my opinion was that we actually would get ... the people who would come to these events to see and listen the EUFOR messages, or SFOR messages as we want them to see. (Ibid.) Substantial funding meant that Radio Mir could afford to hand out extravagant prizes for competition winners. What we would do is we would go and get few nice awards of the American PX like boom boxes, CD players, DVD players. Get the equipment and big screen. Get the karaoke and go to most of the time hard-line areas. Places where no such thing has ever happened. Choose a visibly nice coffee shop that can host 3 to 5 hundred people. Night bars or disco bars were more difficult for security reasons. But just enough people, crowd big enough to be easily controlled so as to avoid any incidents. And we promoted these Radio Mir karaoke and party nights. There were some karaoke, the best one would get goodies which was extremely important and good for them. And then we would have DJ night, disco night in early hours in the morning. Last time we did such a thing in Bratunac168 – it was few months ago, couple of months ago actually – May, June. We used to do it twice or three times a month in Bratunac which was a place only a 100 meters away from the mass graves in Srebrenica. Mind you, we do these things without military escorts. It's my, you know, local guys we go ourselves and do it. In Bratunac the last time we went to kids from all over the place, from Zvornik169 and 100 kilometers away different places came for the first time. Like Muslims did from Srebrenica. Returnees. And Muslim returnees from Zvornik for the first time came to Bratunac to come to the Radio Mir party. I think that says and does more than ... million other things that international community has spent. Millions of dollars now. (Ibid.) At the time, Milović’s excitement about the Radio Parties struck me. More than any of the topics we had discussed she seemed to really believe in this idea. Unlike the top-down techniques that seemed so engrained in Radio Mir procedures, this idea actually involved 168 Bratunac (Братунац) is a small town in eastern Bosnia. It is located at the easternmost edge of the country within the Republika Srpska just across the border from Serbia. 169 Zvornik (Зворник) is also in the eastern part of Bosnia just across the Drina River from Serbia. 174 visiting rural communities. When I asked her about how Radio Mir had chosen the locations for their parties, Milović explained a seemingly democratic process by which youth could vote for Radio Mir to visit their city. The way we chose this place, and there is a whole list of cities that want us to come because the way we communicate with listeners is through SMS.170 (text messaging? We have special software installed. And kids SMS us. And then everybody invites us to come. Of course we can't go to every city, we would love to, but we have visited almost every city in the country. It's hard work, because you know we have to run the whole radio station throughout the week and go back to work, and this and that. But I think it's the great dedication of my team that has helped us. (Ibid.) Milović also sent me photos of the events and explained: In the photos and the pictures you see these kids, who on the screen watching different video spots that we played then and different radio spots that we played then before we started with the karaoke and the DJ night, and the karaoke, and the disco night … even from the photos you can't perhaps fully understand or appreciate it. And so as I said in the beginning, I first did not really believe when kids told us that, you know, we ... Radio Mir is a window to them, to the world. I thought they were exaggerating. But actually I believed it only when I went to see all these places and all these kids. It is true. Because I think we in Sarajevo who live here, we tend to forget actually how it is when you live so. This city still has this sort of cosmopolitan sense, and these urban kids have no exposure to the outside world. (Ibid.) Adding to her arguments about what Radio Mir parties mean for youth in terms of cultural exposure, Milović added: When you go to different places that, you know, usually I describe them as “the middle of nowhere” [makes quotation marks with her hands], you see actually what Radio Mir means to these kids, because it brings them the best music they cannot find or listen to anywhere else, especially in those small communities where you have these local ... run on local radio stations with very boring political shows and political agendas. Plus the very sort of traditional music which most of the young kids cannot stand. So, what we have is ... we play music before even some songs appear on MTV here on cable television, because we have these special contracts that we get bonus songs. (Ibid.) 170 SMS or Short Messaging Service is a synonym for text messaging, a method of sending message through mobile phones. 175 The effort and time required to travel to rural villages, in the end, made it impossible for Milović and her staff to maintain the Radio Parties for more than a year. Although she did not confirm this, I suspect that losing local staff to Radio Parties every few weeks must not have sat well with the soldiers in the PSYOPS office. Although the Radio Parties project was in line with the general PSYOPS goals of disseminating messages, success may have been more difficult to quantify than gauging radio listenership. Milović told me that for years after their visits, people from the towns they visited still wrote in to request visits. Although the idea of giving kids gifts and parties in exchange for their attention to advertisements seemed simplistic and somewhat manipulative, I could see that Milović felt her idea had positively impacted students and other listeners. She strongly believed that just gathering people together from each political/ethnic/religious faction might help to create a better future in Bosnia. Demo Festival “Moj BiH” (My Bosnia) In 2004, Radio Mir organized and funded the first-ever nationwide popular music competition in Bosnia. The organizers of the competition hoped to foster multi-ethnic, multi-religious exchange through healthy competition, as well as enhance feelings of national belonging among Bosnia’s youth. PSYOPS also saw the competition as an opportunity to reach out to young Bosnians across the country to spread their explicit and overt audio and video messages. With access to NATO’s deep pockets, PSYOPS could afford to print and plaster multi-color posters across Bosnia and rent large billboard space alongside the country’s few four-lane roads. In the festival venue, finalists, some of whom had traveled from far-flung villages, sang and played their music into state-of-the- art microphones, on stages framed by European Union flags and the Radio Mir logo. 176 None of the applicants who made it into the competition finals had performed the most popular local genre, turbofolk, in the pre-finals. Most selections were American and European covers, or Bosnian pop stylistically similar to Radio Mir’s music choice. A military colonel, the director of Radio Mir, and a few local musicians sat a la American Idol, ready to deliver their verdicts. That summer, Radio Mir went from being a purveyor of foreign popular music to being an arbiter of local pop talent in the same foreign genres they had broadcast for more than a decade. 171 Images taken at the Moj BiH Festival, 2004 171 Photos from Radio Mir website. 177 Radio Mir staff originally had no intention of changing the local soundscape, much less of evaluating local popular music talent. Beyond the station’s message/music combination, the staff explained to me that the musical events they organized and sponsored were also effective tools for spreading internationally or foreign-conceived concepts about Bosnia’s future. Why don't you come to using music as a direct tool [commenting to another officer]. There is a project that we have been running for the last six months. It's called Demo Festival My BiH (Moj BiH), which has gathered demo bands from all over the country, and they were all invited to send their own lyrics, demo songs, their own songs, own topics of political, economic situation, love, whatever, what they thought was an issue important to them. Because the feedback we've got from our listeners was that ... young people felt marginalized nobody was, sort of, listening to them, there was very little hope or chance to them in terms of job, education ... and we thought we should give them a chance to express their creative energy, rather than to go to drugs, or turn to crime, or whatever, which turned [out] to be great success and you're invited to come on the 28th. (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) With the Demo Festival Moj BiH, Radio Mir created an outlet for expression, although that expression was meant to fit into the small aesthetic box the station had formed over time. Between the youth performances, Radio Mir broadcast the same messages they had 178 at the Radio Parties. The stage was covered with European and EUFOR flags that made their way into almost every photo. As with some of the other festivals I address in Chapter Four, Radio Mir staff’s goal, beyond the primary effort of advertizing messages, was to get people together. From there I want to talk about a very common idea that reconciliation takes place backstage. And we also use music as one of the instruments to bring children from all over the country, to play together and make friends. And what was really a great surprise to us and the great pleasure was the fact that we discovered in the backstage that all the kids from all over the country were great kids and didn't really care about any of the things that their parents and teachers might [have] told them to be against.... All they want is good music, good entertainment and little bit of pocket money to ... have a drink, or cigarette.” (Ibid.) Conceptually, the backstage has been commonly used in the post-war period in Bosnia as a neutral space in which exchanges take place, where people end up coming together. The idea of reconciliation happening between musicians backstage or between performances is epitomized in a documentary called “The Ramallah Concert - Knowledge Is the Beginning/West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim.”172 In the documentary, and as one of the goals of the reconciliation project, Palestinian and Israeli musicians as well as others from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria perform Western orchestral music on stage, but backstage share their own traditional music with each other. The backstage reconciliation argument also hints at the project organizers’ sensitivity to bottom-up (grassroots) opportunities, although such exchanges seem not to be planned. The “happened by chance” scenario is in many ways more attractive and well suited to the project of civil society building and the development of a democratic society than a structured on-stage performance. From the interview, it was clear that more than 172 Directed by Paul Smaczny, Warner Classics, 2005, http://www.amazon.com/Ramallah-Concert- Knowledge-Beginning-West-Eastern/dp/B000BS6YBA. 179 one of the officers understood one project as using music directly as a tool to send messages. Milović also explained to me that the Moj BiH festival was broadcast via satellite to Australia, Holland and Germany to include Bosnians living abroad. So, it's for the refugees and Bosnian displaced people abroad who watch the local channels who have satellite. There is the local TV station called: TV Hayat Sarajevo based, it has [a] satellite.... So, all the Bosnian people who watch it in Holland or Germany will be able to see it on Saturday. And there is the leading Republic of Srpska television, Alternative Television, we'll also do it together with Pink, number one TV station in RS in terms of coverage. And obviously, between the demo bands and all the music, and all the show biz things we have our PSYOPS messages played. Plus we have the young rap singer singing things with the title “My BiH, my BiH.” (EUFOR soldier 2005, interview with author) The attempt to increase the reach of Radio Mir and its activities is as much a shift in the original goals of the station as a realization by the local staff that talks had begun to negotiate the closure of Radio Mir. Broadcasting the Moj BiH performances to diaspora added exposure to the station. Radio Mir staff believed that one of the best ways to communicate their messages was through popular musicians’ voices. This tactic displaced the sometimes overbearing or lecture-some military and put PSYOPS messages in the voices of public figures the audience respected. What we do, actually, is we take the key local and foreign figures like pop singers and they come and say whatever, you know: “I'm Britney Spears. I'm Bosnian Britney Spears, right. And I listen to Radio Mir and I ask you to please look, stay away from minefield or ....” I don't know, what not, we take key communicators to get out the real message. (Ibid.) At the time, the soldier’s use of the term “communicators” struck me as distanced and maybe even scientific. Indeed, a whole field of military theory had been devoted to identifying the most effective ways to communicate with the people a military serves or occupies. In contrast to the ways in which military force was used up to World War II, 180 peacekeeping forces increasingly understand their role as “serving” the populations in which they are deployed. The Demise of Radio Mir In 2006, as it became more and more clear NATO was also bowing out due to donor fatigue,173 Radio Mir staff created a PowerPoint video presentation about the value of the station’s work. The CD’s intended audience was the American military, who Milović thought would be the most sympathetic to the station’s PSYOPS goals, and most flush with cash. The presentation CD cover was simple, and consistent with early Radio Mir low production levels. The CD was sent via envoy to Washington, DC. Radio Mir staff adopted a new slogan: “Made in Bosnia, Made by Bosnians, Made for Bosnians.” In a last-ditch effort to save the station, the slogan was an effort to present Radio Mir as attuned to local musical sentiment. Whereas, immediately following the war, external involvement was heralded as the answer to peace, in recent years “grassroots,” locally based initiatives have been lauded by foreigners and locals as an answer to avoiding future conflict. As funding for projects in Bosnia has decreased, foreign supported institutions have had to face the difficult task of closing or reinventing their goals and sometimes, as for Radio Mir, their methods. Station staff were not successful in their pitch for additional funding. The equipment was packed and sent to the American base in Kosovo, leaving Radio Mir’s frequencies in Bosnia open to the possibility of takeover by 173 Donor fatigue is a commonly discussed concept in the later stages of post-war and post-catastrophe regions in which donor interest in committing voluntary donations wanes. Some have noted that the fatigue can been exacerbated by the increase in competition between charities and, in the case of Bosnia, the development of other post and inter-conflict aid situations. 181 future nationalist and factionalized agendas. For Radio Mir staff this possibility was perhaps their most salient argument for maintaining the station. Since the exit of Radio Mir, no other station has taken on the exclusive broadcast of foreign popular music, although some stations noted an uptick in listeners in the immediate aftermath of the station’s closing (Osmanagić 2007, interview with author). In my informal polling of listeners in Sarajevo, many people seemed not to have noticed that the station ceased to exist. Perhaps the empty spot on the FM dial was more recognized in rural communities, especially in those where Radio Mir held Radio Parties. The radio station was mainly perceived by NATO’s PSYOPS as a method of delivering service announcements in line with NATO’s political, social or military objectives. Foreign peacekeeping officials saw Radio Mir broadcasts and other cultural projects as their most effective tool in influencing the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of Bosnians. Radio Mir played and openly touted the international/foreign music as apolitical and advertised their exclusion of local and regional music. Institutions defined as cultural seem to concern themselves first with issues of conservation, contextualization, and cultural impact. Radio Mir’s activities are much more akin to a corporate/private, for-profit model, as the music and its audience are secondary to gaining ad revenue. As explained to me by Bosnians who listened to the station and musicians who participated in the Moj BiH festival and other activities, the fact that Radio Mir was a foreign military station added weight to its aesthetic and genre choices. Due to the limiting of the station’s broadcasts almost exclusively to American and European pop music, audiences perceived a statement about the value or lack of value the peacekeepers 182 had for local expression. Radio Mir was understood as culturally imperialistic on the one hand and insensitive to local expression on the other. As Radio Mir’s projects grew to a climax of judging local talent for the musicians’ abilities, so did the message of top-down power rather than democratic civil society, the manipulation of cultural products for ideological and political ends, and finally that cultural value was to be found outside Bosnia rather than within it. At the inception of Radio Mir, military and local staff chose foreign popular music as the core genre because they thought it would be the best tool to spread their message. Foreign music was also understood as apolitical, and thus safe for local audiences to hear, and within the boundaries of newly established international media regulations. In the sea of extremist/nationalist radio stations that sprung up during and after the war, being noticeably apolitical was essential. The case of Radio Mir is consistent with some colonialist international post-war cultural policy, which avoids problems of ethnic intolerance in the region in favor of an emphasis on global spheres. In a country with only a few large and midsized cities, the director of the station told me: “Our main audience is urban youth, but we want rural kids to know about urban culture”(Milović 2006b, interview with author). Western popular music was viewed as progressive, modern, hip, etc. As Milović told me, “Radio Mir is a window to them, a window to the world” (ibid.). Whether flying musicians into Sarajevo for international music festivals, or shipping top 40 hit compilation CDs by FedEx, internationals found global and foreign musical expression to be both attractive to the local music market and consistent with their avoidance of the roots of local conflict. The 183 importation of culture sent strong signals to the local population that solutions to local conflict could be found in global rather than local culture. Because the popular music on Radio Mir was foreign-derived, there was little chance it would make political or religious statements that might offend mainstream audiences. Ethnic and religious division in Bosnia was such that musical content, as well as a musician’s ethnicity, could cause them to be included or excluded from a radio playlist. In a way, Radio Mir’s many frequencies across the country were “safe air” where audiences could be sure they would not be subjected to local factional agendas. Radio Mir’s broadcast of foreign popular music also resulted in mixed messages which were often inconsistent with PSYOPS ads which promoted democracy, modernity, and a free market economy. As stated earlier, Radio Mir’s most successful ad campaign was “Radio Mir, no folk music, only the best music.” It could have been construed as anti-democratic in that it discouraged local reflection upon local problems. Listeners could be sure that they would never hear the most popular regional music genre, turbofolk.174 This genre is often critiqued by local urbanites as “backward” and “rural” and has been defined by scholars such as Erik Gordy as nationalist, if not in content, then by association. I have discussed aspects of the turbofolk genre in Chapter Two of this dissertation. In my discussions with her, Milović noted that it was her idea to exclude turbofolk, first for the practical reason that she thought she could garner the largest audience with the Western pop genre, and secondly because she aspired to have a station which was “forward-thinking” and “modern.” When asked how she compared Western popular music to turbofolk, she laughed, saying that the difference was quality. 174 Chapter Two includes a more complete discussion of the turbfolk genre. 184 Explaining her aesthetic hierarchy, she asked “who listens to Mozart? No one, so we are left with everything below Mozart.”175 She defined turbofolk as a negative-one (-1), and Britney Spears as a three (3). Finally she claimed that at least the “rest of the world” was listening to Britney. Here we have the valuing of languages, the global pop genre as more valuable than local music. Although the choice of foreign repertoire may allow listeners to view themselves as more worldly or elite, turbofolk stations garner a huge listenership. Indeed many educated and informed Bosnians admit that the genre is a kind of dirty pleasure for them. Late in the evening, after rakija and wine many admitted that they were happy to dance to turbofolk songs. Within the varied and often vaguely defined cultural policy that has resulted from foreign cultural aid in Bosnia, military PSYOPS projects like Radio Mir offer a window into the overt, or explicit messages broadcast to the Bosnian public in the post-war period. In this chapter, I have investigated the unintended consequences of the use of music as a tool for propaganda. I have emphasized the top-down structure of the station’s messages and their relative ineffectiveness or disconnectedness from their audience, as messages were not contextualized for local consumption. Superior funding from the military made it possible for the station to import new popular music to Bosnia and effectively compete with other local stations. The level of funding also created a model for legal broadcasting that was impossible for any local station to duplicate. Because of the constant shifts between military staff, the institutional memory of Radio Mir was held within the local staff and most notably its local director, Milović. I characterize print, audio, and video messages as “overt” or “explicit” because most of the time the public is aware that their opinions and actions are being altered 175 Milović 2006a, interview with author. 185 through advertisement. The subject matter in the peacekeeping advertisements is radically different from commercial advertisements audiences hear on the air. However, I classify Western popular music and English language commentaries as a more covert influence on local audiences. While the songs themselves speak about relationships and idealized Western lives, Bosnian audiences listen less for content and instead understand the genre sound as symbolic of Western values. Radio Mir is set apart from the other cases (cultural projects) addressed in this dissertation by several key factors. Unlike cultural projects focused on urban audiences such as those in Sarajevo, as a media project the station impacted a large and diverse public, including rural and urban communities. Radio Mir staff spoke directly about using the music they broadcast as a tool for dispersing their messages and expressed no concern for the cultural impact of their station. Finally, it was by far the longest running project, in operation for more than fifteen years, addressed in this dissertation. Unlike other cases that continue to be ongoing cultural institutions in Bosnia, I have had the opportunity to trace the founding and demise of the station. This case also addresses one of the foremost concerns of this dissertation, duplication of cultural projects in other post-war settings that achieved a level of success in Bosnia. 186 Chapter Six Supporting Urban Authenticity: Political Engagement176 Gramofon Records177 and Pro Helvetia Donor Logos: Introducing the Partnership Throughout the world, international donors and the organizations through which they give, rely upon recognizable images and phrases to advertise and bring attention to their efforts. Logos such as the European Union circle of twelve stars on a blue background, which signify each of the original twelve members of the ever-growing union, can been seen at eye-level on residential and commercial buildings throughout Sarajevo. The small European Union plaques mark the property as having received infrastructure development money. Buildings in city centers across the country are marked with NGO or governmental plaques bearing the donors’ acronyms and logos in place of the shrapnel and heavy artillery scars that had once defined their facades. Logos remind the population of who donated what, when and, for some, of the patron-client relationship established between foreign donors (be they the EU, UNESCO, or others) and the local population after the war. In the five years immediately following the war, foreign patrons (donors) received social and political benefits that resulted from the unequal relationship created by their having the means to distribute development and democracy aid while local citizens only acted as clients. In this dynamic relationship, foreign elites dominate. The philosophy behind efforts by internationals to create a durable central government while strengthening Bosnia’s civil society mirror Ernest 176 Engagé was used by several musicians I interviewed. It is a French verb meaning “to get involved.” In Bosnian, engagé is used by most as a noun to explain political engagement.   177 Gramofon is the Bosnian spelling for the English word gramophone, the music player, so named by the inventor E. Berliner. 187 Gellner’s writings on the subject. According to him, patronage is a political structure between kinship patterns and a Western-type bureaucratic formation. The following quotation highlights the fine line bureaucrats, and in this case cultural managers and organizers, must walk in order to maintain positive effects. Power in a well-centralized and law-abiding bureaucracy is not a form of patronage. In as far as bureaucrats are selected for their posts by fair and public criteria, are constrained to observe impartial rules, are accountable for what they do, and can be removed from their from their positions without undue difficulty and in accordance with recognized procedures, they are not really patrons, even if they do exercise much power. (1997, 4) Some international involvement has been contingent upon a patron-client relationship in which Bosnian communities receive aid based upon the severity of their need. In Sarajevo, the cultural realm is populated with examples of uneven and sometimes corrupt international patronage. In each case, organizers’ conceptions of community needs, and the desires of foreign patrons, were central to the development of the projects. In light of the imbalance between patron organizations and communities, it is fair to say that such foreign donor symbols bear both positive and negative associations for people living in post-war and developing nations, at once highlighting progress and dependency. Like commercial brands, easy to recognize symbols help donors to illustrate their level of support and, to a certain extent, mark the territory of their goodwill. Even after donors have left the region, the plaques and signs stay behind as remnants of post- war development support. In Sarajevo, I noticed donor logos across the cityscape as well as in print and on products. Once I was attuned to them, I saw logos on public buses,178 buildings, at the 178 As a side note, because public buses in Sarajevo were donated by city and state governments after the war, many are adorned with advertisements for products and businesses not available in Bosnia. It is common to see advertisement for bakeries and electronics shops that do business in large European cities. 188 bottom corners of products, on posters, concert tickets, and reports, as well as on websites and promotional booklets. The Radio Mir billboard at the corner of Vrbanja and Titova streets, marked with the SFOR logo, had sent me out on trips to Camp Butmir and made me attuned to Radio Mir tags around the city. I wondered what the presence of other NGO, government, and corporate logos meant for the products and media on which they were printed. Including a funder’s logo on one’s publications is a standard requirement in most donor agreements. The logos bring greater visibility to donors and some level of prestige to recipients and, in the case of buildings, remain intact for years after construction has been completed. To a customer, a donor logo might work to signify quality or value, and for a donor it might highlight their organization’s reach and transparency. While overall I found that relationships with donors were advantageous to local institutions, there were cases in which the inclusion of the granter’s sign might be disadvantageous. This was particularly true with religious institutions that, while proud of their financial connections to foreign governments, were hesitant to mention such support, as it might bring into question their institution’s local viability or commitment to the surrounding community. During the period I taught in Bosnian madrassas, I often heard instructors and students talk about who funded which mosque and what had been required in exchange for the money; from a change in the layout of the worship area, to requirements that women enter from a new separate entrance from that of men, to student exchanges to or from the donor country. As with such religious cases, many directors of cultural projects expressed to me their understanding that the acceptance of money meant the need for reciprocal Buses donated by the Japanese government are bright blue and yellow and include a decal that reads “Donation from Japan.” 189 efforts or favors. Public disclosure of top-down funding, as we can categorize most internationally derived money, in the form of logos, ran the risk of derailing sincerely grassroots projects in the eyes of local critics and communities, while adding prestige, accountability, and European credentials to others. This chapter is devoted to a music project I discovered through a logo at the bottom of an album I bought in Sarajevo. The dynamic between funder and recipient is central to the following case study, as I explain the multifaceted institutional relationship between a Swiss donor, Pro Helvetia, and a domestic record label, Gramofon Records. This chapter is also the story of a relationship between two committed Sarajevans, one producing Bosnian alternative music recordings, and the other developing and overseeing grants and funding agreements for the Swiss government. I describe two committed and effective individuals, both Bosnian, and both leaders of their organizations and companies, who have worked together in a partnership for more than ten years to create a viable and self-sustainable record label. They have also aimed to nurture a musical scene alternative to the mainstream genre of turbofolk.179 For many alternative musicians, turbofolk represents the banality of the human condition by emphasizing wealth, power, and sex. Several explained their view that while turbofolk musicians sought commercial success, musicians in their genre aspired to make politically and culturally informed songs. The music company that resulted from this joint venture in the post-war environment exhibits characteristics consistent with the missions of both the local and foreign actors’ interests as well as compromises negotiated between them. In the scheme 179 I have addressed the main characteristics of the musical genre of turbofolk in Chapter Two of this dissertation. 190 of the dissertation, this case study allows for the investigation of the cultural impact of an internationally sponsored development project within the context of the international and local Bosnian music market, as it generates music products such as albums, digital music, and concerts. To contextualize the music Gramofon releases, I describe the local alternative musical genre and the transnational networks in which the genre’s musicians participate throughout Europe. Gramofon’s role as one of the only alternative music record labels in Bosnia is central to its support by Pro Helvetia, the name used for the Swiss Arts Council, with its philosophy of instilling democratic and artistically open ideals through its projects. The label’s alternative focus also explains some of the difficulties it has faced in successfully competing in local and regional markets with other popular music labels such as City Records (Serbia) and Croatia Records (Croatia).180 Spurred by conversations and interviews with local musicians, as well as ethnomusicological and sociological writings on pre-war Yugoslav genres, I attempt to define the genre of alternative music as it is locally conceived. This example illustrates how alternative genres, such as those released by Gramofon, emphasize engagement with and rebellion against international and local political choices that impact the local people through song lyrics, musical style, costume and venue choice. One of the bands signed to Gramofon, Validna Legitimacija (Valid Legitimation) explained their perception of local political problems around them that they hope to improve with their music. The society we live in is in a deep crisis. People who wish and think they are the one to lead this society out of the crisis spring up like mushrooms after the war. 180 City Records was founded after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1997. Along with Croatia Records, which is the successor to the socialist-era Jugoton (Zagreb), it is one of the most successful record labels in Southeastern Europe. The label almost exclusively releases turbofolk artists. City Records is part of the large and powerful Pink Media Group that maintains radio stations and TV Pink stations across the region. 191 Validna Legitimacija itself intensively perceives the world around it. We believe that these mushrooms have sprung up everywhere around us in great numbers in the last couple of years…. We believe that this society finds itself in a certain kind of trance and paddling down the stream, down the canyon of the Colorado River. We wish someone would build a dam, but who that is remains to be seen. (Validna Legitimacija 2007, Kuhinja interview) Just as the Radio Mir case illustrated how a media project (radio) could seep into other realms of performance such as the Moj BiH festival and the production of an album to commemorate the winners of that festival, Gramofon Records has extended their reach beyond simply releasing albums to ancillary ones such as organizing concerts, the production of music videos, and growing a local alternative music scene. For this reason, I include in this chapter an analysis of music videos by Gramofon artists that were broadcast throughout Bosnia and the region. In the first half of the chapter, I describe my introduction as a consumer in a café- bookstore to albums released by Gramofon. I note the struggle new labels face with the far-reaching impact of rampant piracy and the narrowing of the regional Yugoslav music market that resulted from the fall of Yugoslavia and the conflict. After offering an overview of the label’s releases, I look specifically at a few of the alternative bands signed to Gramofon through their music, music lyrics, and music videos. As in other parts of the world, Bosnian alternative musicians appropriated style, musical form, venue designs, etc., from other global and foreign underground, dissident, or conscious musical genres. Access to music from outside Europe, through the Internet, television, and visits from foreign musicians, has been central to the development of appropriated styles. In the final part of the chapter, I describe the foreign cultural organization that originally funded Gramofon. I do this by tracing Pro Helvetia’s origins as a promoter of Swiss national artists and musicians within Switzerland to its involvement after the war 192 throughout the region of Southeastern Europe. The story of how Pro Helvetia and Gramofon became associated with each other is told through the voices of Aida Čengić, Head of the Pro Helvetia office at the time of research, and Edin Zubčević, the founder and director of Gramofon and the Sarajevo Jazz Festival, with both of whom I had several interviews, as they described the partnership which built the independent label. Like the other case studies in this dissertation, the funding agreement originally established through negotiation between both the actors, and also the funder’s attitude and mission, are central to the broader topic of this dissertation. I credit the closeness and elasticity of the relationship as perhaps the most important factor of the partnership’s continued success. In the post-war market economy of Bosnia, privatization of cultural space runs parallel to the privatization of other realms once overseen by the socialist government, particularly the production of music. Although project material from Pro Helvetia touts the importance of building a free market economy parallel to instilling democratic ideals, I investigate other impacts the project has had on the music scene in Sarajevo. I also explain that the establishment of Gramofon is yet another example of the trend of privatizing once-socialist cultural institutions or building new private companies. In comparison to the music market and media environment that was controlled by government funding and regulation during the Yugoslav socialist period, the post-war period has been marked by a new reliance on private funds and local and international consumer markets. 193 Dusty Gramofon Disks in a Privatized Space I first noticed Gramofon albums in a Buybook café in Sarajevo. When I completed the bulk of this research there were two Buybook café-bookstores in the center of Sarajevo. One was across the Miljacka river from what was then the Fine Arts Academy, next door to a used appliance store and proximate to an open-late dive bar called the Marquee. That café-bookstore is small, consisting of only two small rooms packed with books. Most Sarajevans call this shop stari Buybook (old Buybook), since it was the first and oldest location for one of the only successful publishers-bookstores in the country. In addition to volumes in Bosnian, the store carries a large number of English language titles, ranging from novels and travel books to academic texts about the Yugoslav war and its aftermath. I had a number of conversations with musicians and artists over coffee in the back of the store, since it was a recognizable meeting place and usually a quiet enough place to record. Karabit Buybook 194 The other Buybook in downtown Sarajevo is called by the café’s name, Karabit, (photo above, by Author, 2006). Located in the center of the city, Karabit café and bookstore is bordered by the central city park and a bus station, and located in one of the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina exhibition halls.181 The National Gallery was one of the several cultural institutions in Bosnia that received consistent government support before the war, but, after the war, staff found it almost impossible to continue to exist without government support. To survive the lack of consistent government funding, the gallery director chose to rent out a portion of the building to Buybook to raise funds for annual working costs as well as exhibitions. This café, along with a handful of others in the city, is mostly frequented by Sarajevo’s cosmopolitan182 youth,183 as it is located near the economic faculty and the main pedestrian street. After years of cobbling together meager annual governmental support, gallery staff members were more than happy to have additional funds. An unfortunate outcome of the deal is that the entrance to the gallery, which had been on the main street of Ulica Zelenih Beretki, across from a well- trafficked bus stop and Trg. Oslobođenja,184 is now around the corner and through a heavy door. The facade of the building, which was funded by the Swiss in exchange for an exhibition hall on the top floor, was one of the first to be finished in that part of the 181 Located on Zelenih Beretki, the National Gallery has a permanent exhibition of both old and contemporary paintings and sculptures by Bosnian artists. Although it houses Bosnia and Herzegovina's most important works of the 20th century, the gallery is seldom visited due to cuts in funding and a general disinterest in embracing Bosnian’s pre-war artistic accomplishments. The occasional patron is left to turn on the lights in each hall him or herself. 182 In this café, many patrons might categorize themselves as cosmopolitan, or even European, based on their cultural and political outlook. 183 For an outsider’s impression of café culture in Sarajevo see Dan Bilefsky, “Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast,” New York Times, 26 December 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27islam.html?scp=1&sq=bosnia%20cosmopolitan%20b ars&st=cse; Christopher Solomon, “Emerging From the Shadow of War, Sarajevo Slowly Reclaims Its Lost Innocence,” New York Times, 5 February 2006, http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/travel/05sarajevo.html?scp=1&sq=sarajevo&st=cse. 184 Liberation square has recently been renamed “Trg Oslobodenja Alija Izetbegović”, Liberation Square of Alija Izabegović. In 1990 Izabegović became the first president of independent Bosnia. 195 city. Although after the renovation and painting of the new facade, the clean yellow and white paint of the Austro-Hungarian building glowed in comparison to the dour buildings around it, funding difficulties have meant that the gallery has been limited in the exhibitions it can show and its most prominent hall continues to be rented to a café. The owners of Buybook, perhaps inspired by the shop’s location in the National Gallery, had stocked a small section of bookshelves on the first floor with art and design books, although a majority of the shop’s holdings were at the top of a spiral staircase. I first noticed the Pro Helvetia logo on the spine of an album in the sparsely populated CD shelf placed among design books. At most, there were thirty various dusty music titles. Most of the albums were from the Real World185 or Nonesuch Explorer Series,186 which were rather dated at the time, and which seemed to match the English language travel books in the tourist section. While those books explained the ins and outs of destinations most Bosnians could not visit given the visa restrictions and financial limitations at the time, the world music titles presented distant sonic worlds. My first thought was that customers for this section would be limited to the Bosnian jet set, tourists, and internationals. As with most products aimed at the expatriate community in Sarajevo, and imported from abroad, these world music releases were exorbitantly priced at KM187 25 per album (approximately $15). As I looked through the titles, I was pleasantly surprised and interested to find there a few Bosnian recordings priced similarly to foreign imports. 185 The record label Real World Records was founded in 1989 by Peter Gabriel to produce and release world music. 186 The Nonesuch Explorer Series was a leader in the release of world music recording, beginning in the 1960s, before the genre had been established. The Explorer Series included field recordings made primarily in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. 187 KM is the acronym for konvertibilna marka (convertible mark), which is the currency of Bosnia. The Dayton Agreement established the KM, which was once pegged to the German mark. It is a rather outdated currency since the German mark has been replaced by the Euro. 196 It was among these few locally produced CDs that I first saw the Pro Helvetia and Gramofon logos. Gramofon and Pro Helvetia logos I wondered where I could find more locally produced music and where ordinary Bosnians bought such recordings. Once I had confirmed that Gramofon was a Bosnian label based in Sarajevo, I wondered why the company had not chosen to price their CDs more competitively for the local market. Who could afford those prices, especially when given the opportunity to buy five pirated CDs for the price of one legal copy? I wondered how this company, Gramofon Records, could possibly survive, given the existing piracy issues and what I knew to be expensive packaging and design. Was the label trying to prove something about the value of their product? I learned that many of the popular music (turbofolk and newly-composed folk music) record labels sold their CDs (which were often simply packaged in sleeves or hard cases) at cheaper local rates, so as to avoid, or at least slow, the profit loss associated with the piracy business. I had also heard rumors, confirmed by musicians, that some of the largest pirating operations in the country were actually run by the owners of the top pop labels, which called into question the impact of their profit loss. Given a market heavily flooded by pirated media and a general lack of interest in ownership as a way of experiencing music, how could a record label like Gramofon 197 survive? How could a local company afford such lavish packaging? I wondered if this was yet another of the myriad of legacy projects in Bosnia in which the donor was seeking to highlight their own donation with a glossy product or a one-time event, rather than founding and funding a project with long-term impact. I set out to determine what kinds of bands were signed to Gramofon. Were they all from Bosnia or was this a wider regional effort? What did Gramofon perceive as the audience and market for the music? My suspicion that the label sought a more international audience had been piqued when I noticed that the liner notes in several of the album booklets were in English. Later I would wander into the central “piazza” where locals could buy cheap clothes and other items made mainly in Turkey and China. Although the central piazza was the first such market I visited in Sarajevo, I later found that those on the outskirts of the city, often set at the bottom of socialist apartment blocks, had a great variety of clothes as well as fresh produce, spices, tools, and anything basic one might need. Past the corridor leading from the main pedestrian walk (called the Ferhadija), where a large gray-haired man always shouted čarape (socks), I chose to go into the first music and film stall. This piazza was one of many semi-outside markets where pirated CDs were lined up on long shelves, divided by genres and then alphabetically by artist. Unlike those in the bookstore, these CDs were far from dusty. The stranac (foreign) titles were placed in a different section than the domaci (local) titles, with local and American films (DVDs) taking up more than half of the stall. Stalls just like this one exist throughout the region, and in most countries in which music and film pirating is loosely regulated. Although the CDs were not in their original packaging, I could find almost any title I wanted. In the Buybook shop, I had seen a black and yellow CD with the cover made of 198 printed cardboard digipack, rather than plastic, and branded with “Pro Helvetia” and “Gramofon.” That CD was priced at KM 16 (at the time, approximately $8). At the pirate shop, I found the same CD, albeit in a generic plastic case, for KM 3 (at the time, approximately $1.50). Here, in the piazza, the proprietor of the stall told me that if I bought five CDs, he would throw in a sixth for free. What a deal! After I flipped through the cases, hearing the rhythmic click of each CD I passed joining with the others in the case, the owner asked if there was anything I was missing. Because if there was something, he explained, I could make a list and he would get the titles for me by the following day. The impact of recent lenient intellectual property laws, preceded by literally no enforcement directly after the war and the loss of socialist-era publishing houses and record labels, was felt throughout the cultural landscape. In my first interview with him, Edin Zubčević explained to me the situation he faces as a distributor of pop music in Bosnia and the impact of piracy. Zubčević: Here we have ... 8 or 9 places where you can buy our music, for example, here. Mostly you can buy something like five or ten thousand titles from international labels we distribute here in Bosnia. So, our market ... it's actually [a] market, it's [a] big issue here in Bosnia. Some kind of ... lack of legislation, or whatever, proper law system, combined with change of media, such ... mp3 or something like that.... All that kind of mess so actually discography suffers a lot. Because you cannot count on anything. All those campaigns of some CDs which sell five – fifty thousand copies in week, or two weeks. And that's pop stars. So, we provide service for that. So, that's very strange. We provide service for most of our competition. EH: Which seems like ... in English you say: a conflict of interests. Zubčević: Yes. Well it's not conflict of interests, it's a ... we don't see anyone as our competition, so we are quite unique in approach. We like to release [music] that no one would like. Not because we don't have taste, but absolutely contrary, we have taste and we have attitude. And we like ... we know what we like and what is important in some way. (Zubčević 2006a, interview with author) 199 In her article “Bosnia and Herzegovina Investment Climate,” economist and journalist Ina Dimireva agrees with other anti-pirating proponents that the curbing of piracy “could significantly improve the local economy, create new jobs, and generate significant tax revenue,”188 while scholars such as ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel (1996) recognize that the open exchange of digital technology can help to end the monopolies that national or large record labels have over smaller independent ones. In the former Yugoslavia’s case, the regional conflict brought official government CD and cassette production by Yugoslav labels such as Jugoton189 and Diskoton190 to a halt, leaving an open market for the production and purchase of black market nationalist recordings. With the rise of Internet access in Bosnian urban centers, one can only imagine the impact of easy access to digital copies of music. The offer of any title overnight was only possible because pirates had access to massive online music and film databases. After I had spent more time in Sarajevo, I heard about pirates who cut out the costs of renting a stall and instead delivered CDs and DVDs straight to individuals’ homes. There were also pirate vendors who were fluent in English and thus catered specifically to the community of internationals. On Sundays, when police were less likely to be patrolling, some CD/DVD vendors would roll black canvas suitcases filled with 188 Ina Dimireva, “Bosnia and Herzegovina Investment Climate,” EUbusiness, last modified 4 February 2010, http://www.eubusiness.com/europe/bosnia/invest. 189 Formed in 1947, Jugoton was Yugoslavia’s largest record label as well as having record stores throughout the country. It was based in Zagreb and was renamed Croatia Records after Croatia declared independence. Known bands that have been signed to the label include Crvena Jabuka, Električni Orgazam, and Partibrejkers. The label has received recent attention for its re-releases of rock and folk albums from the Yugoslav period with the rise of yugonostalgia. 190 Diskoton was a major label based in Sarajevo that recorded some of Sarajevo’s most well-known rock bands, including Bijelo Dugme, Indexi, and Zabranjeno Pušenje, as well as pop stars Zdravko Čolić and Lepa Bren. Diskoton also released music by foreign artists, most notably Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and The Temptations. The Diskoton recording studio was destroyed during the Sarajevo siege, along with all master recordings. 200 various titles to the pedestrian streets, seeking customers. Between the times I arrived and left Bosnia (approximately three years), piracy law tightened substantially. Whereas vendors had felt comfortable in semi-permanent stalls in 2003, by December of 2004 (after a crackdown on piracy by the Office of the High Representative), one mostly could find mobile vendors on the streets standing hesitantly, ready to pack up shop at the first sight of police. On the outskirts of the city, echoing the rural/urban divide prevalent in other aspects of life in the region, piracy laws seemed not to touch rural vendors at all. After my first trip to the piazza, and to many similar ones across the region, I began to understand one of the reasons Gramofon’s albums sat collecting dust in Buybook. They were simply too expensive for most citizens to justify buying when reproductions were so cheap. Given the high production costs and experience of not making a profit in the Bosnian market because of piracy, Gramofon chose to target international markets for their CDs. The CDs I saw in Buybook were meant for uninformed tourists and returning diaspora for whom the prices seemed reasonable. Limited Cross-Border Musical Exchange The conflict and the post-war security and political situation significantly impacted the flow of music, in all forms, across borders. State institutions, such as radio and television stations, which had facilitated a shared sense of nationhood through cultural understanding, largely collapsed or became arms of one of the national factions in Bosnia. Record producers and musicians, hoping to sell their recordings across post- Dayton borders to the regional audience that spoke Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, found travel and shipment difficult, costly, and time-consuming. Musicians in Sarajevo during 201 the siege paid dearly for instruments, amplifiers, and cassettes passed hand-to-hand under the airport through the tunnel leading to Dobrinja. Some musicians who had toured with ease between Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Zagreb, as well as throughout Europe, encountered visa limitations that greatly restricted their ability to play across the region. Just as the conflict tore apart some mixed marriages as husbands and wives found themselves on different sides of the conflict, so were several bands forced to break up because of their mixed membership. In the post-war period, after many borders had been opened, musicians still faced a nationalization of the markets in which some labels were only interested in promoting music consistent with their political and national interests. In my travels around Bosnia, I met several entrepreneurs who expressed to me their aspirations to use the Internet or radio to unite groups of fans across borders. Indeed, young musicians and audiences in Sarajevo often find it easier to go online to find music from bands in the region than take a train or bus to attend a live concert. Indeed, this is increasingly the case throughout the world for consumers with access to the Internet. Since the conflict, the process of opening borders for travel in the region and greater Europe has been slow, just like any tangible or intangible reconstruction. While I was completing a draft of this dissertation, the European Union interior ministers lifted visa requirements for citizens of Bosnia and Albania. Visa requirements for Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro were lifted a year earlier than those of Bosnia and Albania, in December of 2009. Prior to this agreement, in the years after the war ended, anyone who wanted to travel outside the country was forced to wait in long lines outside European embassies, fill out lengthy forms, and await the visa verdict which would 202 sometimes take weeks to arrive. Now, for the first time in almost fifteen years, Bosnians can freely travel to European countries. Gramofon Records As my collection of albums released by Gramofon Records grew, purchased both in pirates’ stalls and legal CD shops such as Buybook, I began to notice similarities in aspects of the releases. On a purely visual level, the album cover designs shared a certain abstract or figurative theme, as they almost never included a photograph of the musician(s) on their covers. Dubioza kolektiv album covers Dubnamite cover, 2006 (left) and Nepopularni Singlovi (Unpopular Singles), 2007 (right) Pro Helvetia and Gramofon logos branded the spine and back of each recording. For me, these logos acted both as markers of quality and cued me into the size and development over time of the cultural project. In total, Gramofon has released twenty-seven albums. Dubioza kolektiv was nominated for the Breakthrough Artist of the Year and the Musical Experimentation of the Year at the Davorin Award in 2004. The Davorin award was established in 2002 in the name of well know Indexi singer Davorin Popović. 203 Unfortunately in some crowds the award has a reputation for being corrupt. In 2005, they were nominated in eleven categories at the Davorin Award, and won in two categories, National Music Award in the Best Debut Album category and the Musical Innovation category. In the same year, SONEMUS, an avant-garde ensemble also with Gramofon, received a Davorin for their achievements in the field of classical music. In 2007, Basheskia, Valadna Legitimacija, and Dubioza kolektiv were all nominated in the urbani category of the Award. The small but prolific Gramofon Records was established in 2003. On their website, they explain that they “prefer artistic projects which are innovative, urban, authentic or important in some other way.” They also note that they are “trying to preserve and document [the] music heritage of Bosnia-Herzegovina.”191 In 2004, the Swiss Cultural Program (a shared program of the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia, and the Swiss Development Cooperation, SDC), agreed to support the label. Gramofon Records’ discography has three separate editions: “novi gramofon” (new gramofon), which is described by the record staff on their website as “different styles and types of music, actual production (new music, electronic, improvised music, jazz ....)”;192 “etno gramofon” (ethno gramofon), described as “traditional and sacred music”; and “gramofon classic,” which they hesitantly describe as “so-called classical music.” Connected to these editions, the label also has a category called gramofon video, on which documentary films, music videos, and artistic video works are released. Before receiving support from Pro Helvetia, the small staff at Gramofon were already running the two-week annual Sarajevo Jazz Festival, as well as acting as booking 191 Http://www.gramofon.ba/discography_about.php?lang=en. 192 Ibid. 204 agents for musicians wanting to perform in Bosnia. As a company, they boasted an impressive list of clients, booking the majority of large-scale events in Sarajevo. I learned from Čengić that Pro Helvetia was particularly interested in Gramofon’s viability as an already existent business and a local creation run by a small local staff. In addition to these reasons, Zubčević was an attractive candidate because he is part of the new generation of cultural organizers who have their eyes on the goal of future EU accession and are actively engaged in making money in their new free market economy. Zubčević explained the opportunity he saw on the musical horizon following the war to boost the alternative scene. We can talk about the limits of good taste when we talk about it, but not go any further. So, it's not about [supporting] a sophisticated culture, for that of course there is no cultural policy. Even in such a mess it creates the perfect ambience to what happens to us, what happens [over] the last five or ten years. And that is that we have a situation where in fact what would be ... at best a kind of subculture, a kind of parallel world, in fact our reality and our entire culture. (Zubčević 2006a, interview with author) Zubčević’s excitement about creating “a parallel world” where alternative opinions and musical styles may flourish is evident and was clear to me in all my interviews with him. Before explaining the inter-workings between Pro Helvetia and Gramofon, I offer a description of some of the artists and their songs released on Gramofon. At times I have included complete lyrics to uncover the political nature of the songs, as well as explanations of the accompanying videos. Two Gramofon Bands: Dubioza kolectiv and Zoster Arguably Gramofon’s most popular alternative band, Dubioza kolectiv (Dubious Collective), was founded in 2003 as a collaboration between musicians from Zenica and 205 Sarajevo. One reading of the band’s name is that it is meant to characterize what the musicians see as the dubious collective of men who govern their country. Well, the name of the band is a word game too. At the beginning, there is “dub” which is a musical term of reference of the band, related to reggae. Then there is a slang part.… In Bosnia, dubioza means what it means. Everyone knows what dubioza is, a state of mind. Then there is a semantic part, the actual meaning. Dubioza, in literary translation means suspicious, suspicious crowd. Well, Dubioza kolektiv. That’s it. And this multilayer characteristic had us too somewhat interested in it. Then we said: “Ok, this is it.”And it sounds good, and does have a sense, indeed. (Mujagić 2007, Kuhinja interview)193 Vocalists Almir Hasanbegović and Adisa Zvekić joined from the Zenica band Gluho doba Against Def Age.194 Adis Zvekić, also from Zenica, is a former member of Ornamenti.195 The two members from Sarajevo are Brano Jakubović (electronics), and the leader Vedran Mujagić (bass). They were joined by guitarist Armin Bušatlić, originally of ex-SCH as well as Beastly Stroke, and later percussionist Orhan (Oha) Maslo.196 Dubioza’s (as fans refer to the band) musical styles range from reggae and dub to rock and rap. In his article “In the Fight Against the Carefree Idiots BiH—Eight Therapeutic Steps,” Bosnian cultural critic Selvedin Avdić wrote that Dubioza kolectiv had the “most original music to emerge from the post-war musical scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without any exaggeration!”197 In 2007 and 2009, the band was nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award: Best Adriatic Act. 193 Kuhinja (kitchen) is a weekly television program about alternative culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the surrounding region. The show is produced by SCCA/pro.Ba and broadcast on Bosnian state television. 194 This band was formed in Zenica during the war in December of 1993. They originally performed street rap improvisation under the name Gluho doba. 195 Ornamenti is perhaps best known for its recordings with the experimental electronic musician Adi Lukovac on their label Post War Sound System. The band played dark electronica break beats fused with ethno samples and traditional instruments. 196 In 2006, I met and had an interview with Oha in Mostar about the percussion training he received at the Pavarotti Cultural Center before he joined Dubioza kolectiv. 197 Selvedin Avdić, “U borbi protiv bezbri`nih idiota – Osam terapijskih koraka” (In the Fight Against the Carefree Idiots BiH – Eight Therapeutic Steps), Zenica Notebook - Journal for Social Phenomenology and Cultural Dialogue 1 (2005): 235–244. 206 As they have developed their style, band members have also used the terms “fusion” and “hard core punk (HC),” as well as mentioning their use of Bosnian ethno motives. The embrace of a variety of styles allows the group to pick and choose genres that help to make their political statements as well as making them attractive to a larger audience of alternative fans. In a relatively small alternative scene, incorporating a variety of styles is both an aesthetic and strategic choice. Dubioza kolektiv Press shot from Dubioza kolektiv band website.198 The army green shirts and sweaters the men wear emphasize the group’s political resistance. According to their bassist and author of many of their songs, Vedran Mujagić, the urban aspect of their music is represented by their choice of genre, while their authenticity is gained through their honest reactions to political problems in Bosnia (Mujagić 2006, interview with author). By using the term “urban,” musicians on Gramofon seek to draw a line between music from rural origins and genres they view as 198 Http://dubioza.org/. 207 more relevant, cosmopolitan and worldly. Lyrics are commonly overtly political. While the band preaches peace, understanding, and tolerance, they do not shy away from extreme criticism of what they perceive as extreme nationalism and injustice in their country. The following videos I describe here represent some of the most overt commentaries by the band on the political situation in Bosnia. The images are harsh, but focused lyrics target specific local and foreign politicians as detrimental to the reconciliation and the unified state the musicians in Dubioza kolektiv seek. In these videos, the band supplements the music with visual elements to strengthen their political points. Dubioza kolectiv: Svi u štrajk (Everyone on Strike) Sung entirely in Bosnian, Dubioza kolektiv’s 2007 music video “Svi u štrajk” (Everyone on Strike)199 begins with a black and white clip of a three-headed monster emerging from a superimposed image of the Bosnian national coat of arms framed by ornate golden ribbon. The image is also reminiscent of the lion mascot seen at the beginning of MGM films. The monster’s cry is high-pitched and pained as it draws itself back behind the coat of arms only to explode in a flash of light, letting out a menacing screech, with its wings unfurled. The three-headed monster, a blatant reference to the three Bosnian heads of state, appears again and again throughout the video. Between forcefully rapped opening lyrics that protest the political situation, Dubioza criticizes the “nationalistic tendency” to exclude through ethnic categorization. The lead singer claims 199 Lyrics translated by author. Music video on DVD submitted with this dissertation. The subtitles on all videos were provided by the author. 208 that he “cannot just stand here and watch state money being stolen,” as the three-headed monster flies in front of the Bosnian presidency building throwing lightning from its heads. Hinting at the economic manipulation of Bosnia’s natural resources and the global (international) view of Bosnia as a backwater, the singer declares, “Government, Parliament, each house of people, due to them our country is vukojebina.com.”200 As each president serves his own ethno-national faction, but is bound to a shared, albeit divided state, so are the monster’s heads bound to one winged body. Throughout the video, animated figures appear in triplicate: as apes at a conference table (complete with a flower arrangement and a Bosnian coat of arms on the wall), as cartoon inmates behind jail bars or in electric chairs, and as hungry wolves or, perhaps to some, Sylvester the Cat, licking their lips at an empty table. The “we” and “our” in the lyrics address common Bosnian citizens, as the band’s youthful fans are dubbed, while “they” refers to local and foreign political officials. In perhaps the most engaging musical and visual part of the song (in its bridge), the rap and melody fall away and only a reggae rhythm is left. The black and white film clip shows a three-headed monster high in the air, and we hear a short folk melody on an accordion. The melodic line, and the movements of the monster which it accompanies, are cut short by the driving rock beats of a rhythm guitar that articulate the monster’s demise in massive explosions. In the few seconds of video the primitive monster [heard: folk music] is killed by the new modern generation [heard: rock beat]. In an interview on television, Dubioza kolectiv front man Vedran Mujagić even mentioned “destroying turbofolk.” “So, don’t lose hope ever and do not let some people criticize you no matter what you’re doing. No matter if you are dealing with 200 Vukojebina.com: Godforsaken hole, miserable backwoods (literally “where the wolves fuck.com”). 209 music, writing, painting, and so on. Well, it is important that you believe in what you’re doing and that you think that that is one way of destroying that turbofolk which is all around us.” (Mujagić 2007, Kuhinja interview) I don’t want district[s] I don’t recognize cantons I don’t want fifteen governments Morons of ministers All I need now is Rhythm, bass and a mike Turn the volume up Raise your fist high In the concluding bars (above), the musicians perform on top of a map of Bosnia, with the ethnic borders of cantons outlined to show how war and foreign intervention have fragmented their country’s political landscape, creating a puzzle-like grid. The lead singer expresses their discontent at the end of the song by singing the chorus (complete lyrics below) as the borders disappear, concluding only with the bordered outline of Bosnia. “Svi u štrajk” (Everyone on Strike)201 I am sick and tired of perpetual nationalistic tendency Meni je muka od vječne nacionalističke furke that I am to be included among Bosniaks, Balijas202 or Turks da me neko smješta u Bošnjake, Balije il' Turke I wish to be Herzegovinian, I wish to be Bosnian Želim biti Hercegovac, želim bit' Bosanac why should I live as a stranger in my country? zašto da u svojoj zemlji živim kao stranac? Illegal resident, alien, part of a dubious mass Ilegalac, vanzemaljac, dio dubiozne mase I cannot just stand here and watch state money being stolen ne mogu mirno gledat pljačku državne kase they take, grab from the lowest caste uzimaju, otimaju od najniže kaste you do nothing, but let them oppress you ništa ne poduzimaš, puštaš da te gaze I cannot believe that we are a mass with no vote Ne mogu da vjerujem da smo masa bez glasa with no sound or a bass, an oppressed class bez zvuka, bez basa, potlacena klasa Each of our presidents, each representative Svakog našeg predsjednika, svakog poslanika is reputed as a former or future convict prati glas bivšeg ili buduceg zatvorenika Government, Parliament, each house of peoples Vlada, Parlament, svih naroda dom due to them our country is vukojebina.com zbog njih je naša zemlja vukojebina.com 201 Dubioza kolectiv 2008, “Svi u štrajk.” 202 Balija – a derogatory term for a Muslim. 210 I don’t want districts Neću distrikt I don’t recognize cantons Ne priznajem kantone I don’t want fifteen governments Neću petnest vlada Morons for ministers Ministre morone All I need now is Sve što sada trebam Rhythm, bass and a mike Ritam, bas i majk Turn the volume up Pojačaj zvuk Raise your fist high Digni šaku u zrak Should I keep silent, watch, stand on my head Zar da šutim da gledam da dubim na glavi put up with bad vibrations, false democracy smile trpim loše vibracije, osmijeh lažne demokracije Dead cold among dead voters Mrtav hladan u društvu mrtvih glasača even with no salaries, they pay fools’ tax što bez plate ipak porez na budale plaća With interest rates they pay off other people’s debts S kamatom tuđe dugove vraća but the hand of justice is growing shorter and shorter a ruka pravde sve je kraća i kraća And we are all part of a reality show I svi smo dio reality show-a Big sisters and big brothers Velike sestre i velika braća I don’t want districts Neću distrikt I don’t recognize cantons Ne priznajem kantone I don’t want fifteen governments Neću petnest vlada Morons of ministers Ministre morone All I need now is Sve što sada trebam Rhythm, bass and a mike Ritam, bas i majk Turn the volume up Pojačaj zvuk Raise your fist high Digni šaku u zrak Raise your fist, raise your fist Digni šaku, digni šaku Raise your fist high Digni šaku u zrak On strike, on strike, U štrajk, u štrajk Everyone on strike! Svi u štrajk! On strike, on strike U štrajk, u štrajk Everyone on strike! Svi u štrajk! Everyone on strike! Svi u štrajk! Dubioza kolectiv: “Triple Head Monster” With the support of Gramofon in 2006, Dubioza kolectiv completed another politically-oriented music video for its song titled “Triple Head Monster (sic),”203 from the album Dubnamite,204 also released in the same year. “Triple Head Monster” differs from “Svi u štrajk” in several ways. The lyrics from this song are in English. According to Zubčević, several of the bands signed to Gramofon choose English in order to make 203 Music video on DVD submitted with this dissertation. It was produced with the help of the progressive media company Pro.ba. 204 The name of the album Dubnamite, which combined “dub” with “dynamite,” is yet another example of Dubioza’s belief that political music is powerful and can be used as a weapon. 211 their music accessible to a larger audience. Most young audiences in Sarajevo speak English and understand the meanings of the English language songs. Dubioza kolektiv’s front man, Vedran Mujagić, explained the band’s point of view in choosing English. For the time being, most texts are in English not because we don’t know or don’t want to sing in our language, or in any other language, when it comes to us, we would like to experiment a lot. For the time being, some songs are in English because we wish and believe we’ll have a wide range of impact by stating our messages and all that is happening here. Therefore, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but wider too. (Mujagić 2007, Kuhinja interview) The video I describe here also differs from the former. While “Svi u štrajk” was set in a nebulous space full of animated monsters and figures, “Triple Head Monster” was shot in a real venue in Sarajevo. The CDA club, Centar Društvenih Aktivnosti (the Center of Social Activities), is located in the residential neighborhood of Mejtaš in the hills above central Sarajevo. CDA became the center of the alternative scene after the conflict. Gramofon organized many concerts and album releases on the center’s small stage. In line with the revolutionary and underground approach of many of the musicians, the venue was rough and edgy and attended by a similar crowd dressed in down-to-earth clothing such as jeans and t-shirts. I note the dress here as the scene differs from what one might see at a turbofolk concert or club where most people dress up, with women in high heels and short skirts. Even after the conflict had ended, more than in any other performance space, CDA typified the alternative scene’s alternative ethos. In the last few years, CDA has been remodeled and now houses the Sarajevski ratni teatar (Sarajevo War Theatre).205 As positive as it is to see buildings remodeled, this new development has meant that CDA is no longer available to musicians and bands in 205 On May 17, 1992, a group of actors founded this theater organization, made up of the three professional theatres in Sarajevo in existence before the war. While officially organized theater performances ceased at the beginning of the conflict, they gave some 2,000 performances during the four years of siege. 212 the alternative scene. 206 CDA facade 207 CDA facade Remodeled, now housing the Sarajevski ratni teatar (Sarajevo War Theater) The video was shot on the CDA stage and on recognizable streets of the city. More than 150 Dubioza kolektiv fans participated in the video as extras. They wore on their heads white shopping bags bearing printed images of the three Bosnian presidents’ likenesses. Each head of state’s image was recognizable to Bosnian citizens. At the time, the presidents were Sulejman Tihić (Party of Democratic Action), Mirko Šarović 206 Photo by author, 2005. 207 Photo by author, 2010. 213 (Serbian Democratic Party), and Dragan Čović (Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The video opens with the three “heads” of state in stari Buybook reading textbooks, one titled Siromaštvo i economija (Poverty and Economy), the other Privatna rjesenja je nije problema (Private Decisions Are Not a Problem). They are blinded by their masks, which block their ability to process anything they read. The book titles contrast with each other, showing the politicians’ private decisions, which could be read in the then-present political situation as private nationalistic decisions, versus problems of poverty and economics that faced all citizens regardless of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. Screen shot from music video “Triple Head Monster As the song begins, a man’s voice calmly chants “Win the revolution” eight times as an introduction. The chant sets the bookstore scene and then a concert scene in which each audience member’s head is covered with a white president bag. The printed bags seem to hint at the generalizing aspect of the political situation, as everyday citizens take on the traits of limp politicians. The camera opens on Adisa Zvekić, the only woman in the group, singing a melodic line to the shopping audience as she takes up the first two 214 stanzas of the song while she dances violently: Don’t you forget Time passes fast Time to regret Time to stand up and fight Strangle tyrant that bites Slows our future Manipulates our present Twisting our past Time passes too fast (Dubioza kolectiv 2006a, “Triple Head Monster”) By addressing the future, the lyrics emphasize the urgency of the fight against the political situation while also informing the audience about the manipulation of their histories. Here the quick cuts and zooms also suit the tension of the music. Dubioza’s band members jump on the stage clad in military green as they perform. At this point in the video, unlike most Dubioza audiences, members sit in lines of chairs nodding their heads in unison, as if to display their obedience to the band. Mire, from the Tuzla-based band Odbrana (Defense),208 a guest performer in the song, takes the stage and solo raps his way through the chorus twice. Meanwhile, black and white shots show bag-clad people walking around Sarajevo marking the video’s origin. This music is attractive Makes you feel reflective So join da’ collective (echo: “kolektiv … kolektiv”) (Ibid.) In unison, the band members use the last four lines of the section to advise their listeners to resist the status quo by maintaining their individuality and remaining close to their cultural roots. The call to “join da’ collective” is an appeal to engage politically as well as 208 Odbrana began in 1998 by performing with now famous Bosnian rapper Edo Maajka. 215 to join in Dubioza kolectiv’s performance. The following stanzas are rapped by Mire, with his pronunciation of words with strong vowels such as “ya,” “culture” (heard: “cultca”), and “tired” (heard: “tayad”), reminiscent of Jamaican reggae performers. Defense now taking control About this place Of ya face I’m so tired Your mind is on a messa’ So stand up and stay strong Please be right and not all wrong But please be yourself And you’ll never wait too long Your chance is your future Your friends and your culture Your heritage is here man You have no place for fear Your chance is your future Your friends and your culture Your life is like the air And the air is all around ya’ In direct reference to the three Bosnian presidents, the chorus repeats twice more. The last line of the chorus warns the listeners to seek real solutions rather than false ones. Destroy the triple-head monster Save ourselves from disaster Now we need revolution We’ll take no fake solution (x2) The music pauses and bobbing bag-clad heads are accompanied by: Rise Bosnians, rise In a fast rap: Politically right Socially down Stand up fight Coz’ everything’s down 216 They still bite You make no sound Don’t be quiet Just get loud When the force comes Ready to attack Step up to the front Don’t step back Can you overcome Fear of gun-clack Let’s be one Then you won’t crack Defense, defense, defense Stand up against Can you man replace the trace of blood chase Disgrace of human kind was a case Murder of the men shot in back, have to face When the time comes you’ll have to decide Will you join the movement of people who rise Or you’ll step aside and swallow the lies Prepare for change, be wise and realize Boom Slow melodic reggae response. Each one of us must fight for our right Must fight the dark so you can see the light Now we even can’t see it at the end of a tunnel One foot in a grave and the other to follow Is this land of the freedom Or the land of the terror Can’t trick your people forever (x3) Defense now taking control About this place Of ya face I’m so tired Your mind is on a messa’ So stand up and stay strong Please be right and not all wrong But please be yourself And you’ll never wait to long Your chance is your future Your friends and your culture 217 Your heritage is here man You have no place for fear Your chance is your future Your friends and your culture Your life is like the air And the air is all around ya’ Destroy the triple-head monster Save ourselves from disaster Now we need revolution We’ll take no fake solution (x4) (Ibid.) The lines of the final verse of the song again repeat the salient messages of the song: a divided government will lead to disaster, a revolution is the only option to evading such a disaster, and to be wary of “fake” solutions. Conceivably the largest fake solution in the Bosnian context is the Dayton Agreement. Dubioza kolectiv: Democracy The two previous songs and videos focused strong criticism on national political figures with the three-headed monster acting as a metaphor for the frightening creature created by the Dayton Accord. In their song “Democracy,” which was also released on the Dubnamite recording, the international community is targeted. The lyrics from this song accuse both foreign officials and also the United Nations peacekeeping troops of mistreatment, be it physical or rhetorical. The song begins with a reporter’s voice on a news clip: “Lord Owen arrived in Sarajevo, he brought a clear message to the people of Bosnia.” Owen’s voice is heard: “Don't, don't, don't live under this dream that the West is going to come in and sort this 218 problem out. Don't dream dreams.”209 His statement about what Bosnians should or should not expect from the West was offensive to many as they sought to pick up their lives after the war. The following lyrics are rapped quickly and with aggression. [S]udden confront aggression on the front prime-time human disaster big heads never ask what happens after their filthy ideas got the blinded people crawl down on their knees here's their politic, a big trick echo of the gun click from the white creek to the black peak global distress control whole media and press the time has come for them to feel the stress what we saw people slaughtered on their doors ethnic cleansing observed and therefore supported by UN force so why the fuck they were here for?! (Dubioza kolectiv 2006a, “Democracy”) The rap is halted by another clip “you are now under the protection of the UN forces,”210 in reference to the UN’s failure to protect the Muslim community in Srebrenica after making an announcement that they were protected within the UN safe zones. The 209 Lord Owen is one of the authors of the Vance-Owen Plan, an early peace plan. Backed by the UN, the 1993 plan involved dividing Bosnia into ten semi-autonomous regions. However, on May 5, 1993, the Bosnian Serb Assembly rejected the plan; and on June 18, Lord Owen declared the plan “dead.” 210 An excerpt from the address of General Philippe Morillon (United Nations Commander) to the people of Srebrenica. Srebrenica: A Cry from the Grave, directed by Leslie Woodhead (1999: BBC2/PBS). 219 genocide that resulted from the UN’s mistake took the lives of some 8,000 Bosniaks,211 created some 30,000 refugees who were forced to flee their homes, and resulted in one of the largest blunders by the international community during the conflict. While they live on our life source Ignorance is their force So no remorse Could it be worse We’ve never lived By our choice Here’s the noise Of people left with no voice U.S. eye in the sky Couldn’t be missed by They watched the whole scene Today they dare to deny Democracy with a fake smile Forced upon whole world to apply In a soft chant Adisa Zvekić sings: One day, Freedom coma’ one day Freedom coma’ one day One day, Freedom coma’ one day One day, Freedom coma’ one day One day Accusing foreigners and local politicians They planted the evil seed Used their lie force so it would proceed Instead of food it grew into hate and greed Never gave the people what they need So we better take a lead We’ll never let them change our beliefs Use your mind, unity is what we need We can stop their games Our lives they’re playing with (x2) 211 Potocari Memorial Center Preliminary List of Missing Persons from Srebrenica '95, http://www.potocarimc.ba/_ba/liste/nestali_a.php. 220 In an angry driving rap: Mind, mind, mind Better try to survive This game full of crime The truth can’t be modified We all know that lie Can’t be justified I will testify After we suffered genocide Then we were struck with the herbicide Lots of them died to get to the other side Those who survived, almost lost their mind Recognize, realize, be wise Clock is ticking away Time is slipping away Blood is spilt today I’ll be critical, mystical, lyrical In the “White Hall” Blood on the “Pink Wall” Who stole the soul of the people I heard somewhere we’re all equal Guess they don’t want us to be free From here to the deserts From past to the present In a whisper: Democracy with a fake smile Forced upon whole world to apply While we’re living in a hypocrisy Fuck this democracy FUCK THIS DEMOCRACY (x16) (Ibid.) Zoster: Banana Stejt Zoster is another band within the alternative scene signed to the Gramofon label. Like Dubioza kolektiv, their songs incorporate a variety of musical styles, including jazz, reggae, and rock. They formed in 2000 under the names Zmajevi and Flomasteri, 221 originally as a partnership between Dražan Planinić and Mario Knezović, who were later joined by drummer Goran Rebac and singer Marijana Pejić. The band credits Mario Knezović with having come up with a name that makes a political statement about the present situation in Bosnia. 
The present name of the band came up after Mario recovered from herpes zoster,212 [which] he was diagnosed with by a great fan of the band, a certain doctor Miko. Herpes zoster is a virus living in a human body, and in the case of low immune system it results in a skin rash spreading gradually, whereas, Zoster came up as a result of a low immune system of the society and as a need to say and do something about it.213 On their website, they explain that the band “believes that reggae is the appropriate music for this turbulent area in which just [a] dosage of aggressiveness is too much even when it comes to music.” They explain that their music is meant to “convey the message of tolerance, peace, progress and affirmation and also a bit of education here and there.”214 Odbrana, another alternative band in Bosnia, explained their use of reggae as well. “It is important that reggae was developed in Jamaica when it was in a similar situation in which our country finds itself now. It means the corruption, criminal, illegality and so on. So it is not, well, why reggae, why not reggae? Reggae in the world, reggae Bosnia” (Odbrana 2007, Kuhinja interview). With the support of Gramofon, Zoster’s music video, “Policija” (Police), received local acclaim and was shown throughout Bosnia on several television stations. As with other videos presented in this work, the video was available streaming on YouTube and to download through torrents. In one phrase, the singer declares “we are not so small, we all know who Marley [is], and I would be like that, if I had been born in Jamaica.” 212 Herpes zoster is better known as shingles. 213 Zoster band website: http://www.facebook.com/bandzoster?v=info. 214 Ibid. 222 hinting at the band’s choice to play reggae-inspired songs. The lyrics also combat a common assumption that after the war the rest of the world thought Bosnians were disconnected from the world. Complaints about, and threats against, local officials are at the center of the lyrics, as the chorus runs: “Police of this state always come too late, nobody doing his business, tonight you will see the justice in my hand.”215 Their lyrics for “Banana stejt” (Banana State) tell the story of a Bosnian working in cotton fields and drawing a comparison with the wealth of other nations and people. As cotton is not grown in Bosnia, the song’s protagonist has taken on the identity of another worker in, perhaps, a real banana republic. Perhaps by calling the song “Banana stejt,” they are drawing the line between Bosnia, with its dependence upon foreigners, and a banana republic. Such republics are held up by a colonialist government and are often failed states because of their dependency upon one crop. Banana republics are often of little economic importance. “The term almost always has an additional supposition that the country has a corrupt government. Police force, judiciary, etc., and is technologically backward” (Stuart-Hamilton, 24). “Banana stejt” (Banana State)216 I work at cotton plantation Ja radim na plantazi pamuka I’m picking it off all day long Berem ga po cijeli dan Cotton panties you’re wearing Pamucne gace sto ih nosis ti Are from cotton I picked off Od pamuka su sto sam brao ja The country you live in U zemlji gdje zivis ti Is prosperous and good for living Blagostanje je i dobro se zivi And I’m working hard all day long A ja radim tesko cijeli dan So I’m not stupid but happy Pa nisam glup nego radostan Whether picking cotton or bananas Brao pamuk ili banane It’s all the same, you’re not for me Svejedno je, Ti nisi za me, 215 Zoster 2005, “Policija.” 216 Zoster 2005, “Banana stejt.” 223 You are beautiful and attractive, Ti si lijepa i zgodna, and attractive and beautiful, i zgodna i lijepa , When I remember you, Kad te se sjetim, It makes me sick, it’s from the cotton, Muka mi je, od pamuka je, It makes me sick, it’s from the cotton, muka mi je, od pamuka je It makes me sick, it’s from the cotton muka mi je od pamuka je ... Because I live in a banana state, It doesn’t mean that I’m banana man Because I live in the ass of the world it doesn’t mean that I am less worth (x2) I work hard on cotton fields, Picking cotton everyday, Underwear that you wear, is of the cotton that I made In the country that you live Rules the harmony and prosperity You don’t know me You don’t know me You don’t know me Because I live in a banana state, It doesn’t mean that I’m banana man Because I live in the ass of the world it doesn’t mean that I am less worth (x2) The fact that I live in banana state, doesn’t To sto zivim u banana stejt , mean that I’m stupid ne znaci da sam glup i and that I’m straight da sam strejt The fact that I live in the ass of the world, To sto zivim u supku svijeta , doesn’t mean that I’m worth less ne znaci da sam manje vrijedan Hey mister Taliman, tali me banana Daylight come and I want to go home Hey mister Taliman, tali me banana Daylight come and I want to go home Hey mister Taliman, Hej gospodine Talimane 224 tali me banana tali mi bananu, Daylight come and I want to go home zora svice i ja moram poc. Hey mister Taliman, Hej gospodine Talimane tali me banana tali mi bananu, Daylight come and I want to go home zora svice i ja moram poc! EEE,uu-le-le-le-le-lo, Daylight come and I want to go home zora svice i ja moram poc, eee,uu-le-le-le-le-lo zora svice i ja moram poc... (Zoster 2005, “Banana stejt”) In the final lines of the song Zoster directly quotes the chorus of the Banana Boat song popularized by Harry Belafonte in his 1957 RCA recording Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean. The song was originally based on a Jamaican folk song. The lyrics express dock-workers’ impatience with their boss as they wait for their bananas (cargo) to be counted as the sun comes up. In an ironic way, the musicians in Zoster, take on the well defined identity of Caribbean third world workers while earlier in the song they criticized the categorization. Together, the songs I have discussed in this chapter introduce the alternative music scene of Sarajevo, show the kinds of recordings Gramofon produces, and illustrate the overtly political nature of the bands’ repertoires. In an environment in which many young people are fed up with ethno-religious political debate and fear for their future, bands signed to Gramofon offer inspiration with lyrics that critique the political situation and offer an alternative to divisive nationalist narratives so present in everyday life. Their use of musical styles not indigenous to Bosnia, such as reggae, rap, dub217 and jazz, 217 In the 1960s, the dub genre of music developed out of reggae. Dub musicians rely heavily on instrumental remixes of recordings that they manipulate to create songs. Generally, the drum and bass parts 225 draws young listeners to concerts, while the political topics of their songs hopefully plant the seeds of a peaceful and united Bosnia. Vedran Mujagić sums up alternative musician’s reasons for choosing to engage politically through their lyrics. The essence and the reason why we are engaged in music, why we are engaged in music in a professional way, is precisely to state our opinion, expressing it in the form of music. Our music is the only positive influence for us to say what we think about all that is happening. As well as what was going on during the war, and what we had expressed in the still of the night. The message is the most important thing for us. That message is that we should stick to reality, that we should not let anyone lie to us, that we should be aware of what is going on. There are many people who do not want to think, they have neither the strength or the desire to do it, so they go with the flow, and that is the worst attitude. According to my opinion, as well as the opinions of all of us, there should have been at least fifty revolutions by now (in Bosnia).” (Mujagić 2007, Kuhinja interview) Pro Helvetia’s long-term support of Gramofon has been central to the development of the alternative scene in Sarajevo. When each of these bands began playing together, they had little access to audiences. Although the Internet is an increasingly popular mode for learning about new bands and listening to music, without connections it is difficult to succeed. Gramofon invested in groups not only because of the possibility that they might succeed financially, but also because their music might gain political traction. The organizational goals outlined by Gramofon and Pro Helvetia speak directly to their understanding of the role of art and culture in society and their strategic choice of politically salient individuals and groups. The Donor and the Recipient: A Partnership Gramofon Records was originally Edin Zubčević’s unattainable dream. A slim and intense individual who speaks clearly and forcefully, by 2000 Zubčević was almost are emphasized. See Piero Scaruffi, A History of Rock Music: 1951-2000 (New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2003) for a more extended description. 226 drowning under the work of organizing and raising money for one of the main new festivals in Sarajevo, the Sarajevo Jazz Festival. When I first met him in his mid-thirties, Zubčević was a driving character, trying to do things in the post-war environment that seemed impossible. More than eight years after the war, Zubčević managed to found Gramofon Records in 2003, a small, locally-run label based in Sarajevo. Zubčević founded the company following his success running the Sarajevo Jazz Festival. In an interview on the weekly television program about alternative culture, called Kuhinja, Zubčević explained the festival’s beginning. When we started organizing the festival for the first time, we were total amateurs, we had no clue about it. I personally had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I didn’t know what it meant to organize a concert. And my first experience of organizing an event was nothing more and nothing less but a whole festival. I mean, well, this can only happen to some … self-confident Bosnian, it seems. (Zubčević 2007, Kuhinja interview) In his first comment to me in our first interview, Zubčević attempted to encapsulate the complexity of his concept for fusing a commercial business and nonprofit record label. Three years ago we established this company called Gramofon and we tried to sell our know-how, because we started by making a festival. And by doing that we knew how to make an event. And ... because the festival worked as a nonprofit company. It's tough on the festival, because we have three or four members [in our] staff. We try to keep the staff together, and we established private company, which is ... which is owned by us. And actually we met each other during the festival and stayed together and tried to develop it, in a way. And we've established the private company to make profit, but at the same time to do commercially some artistic things, which we believe that is OK to do. And actually we try.... Actually Gramofon, its company discography is [the] main activity. And besides of that, because you cannot live by doing the CDs, you cannot sell much because we have piracy all around etc., etc. Big issue here. But at [the] same time we sell during the concert and events for companies that need service, that type of service. And we also distribute music we like. So, we keep our karma quite balanced, because we're doing something commercial, and at the same time [the company] earns money for us, our salaries.... We also ... if we save some money we also produce some things we like to do. (Zubčević 2006b, interview with author) 227 In 2004, following a few releases through Buybook,218 the label entered into partnership with Pro Helvetia. Aida Čengić (at the time, Country Director of Pro Helvetia), explained to me the state of album releases in Sarajevo before working with Zubčević to found Gramofon. In this quotation she compares the turbofolk commercial music market to the alternative scene she felt was unrepresented. So, they were starting to do that and it didn’t work out. It was really a little bit too much.… Then there were some other producers … I cannot say they were producers, they were just a few.… For example, Buybook, they did a few releases, but it was also really, really ad hoc. Nothing really systematic. So, on the one hand you have this highly commercial phase that get to be published and then there are these things which are not so, so commercial, but valuable. And relevant for that particular moment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And they don’t get to be published, or if they do, it’s haphazard. (Čengić 2006, interview with author) Although, like most nationally funded arts councils, Pro Helvetia’s main focus is to promote Swiss artists within Switzerland through small grants, they also take up the task of international cultural diplomacy and regional development. In my many conversations with cultural figures in the city who felt they had a sense about international/foreign funding for musicians, artists, and other performers, Pro Helvetia always came up as the most progressive and well-liked of the funders. This success was often described to me in comparison to heavy-handed efforts or cultural projects that were out of touch with local interests. In 1939, Pro Helvetia became Switzerland’s Arts Council, as laid out in the Pro Helvetia Act of that year. At present, the Swiss parliament allocates support for the organization every four years “to promote artistic creation, support cultural exchange both within Switzerland and with foreign countries, disseminate culture and campaign for 218 For a period of time, Buybook published books and albums. 228 folk culture.”219 These tasks are understood “as a mandate to promote public awareness of the arts, to encourage reflection and debate on cultural needs and cultural policy, to promote Swiss arts abroad, and to foster encounters with the cultures both of Switzerland's various regions and of other countries.”220 Pro Helvetia began working in Sarajevo in 1999 and had Swiss representatives based in seven different countries in the region of Southeastern Europe. In Bosnia, Čengić was the engine for the project. “I wanted really to speed up the whole thing. And I sent more ideas [to the Swiss headquarters] because, you know, there were lots of ideas, and so why not send more” (Čengić 2006, interview with author). Pro Helvetia’s work abroad, and thus, in the case of Bosnia, is encompassed within the last parts of this statement. Pro Helvetia’s mission statement comprises five sections: Mandate, Targets, Values, Tools, and Position. Its stated targets: “Pro Helvetia contributes to the development and opening up of society. It fosters diversity of cultural expression. It promotes Switzerland’s image abroad and encourages a multi-faceted self-perception at home.” Consistent with their approach to Gramofon, Pro Helvetia makes the following statements about how they understand the value of art: 1) Art as an experiment; the Arts Council supports fresh and courageous projects. 2) Art is about difference; the Arts Council highlights both differences and common ground. 3) Art is controversy; the Arts Council encourages critical debate. 4) Art is about respect; the Arts Council advances cultural learning.221 Pro Helvetia’s mandate of fostering creativity, engagement, and cooperation is exhibited in the organization’s support of Gramofon. By those who seek to instill ethno-religious 219 Http://www.prohelvetia.ch/APPLICATIONS.7.0.html?&L=4. 220 Pro Helvetia Mission Statement, http://www.prohelvetia.ch/Mission-Statement.67.0.html?&L=4. 221 Ibid. 229 divisions in Bosnia, Pro Helvetia could also be charged with fomenting revolution among these alternative groups and their audiences. Small Action, Cooperation, and Micro-grants222 When the Pro Helvetia office was originally set up in January of 2003, Čengić organized a meeting of local experts, from different fields of art, and one representative from the headquarters in Zurich. Locals greatly outnumbered the Pro Helvetia staff. Independently, the group also met with fifteen additional experts in the field of culture to put together a countrywide analysis.223 In this context, the experts were scholars and cultural organizers chosen to represent various cultural sectors. In her interview with me, Čengić explained: Based on that analysis and based on their inputs during those two days, we developed a country concept in which we said [that] we are interested in young people, we are interested in [the] formation [of] professional development. Also, based on my knowledge of the situation, we came up with five ideas. One of those five ideas was Gramofon. Because basically I was working … before this job I was working in Soros Foundation. It was … unfortunately, it is no longer so present, but it was very present in [the] culture field. So then I knew about Edo’s aspirations to do some publishing. And then we sat to discuss about it. “Are you still in?” and he said, “Yes, yes, very much so.” So this is the initial conversation that took place. (Čengić 2006, interview with author) There was also a steering group, based in Zurich, which was in charge of approving or rejecting proposed projects. After approval, Čengić was given an additional three months to develop the project. Her goals during that period with Zubčević were “to develop all [of] the activities, to develop [an] action plan, to develop [the] budget into tiny little 222 Micro-grants are simply small grants. In the field of development, such grants are also called mini- grants. Micro-grants have been used in development projects around the world to help engage citizens in their communities through market activity without the weight of debt. In the American context, micro- grants have been a particularly popular way of supporting artists and musicians. We might also refer to these grants as micro-patronage as they are termed in the following website: http://blog.alrdesign.com/2009/05/micro-grants-for-artists.html. 223 Unfortunately, Pro Helvetia was unwilling to share the analysis with me. 230 detail, to develop strategy for the second and third years” (ibid.). After the process of analysis and development, the project was finally signed in January of 2003. According to Čengić, funding levels by Pro Helvetia are based more on the strength of the individual projects than on some sort of pre-allocation to specific countries. Of the original projects proposed by Čengić, only two were approved. In response to my questions about whether she was disappointed by the fact that all of the proposals were not accepted, Čengić calmly responded, “You can’t get everything. My experience says it’s a good rule not to do more than three cooperation projects at the same time” (Čengić 2006, interview with author). In the post-war years in which Pro Helvetia was more active in the region, the organization also spent 100,000 Swiss francs a year (approximately $102,650), on “small action” projects in each country within the region. Unlike larger and more engaged projects based on long relationships, such as that with Gramofon, small action grants are meant to provide small one-time funds. In Bosnia, Pro Helvetia has used these for a wide range of activities including exhibitions, concerts, musicians’ tours, and theater performances. Small action grants may also be dispersed in cooperation with larger projects. In the case of Gramofon, individual musicians may receive such grants to assist them in activities ancillary to the label’s budget. I have noted the imbalanced sponsor-recipient relationship that developed, or was built, into many other cultural projects I researched in Bosnia. Unlike the organizers of those projects that I have presented in other parts of this dissertation, such as Radio Mir or embassy funding of festivals, both Zubčević and Čengić were adamant about defining their relationship as a balanced and cooperative one. When I asked Zubčević to explain 231 how he dealt with the issue of sponsorship, he was careful to underline Gramofon’s independence. It's not, it's not sponsorship. It's not.... We're doing…. Cause we used to be NGO, and we established the company, which is actually part of cultural industry. And, actually, my idea is that we have from NGO work, cause we, as I said, we got know how, we got to learn how to do certain things and we know how to make money. And we learn how to ... how to ... be active in the culture industry … because there is no culture industry here. (Zubčević 2006, interview with author) One of the reasons for his obstinate response is that over the life of the project, Pro Helvetia has provided low-level, but consistent operational funds to Gramofon in the form of small yearly matching grants. Explained by Pro Helvetia as a partnership, the relationship is based upon financial support that is contingent upon the release of a certain number of CDs and continued financial earnings by the label. The aim of this small level institutional granting initiative by the Swiss is to guide the label to future self- sustainability. The project represents a specific approach to funding in that it does not focus on a one-time event but on long-term sustainability in the area of culture. Zubčević explained to me his understanding of the partnership and Gramofon’s responsibilities to Pro Helvetia. And after one year they said: “Let's sign the contract for three years and let's see [if] will we do in [the] next year.” And every three months we're writing reports. Financial reports, narrative reports, whatever. And step by step so we established a relationship. Actually, we consider the office from Pro Hevecia as a partner, as a member of the staff but it also has authority. “You know, you should release CD, that CD.” So, they remind us sometimes, you know. Because they say, “You said that you're gonna release six CDs, you released five, why does that happen?” We say: “Because of that,” “OK then do that again, we'll pay you money.” Because we propose certain program, and if we don't fulfill what we're supposed it's not OK, it's not serious. (Ibid.) For Zubčević, the most significant gain the label has made, due to Pro Helvetia’s support, has been their ability to build a well-produced and packaged body of Bosnian 232 music that is accessible to local and international markets. Part of making Gramofon releases available to international markets involved inviting a consultant from Switzerland who had been running a successful label called Intakt Records,224 a major Swiss jazz label, for more than twenty years. Talking about the consultant, Patrick Landolt, Čengić stressed his personality, knowledge, and willingness to help. “The industry … he knows it inside out. And he is [the] kind of person who wants to help. He was the best consultant for this job” (Čengić 2006, interview with author). Packaging was also a major issue for Gramofon before they received support from Pro Helvetia. Now Gramofon CDs are all packaged in high quality cardboard digipacks, often accompanied with liner notes. As discussed earlier in this chapter, Southeastern European musicians face a rampant piracy market, only made worse in the aftermath of the war. For this reason, many musicians are unable to survive based upon the local music market alone. By funding Gramofon, Pro Helvetia hoped to contribute to diversifying and developing the local music market as well as to create an identifiable Bosnian product for international markets. The donor actively supported this goal by inviting an experienced recording entrepreneur and record label director to Sarajevo to advise Gramofon about global markets, recording techniques, and packaging. Packaging, at least at the time of release, helped Gramofon to stand out in the international market. In their mission statement, Pro Helvetia’s policy explains their support for a “diversified, lively and innovative cultural scene” and equates musicians and artists in the scene as aiding in democratic expression. Gramofon’s role as one of the only alternative 224 Intakt Records, http://www.intaktrec.ch/. 233 or engaged record labels in the country is central to its support by Pro Helvetia and also to the difficulty it faces in competing with popular music labels in the country. Alternative, in this case, is a broad term used to describe any genre that did not fit into the popular scenes like turbofolk and newly-composed folk music. In the case of Gramofon, “alternative” genres range from hip-hop to reggae and emphasize engagement with local political and social topics. In the lyrics, it is common to hear criticism of foreigners who run the country, retelling of misguided decisions made during the war, and complaints about local institutions and politicians. A few characteristics of the aiding procedure (approach) of Pro Helvetia’s work in Bosnia stand out as different from other organizations that fund cultural projects. Aida Čengić, the program director for the country, is Bosnian and has a good deal of experience living and working in Sarajevo. During the war she spent a number of years in Switzerland, so that had also allowed her to communicate well with the Swiss head office. When she was hired by Pro Helvetia, she had extensive knowledge of the aid environment, as she had been working for the Soros Open Society Fund.225 It is clear that many of the original choices made in regard to supporting Gramofon in its infancy were the result of having an informed and locally born person with full Bosnian fluency developing the program. I saw Čengić at events, talking to people, engaging in happenings around town. In conversations with her, I found she was up on critiques and reviews of cultural events. It may seem like a minimal requirement that a country cultural director attend events, but my impressions were based on embassy staff that very rarely attended cultural events. 225 Soros Open Society Fund had perhaps the greatest impact on the cultural scene by financially supporting the Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA). 234 Čengić used her experience and contacts to verify the viability of Zubčević’s claim that an independent record label could succeed in Bosnia. She knew that Zubčević had been running the Sarajevo Jazz Festival, and she undoubtedly had attended a number of concerts and heard positive reviews. Under-reported in analyses of this type are the independent connections she has with citizens beyond work. Čengić had long-term professional connections that she brought with her from one cultural position to the next. Unlike directors of festivals such as Baščaršijske noći and Sarajevska Zima, Zubčević is from a younger generation of cultural figures. He was not a part of the socialist period festival directors. This status is both a strength and a weakness. It is a strength because he has not been seen as catering to whatever political situation existed at a certain time. This has allowed him to represent himself with a strong identity consistent with the present political transition. Because his projects were relatively new, Zubčević was less exposed to attacks about past collusion with nationalist politicians. His independent success, partially made with the support of foreign agencies, made it possible for him not to have to pander for political support. Čengić explained to me Zubčević’s first ideas about starting a label: When we started a project, they said they would like to do different things. Which is lovely, but it makes their work more complicated. So ... what they said they wanted to do…, of course, was to release recent productions to support young artists…. You spoke to Edo so you know what he's thinking. He... And he is right, of course, that, that present production, or perhaps the production in that particular moment, which ... it was April 2003, when we started to talk. It was highly, highly commercial. Young musicians [that] didn't want to pursue that particular road, they didn't really have options. Or they would have to release their own CDs, or ... it would be sitting somewhere in the drawer. So he really wanted to do something. And really to do it systematically. Because there were few attempts before that, really to do something.” (Čengić 2006, interview with author) 235 In 2003, and in the years that followed for that matter, there were only a few commercial possibilities for musicians who hoped to make a living with their music in Bosnia. Gramofon musicians concertize extensively throughout the region. Some bands, such as Dubioza kolektiv and Zoster also tour in Europe for general audiences. During the summer, they also visit festivals across Europe.226 Zubčević recognized that independent and open-minded musicians were not able to release their music at the time. Čengić recounted one of her first exchanges with Zubčević: Then there were some other producers.... I cannot say they were producers, they were just few.... For example, Buybook they did a few releases, but it was also really, really ad hoc. Nothing really systematic. So, on the one hand you have this highly commercial phase that get[s] to be published and then there are these things which are not so, so commercial, but valuable. And relevant for that particular moment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And they don't get to be published, or have haphazardly. So, that was the idea. We want to make available the recent relevant music. Hopefully with some commercial result because they really have to make some money. But that is not really the primary criteria. (Čengić 2006, interview with author) In this passage we can see her certain attention to the sensitive balance between the merits and dangers of consumers and a strong focus on being “systematic,” since much of the cultural work, be it concerts, festivals, or publications after the conflict, has been ad hoc. Zubčević has continued to be inspired by Pro Helvetia’s systematic support and built-in goal of independence for Gramofon. Indeed, years after Pro Helvetia’s support ended, Gramofon has continued to release albums. In the following comment he likened the label’s future independence with travel. 226 The following is a list of the recent festivals where Dubioza kolectiv has performed: Sziget Festival, Hungary (2005), Soča Reggae Riversplash Festival, Slovenia (2005), Exit Festival, Serbia (2005, 2009), Eurosonic Festival, Netherlands (2005), Topvar Rock Festival, Slovakia (2005, 2006), Barevná planeta festival, Czech Republic (2005), Rototom Festival, Italy (2006), Colors of Ostrava Festival, Czech Republic (2006), Green Valley Festival, Austria (2006), Taksirat Festival, Macedonia (2007, 2010), Bruis Maastricht, Netherlands (2008), Beer Festival Macedonia (2009), Pohoda festival, Slovakia (2010). 236 We have worked with them for three years and during that period we had to earn most of money we needed. But we knew that we already had some, their grants. You know, if you have to travel let's say, to the States it's very nice to know that you already have something for the trip. It's much better that you are in [the] Amsterdam airport waiting for your final flight ... than in Sarajevo and waiting for the flight to Zagreb. You know that's something! And we have just one more flight which means that we ... we just need a little bit more to survive … so now it's possible. (Zubčević 2006a, interview with author) Reviewing and critiquing Pro Helvetia and Gramofon’s work was accomplished on several levels. In 2006, as the relationship between the two organizations was coming to an end (as had been planned from the beginning), Zubčević organized a series of concerts “basically to present their work and their projects so far” (Čengić 2006, interview with author). The partnership between Gramofon and Pro Helvetia represents an exception in the world of cultural funding in Sarajevo, as the organizers of the project emphasized slow growth created with minimal support over a long period of time. Yearly micro- grants made it possible for Zubčević to rely on Pro Helvetia’s support without limiting his freedom. The choice by both organizers to work with musicians and bands willing to criticize present social and political situations helped to support a struggling scene in an impossible post-conflict period marred by rampant piracy, strong borders, and an economically depressed population. Because of Pro Helvetia’s support, many of the bands on the Gramofon label have found a safe place to contest difference, to voice differing and often political opinions, and to incorporate new genres into the Bosnian soundscape. 237 Chapter Seven Conclusion In this dissertation I have addressed the post-war context in which foreign donors financed musical projects and events in Sarajevo. Through the three case studies presented here (Sarajevo festivals, a military radio station, and a Sarajevo-based record label), I have focused on how musical content has been impacted by donors through the importation of foreign artists and recordings (Chapters Four and Five) as well as how a specific musical scene has been nourished between Gramofon Records and Pro Helvetia (Chapter Six). Each case illustrates the convergence of donor goals and recipient aspirations to uncover the complexity of such relationships. Many foreign actors used different styles and genres of music as tools to achieve their various goals rather than acting to preserve, present, translate, and nurture musical cultures as applied ethnomusicologists and folklorists do in their home countries. This conclusion presents several findings and recommendations that policy makers and donors may find valuable as they look to engage in other post-war situations. I begin this conclusion by making the argument for the establishment of a cultural policy as early as possible in post-war countries, noting that the Dayton Agreement left a void into which foreign donors placed their cultural projects. Although developing a cultural policy after the war would have been a contentious process it may have helped to create a viable framework for funding pre-war cultural institutions. Relying heavily on the Gramofon Records and festivals case studies, I recommend two rules for developing donor-recipient relationships: that they be balanced partnerships based on local ownership and that donors attempt to provide reliable, consistent funding. In the second half of the conclusion, I question the 238 “music as a tool” model as it was employed in Bosnia by recommending that local and international organizations should actively aim to preserve and nourish musical communities independent of their other goals. As an example of an international organization that attempts such goals, I discuss UNESCO’s intangible culture project and explain its recent activities in Afghanistan. Finally, in an attempt to look forward, I discuss the destructive and generative outcomes of war. As much as I hope this dissertation and its findings may help to guide those who address cultural development in other post-war contexts, I am aware that circumstances vary and that analogies can rarely act as clear guides in other post-conflict situations. At the same time, architects of cultural projects should be mindful of models that have worked or fallen short in other contexts. Post-war Cultural Policy When I asked an artist friend of mine in Sarajevo about the post-war cultural institutions, he laughed and said “we are now talking about [a] roof and we don't have [a] foundation. That's [a] problematic thing” (Dzindić 2006, interview with author). Throughout this work I have attempted to highlight local responses to cultural aid by interrogating the structures and methods by which festivals, Radio Mir, and Gramofon Records were supported. This study sheds light on the complexity donors face as they navigate the post-war minefield of social, political, and cultural division while emphasizing the simple conclusion that local engagement by cultural organizers and balanced donor relationships can and do result in sustainable and viable cultural projects. One of the many damaging results of the conflict has been the failure of the 239 Dayton Agreement to address the important role of cultural policy in the process of peace and reconciliation as well as to instill a shared ownership of existing cultural institutions by ethno-religious groups. In peaceful, stable time, cultural policy is but one tool policy makers as well as culture brokers use to create and sustain national identity on both domestic and global levels. Cultural policy can be defined as the sum of a government’s activities in the cultural realm. Government strategies and activities promote “the production, dissemination, marketing, and consumption of the arts” (Rentschler 2002, 17). In his article about cultural policy in Denmark, Peter Duelund stresses dissemination as the key concept of cultural policy “with the aim of establishing equal opportunity for all citizens to participate in publically organized and financed cultural activities” (2001, 41). In the case of Bosnia, or for that matter most post-war countries, establishing equal opportunities is a struggle at all levels and institutions. I assert that excluding and not stipulating a cultural framework in the Dayton Agreement was an oversight that has had lasting implications. In 2002, only a few years after peace was declared in Dayton, the European culture expert Charles Landry released a report title “Togetherness in Difference: Culture at the Crossroads in Bosnia Herzegovina” which was meant to be a national report on culture in lieu of a jointly domestically crafted report. Landry claims that “in no other country in Europe is cultural policy more important than in Bosnia Herzegovina” (2002, 4). At the same time, he poses the optimistic suggestion that at the time “the fact that there has been no ministry could be turned into an advantage by creating a new style of ministry of culture” (ibid., 6). By “new style,” Landry highlights the shift, experienced in other sectors, from a socialist policy to a European one. It is somewhat shocking to see such an open call for policy reform and then find that the 240 European Union and UNDP have developed so few projects in the cultural sphere and that none of them have addressed cultural policy. Governments and the officials and scholars who work within them have written and initiated vastly different approaches to nurturing, preserving, and sometimes limiting musical and other artistic expression. National cultural policy, which specifies legal frameworks and supports cultural institutions can vary greatly from country to country. While some may promote accessibility and cultural diversity by emphasizing minority and indigenous traditions, others have sought to limit expression with the same tools. During transitional periods, whether they be economic, political, or social, cultural policy actions are often stronger and more limiting as governments fear artists and musicians may voice opinions or sway the public to think and act in opposition. Perhaps the most extreme case of recent censorship was perpetrated in Afghanistan by the Taliban during the Rabbani period (1992-1996) when a music ban forbade all music, live or recorded (Baily 2001, 31-34). Chinese cultural policy during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) favored cultural censorship coupled with highly propagandistic works (the Eight Modern Operas or Eight Modern Works) (Perris 1983). Such examples illustrate the dangers of cultural policy that limits expression. At the same time, the previous scholars emphasize the degree to which censorship policies may limit expression, but at the same time create revolutionary fervor by giving artists something to push against. In countries in which policy makers and citizens minimally agree on the characteristics of national identity, cultural policy can still be a rather contentious topic. Indeed in the American context, debates in the 1990s about the roles and characteristics of cultural expression were dubbed the “culture wars.” Over time, and with heightened 241 political involvement, such debates extended well beyond original discussions of whom would fund cultural institutions, the impacts of private, governmental, and nonprofit support of the arts and how government support might impact perceptions of America abroad. The “culture war” debate, in fact, often obscured challenges the cultural sector faced. In this way, culture became a tool for politicians to voice their constituents’ beliefs (Bradford and Gary 2000). In countries that have experienced conflicts, cultural debates can even be more loaded and heavy. Throughout this dissertation I have used the phrase “post-war cultural policy” as an aspirational phrase for a policy that I believe would have greatly assisted Bosnia’s struggle to maintain old and develop new cultural institutions. It is perhaps misguided to believe that, after the Bosnian war, representatives of each faction could have come together and written a viable and lasting cultural policy. Along with many Bosnians I spoke to, I argue that a cultural framework within the Dayton Agreement that required cross-entity consensus would have sped up the process of supporting local cultural institutions from domestic and foreign funders. In her dissertation, Adriana Helbig analyzes Roma cultural projects that were sponsored by international development aid. She echoes the importance of shared cultural institutions and policy in her criticism of the Ukranian government, Ineffective cultural policy on the part of the Ukranian Government is partly to blame for the exlusion that many citizens experience. Nation-building is a cultural project. The lack of effective and fair linguistic, cultural, and educational policies on the part of the Ukranian government has contributed to feelings of alienation and non-unification among the citizens of Ukraine. The success of effective cultural policy lies in binding individual goals to an implied national unity. Useful cultural policy nurtures a sense of belonging. (2005, 207) 242 The community needs to have the feeling or the reality of owning their culture. The previous High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, was, in my view, correct when he focused on the “ownership process as the best way for the country to reestablish its authority and sovereignty” (Petritsch 2001, 482). Sustainable projects must be based upon already existing ideas of community and democracy. Applied anthropologist Christophe Solioz, who has done extensive development work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, writes: I view the most effective strategies that empower local actors to determine priorities, projects, and directions. Local ownership is the main path to success in NGO and civil society development because it allows local actors themselves to reconstruct the concepts of community, civil society and state-building based on what existed in terms of community before the war. (2003, 2)227 Had a cultural policy been in place, even five years after the war, local cultural organizers might have been in a better position to apply international donations to viable institutions that could deliver performances in line with their audiences’ interests. Instead, an ad hoc system developed in which existing institutions, such as festivals, relied on inconsistent funding for their events. Foreign NGOs and other donors who maintained large budgets at the start of the post-war period found themselves having to leave the region for other post-conflict zones. Local staff, such as those at Radio Mir, engaged in developing meaningful music projects (Radio Parties) only to find that a few years later they were out of jobs. As other parts of the world, such as the Middle East, take on more strategic value, embassies in Bosnia find their cultural diplomacy budgets waning. Of the three case studies, only the Gramofon Records-Pro Helvetia partnership planned for the 227 See also Christophe Solioz and Svebor Dizdarevic (eds.), Ownership Process in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Contributions on the International Dimensions of Democratization in the Balkans (Baden- Baden: Nomos, 2003). 243 inevitable withdrawal of donor funds because of donor fatigue. The partnership agreement developed by Gramofon and Pro Helvetia not only anticipated the flux of funding, but actually made it an asset, as micro-grants at the start of the project were larger than those at the end, and were always contingent upon the label’s creative and financial success. While some projects faced dependency on donor support, Gramofon used grants as a means of freedom from such dependence. Reliable and Consistent Funding Consistency of funding, wherever it comes from, is important to institutions or events in transitional periods. This is true in social and cultural transitions from socialism to democracy or wartime to post-war. Festival directors, no matter how committed and interested in their events, were hampered by the unpredictability of embassy staff. Radio Mir succeeded in producing its messages, call-in shows, festivals, and Radio Parties because of consistent funding. In fact, the model that SFOR originally created for Radio Mir, which required that they pay for radio licensing, would not have survived a month if it had been in competition with local stations. Gramofon’s consistent support from Pro Helvetia made it possible for the label to make long-term plans for future releases and to take on sometimes unpopular projects. Balanced Partnerships / Local Ownership An even relationship between funder and recipient not only impacts the outcome or the product, it also aids in the consistency of the project. Participatory projects too often mean that the local partner is only involved in the execution of a project, not in the project design and its evaluation. In other words: 244 local actors must have decision-making authority. And secondly the most concrete and difficult success measure: sustainability of both the external and local actors. (Solioz 2003, 3) Solioz suggests that: The intrinsic limits of foreign democratization aid and the disillusionment about the international community’s intrusive role in Bosnian politics provide a window of opportunity to focus on genuinely Bosnian-led analysis and options introducing an effective ownership process, rather than on imposed externally-led models and solutions. (Ibid., 2). For such a relationship to flourish, each partner must have the right to invest in the project. I do not mean that each must invest financially, rather that each party should have something to lose and something to gain. The Gramofon-Pro Helvetia relationship was based on such a two-way engagement or conversation. Zubčević maintained full control over his label throughout the period of funding by Pro Helvetia. He was required to fulfill certain requirements that he and the donor arrived at together. In the case of Radio Mir, the funder and recipient model is not so clear, although as the local staff became more engaged in outreach projects in the villages, the push and pull between local and foreign actors was more evident. The efforts of Milović and her staff were not always consistent with what SFOR originally planned to achieve with the station. Of the figures introduced in the case studies, festival directors were perhaps most burdened by the donor-recipient imbalance of power. As they attempted to maintain festivals that were formative cultural models before the war, they found themselves pleading for support from embassy staff that were, at best, only partially interested in the preservation of local institutions. 245 The Waste of Cultural Resources Another central point of this study is the sheer waste of cultural resources in the immediate post-war years. Most foreign donors were quick to disperse money without thinking in the long-term about the sustainability of their donations. Because of the power imbalance reminiscent of colonialist rule, when Bosnian cultural brokers were engaged to assist in developing events or projects, they often shied away from making suggestions fearing that they might lose support. The ease with which donors dispersed funds in the years after the war made the cultural sphere ripe for corruption, or at least the appearance of it. This, in turn, has led few Bosnians to trust their cultural institutions to present valuable material. The Pavarotti Cultural Center is the best example of an institution losing respect because of its culpability in corrupt practices. Center staff have struggled in the last few years to gain official status and support by the local government because of corruption allegations. Based on my findings, I recommend that in post-war situations, such as that in Bosnia, foreign donors should not shy away from assisting already existing cultural institutions. This is not to say that new cultural institutions and companies should not be created. Often historic institutions possess cultural knowledge and staff who can be essential as a society rebuilds. Before the war, the festival tradition in Sarajevo was one of the stages on which the people saw themselves and their neighbors. In dances and songs, Yugoslavs categorized differences and noted similarities in each other. Such tactile engagement is essential in rebuilding relationships after war. It is difficult to know if the shift towards international festivals will stick. Younger generations are beginning to 246 engage with their local music through yugo-rock, turbofolk, or as members of KUDs. Radio Mir is perhaps the saddest case when it comes to making use of existing institutions. The station was created to spread PSYOPS messages and indeed, when it lost funding, its entire local staff were fired. Even the equipment was flown away to another post-war base. The station literally left nothing behind except, perhaps, in the minds of youth who listened to it as children. Gramofon offers one of the most inspiring prospects for long-term investment of the three case studies. The partnership began between Čengić and Zubčević was based upon the success and popularity of several existing institutions. Indeed its foundation, both financially and conceptually, was rooted in the local community and its economy. The connectedness Čengić and Zubčević had to Sarajevo, and specifically to the alternative scene, has continued to make the project viable. Both figures brought essential local knowledge to the project. The label remains, several years after Pro Helvetia’s funding stopped, one of the only alternative labels in Bosnia. These cases, as well as others in Bosnia, have taught me that less can be more. Small grants over a long period of time encourage reciprocal relationships. Music as a Tool The case studies illuminate how well-meaning foreign donors, whether embassies, NGOs, or the military, stepped into the post-war policy void and used music projects and events to their own advantage. Eager to find ways to express their countries’ goodwill toward the Bosnian public, embassies supported local festivals by choosing acts and facilitating their travel and performances. Radio Mir’s music choice for broadcasts had no bearing on radio policy. As with any large company tasked with selling a product, the 247 station chose American and European music for its wide appeal because military staff thought they could “sell” more public messages with that particular tool. For most embassies supporting cultural events and projects falls under their interest in developing cultural diplomacy. While “hard power” emphasizes political diplomacy, military engagement, and foreign trade, cultural diplomacy is “soft power” as it promotes cultural appreciation and exchange (Nye 2004). The American political scientist and author Milton C. Cummings has described cultural diplomacy as “the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs, and other aspects of culture, with the intention of fostering mutual understanding” (2003, 1). Although Cummings’s definition emphasizes exchange in the years after the war, Bosnia only maintained a few embassies abroad making the “exchange” rather one-sided. In the Bosnian case, and indeed throughout the world, embassies seek to present their home countries in a good light. They do not, nor should they, concern themselves with preserving or developing local cultural expressions. Pro Helvetia also used culture as a tool as they developed or supported projects for primary goals such as civil society building or free speech. The difference is that long term local engagement through the Čengić-Zubčević partnership resulted in a project which allowed both the donor and the recipient to achieve their goals. In his forward to Safeguarding Traditional Cultures: A Global Assessment: 2001, UNESCO ethnomusicologist Peter Seitel writes that “we (as scholars) must learn how to let culture lead, not to the clash of cultures, but to the fruitful coexistence and to intercultural harmony” (2001, 7). I take “culture leading” to mean people within communities leading through grassroots engagement. With its long-term involvement and 248 careful research of existing local projects, Pro Helvetia let culture lead in the development of Gramofon Records. According to the label’s director, Edin Zubčević, and Aida Čengić, Edin has full control of the musical material he chose to release. This fact added local legitimacy to his company even though he had received foreign funding. In the case of embassy support for festivals, embassies have, rightfully so, emphasized music from their home countries. Using music as a tool for achieving other ideological or economic ends can end up de-emphasizing the domestic music culture. It is essential that post-war countries are provided with cultural development funds to allow them to preserve and nourish existing traditions through cultural institutions. UNESCO’s Framework Presently there are not any international organizations that focus specifically on protecting and developing post-war intangible culture although there are hundreds that concern themselves with post-war tangible culture. UNESCO has an extensive intangible culture section which grants assistance to projects and individuals throughout the world. The funding policy, however, is devised to go through national governments. Because of this, UNESCO most often is only able to fund those projects endorsed by a national government. Bosnia has only received tangible development support from UNESCO with two of its bridges added to the World Heritage List for preservation: Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad (2007) and Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar (2005). UNESCO has focused its funding on tangible heritage such as bridges, libraries, historical sites, etc., and has avoided getting involved in intangible culture. Tangible culture is easier to define, the success of a project is more assessable as the monument, 249 building, or bridge can be repaired. Guidelines to the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore require the identification, conservation, preservation, dissemination, and protection of intangible culture.228 These actions demand institutions in which to house scholars who can accomplish such tasks. Nonetheless, from this study it is clear that an international organization without secondary aims such as cultural diplomacy, psychological operations, or even civil society building could achieve a great deal for local new and old intangible culture. In 2002, the Head of UNESCO in Bosnia and Herzegovina told me that any work with music and language was too political and difficult for him to embark upon. I would argue that it is the politicized nature of culture in post-war environments that makes supporting multi-dimensional projects so important. In Afghanistan, the Aga Khan Foundation has taken on the responsibility for nurturing and preserving intangible culture in the Central Asian region. UNESCO’s Country Programming Document for Afghanistan (2010-2011) makes only brief mention of musical traditions in noting that the office is in the process of developing a list of existing traditions. The report also notes that UNESCO is providing technical advice to the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture as well as spearheading the creation of an Afghan National Council for Music.229 They are also preparing a Policy Framework for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage that will address critical gaps in this area in order to assist in the definition of an appropriate cultural policy. It is inspiring to see that intangible cultural policies that were in their infancy during the Bosnian conflict have developed to such an extent and are beginning to be applied by UNESCO in inter- 228 UNESCO, Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore (Paris, 1989), http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13141&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. 229 Http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php- URL_ID=47583&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. 250 war and post-war situations such as Afghanistan. War as Destructive and Generative Navigating a post-war political and social environment would be difficult in any region of the world today. In the former Yugoslavia, where conflict has been expressed in the primarily negative terms of war, it is encouraging to read Sugarman’s assertion that “it is the tensions and contradictions that surround the production of identities based upon class, gender, generation, nation, and state that provide much of the richness and inventiveness that are evident in contemporary Albanian music” (1999b, 138). In this quotation Sugarman is addressing the genre that many on Bosnia call turbofolk. Ethnomusicologist Cynthia Cohen also weighs in on the complexity of facilitating reconciliation, “Many artist-peace builders might also misuse this potential of music, for instance, by constructing or augmenting feelings of affinity among advisories without engaging them also in grappling with differences and confronting questions of past and present injustice” (2008, 26). This sentiment is echoed in the field of popular culture studies as culture is seen as a “negotiated mix of intentions and counter intentions: both from ‘above’ and from ‘below’ both ‘commercial’ and ‘authentic’; a shifting balance of forces between resistance and incorporations” (Story 1993, 122). There is a hope here that out of the fire-charred forest left in the aftermath of war, a field of green will grow and then a forest. When transition and upheaval can be described and explained as both destructive and generative, power for future development (musical choice) is in the hands of people rather than institutions. Jane Sugarman writes, “During periods of such cataclysmic change, communities need to be able to produce new cultural forms, through 251 symbolic means, to come to terms with present dilemmas and imagine and experiment with new forms of subjectivity” (1999b, 139). Periods of war have been largely credited with the destruction of cultural heritage both tangible and intangible. In the wake of conflicts around the world, arguments based on this premise are often made by policy makers for cultural redevelopment projects. While it is clear that cultural institutions suffered tangible losses during the long siege of Sarajevo, I contest the simplistic assertion that musical expression itself suffers in conflict. As illustrated in this dissertation, musicians’ practical problems of diminished venues, shortages of materials (instruments, recording equipment, etc.), and the inability to travel across borders were met by inspired and creative responses. Some young musicians in particular felt that through their music they were fighting for political causes, whether against political parties and nationalist movements or for reconciliation and peace from the conflict. Many expressed to me their delight at finding space in which to express their beliefs and the opportunity to make use of media attention on the region during and after the war. In hidden and often underground venues where audiences could avoid the dangers of the conflict, musicians performed for audiences who had literally risked their lives to hear their music. In addition, many expressed to me that they had experienced heightened awareness or even a kind of psychedelic fascination for musical performance, drugs, and sex as they thought each day might be their last. I mention these positive experiences to remind post-war cultural workers to honor already existing cultural scenes and institutions. From this dissertation, it is clear that war, by no means, left an empty slate on which foreigners could draw freely. The last three chapters have highlighted the complexity of evaluating cultural 252 projects in a multi-dimensional environment such as that in post-war Sarajevo. It is difficult not to argue that each project has offered something to the people of Sarajevo. This investigation has been about institutions, projects, and events; the structures behind the music we hear. This is the story of the bureaucratic exchanges cultural organizers have with donors and government officials around the world. Some people I spoke to were unwilling to criticize foreign funders because they felt it impolite to criticize what they understood to be gifts. It is undeniable that after the war, humanitarian aid and the efforts of volunteers were central to the city’s ability to recover. Indeed, many people are grateful for such efforts. However, over the long period of foreigners’ development and involvement in Bosnia, criticisms of the methods of delivering assistance and the “gifts” received have been numerous. Artists and musicians are often in the best position to express their discontent. In 2007, the Bosnian artist Nebojša Šerić Šoba created and installed a “Monument to the International Community from the Grateful Citizens of Sarajevo” in his neighborhood of Grbavica. The title of the monument was painted in Euro-blue paint on a one-meter-high can of expired meat similar to the ones Sarajevan’s received during the siege. The artist meant the monument to be a critique of foreign sponsorship commenting, “cats and dogs did not want to eat it and people had to.”230 After the war, Bosnians’ ability to participate in their society has often come in direct competition with the limitations of funders. Together, these cases show the extent to which international donors, at multiple levels, from embassies to the peacekeeping military force, have impacted the post-war environment. Cultural policy in post-war countries is important because it lays the 230 Reuters, “Bosnians Raise Monument to Canned Beef,” Reuters.com, April 6, 2007, http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL0657786020070406. 253 foundation for expression. This is especially true for newly-formed countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Foreign donors should be aware of their impact upon the developing cultural landscape of post-conflict countries and, where possible, seek to contribute to the viability of domestic cultural institutions. 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