Blog Post 3

Serbia: Critiquing the National Brand

The average size nation of Serbia is one of 42 countries that participate in the Eurovision contest (Eurovision.tv, 2019). With a rough visual image of the size of Serbia, The USA is 127 times bigger than Serbia (Mylifeelsewhere.com, 2019).  The competition gives the country an opportunity to present their national identity through annual performances. However, Eurovision is a unique competition and countries tackle it differently, some use it to send a message and make appeals but others make a travesty of the show and bring national embarrassment on themselves. Serbia is located in the South-eastern part of Europe, commonly defined through the Balkan region with a population of approximately 7 million people (CIA Factbook, 2018). Politically, Serbia is defined as a parliamentary republic which means the prime minister is the head of government, while the president is the head of state. The national religion is orthodox and the national language is Serbian (CIA Factbook, 2018). Serbia see themselves as a musical based country and ground this belief on a centuries old heritage of music that has been created under the effect of both the west and east. ‘He who sings thinks no evil’ is an old Serbian saying that will describe our attitude towards music in the best possible way (Serbia.com, 2019). This proves that Serbia does take the Eurovision seriously due to their passion as a country for music but it is unclear on the messages that portray and the influences of their national identity.

I believe Jordan is correct when describing nation-branding as both reactive and proactive, “it aims to draw attention away from a negative past while emphasizing the present opportunities that a country can offer the international community into the future” (Jordan, 2014 pg. 45), allowing nations to project a specific image to those outside it.

In a brief summary, from blog post 1 I discovered the main characteristics of the Serbian identity. They share portions of their national identity with its surrounding countries, with the overall combination being unique in itself. The Serbian language is almost identical to all the Balkan region countries, and the religion orthodox is a big topic in Serbia and Macedonia. Language and religion have been identified to be a key part of Serbian identity. Another big factor of Serbian identity that I discovered is the location of the country, the fact they are within the Balkan region, and also how they are in control and took over Kosovo, denying its independence. Overall it is very clear that the Serbian identity is not established or well known, and this may be because they don’t have the time or effort to establish an identity, it costs too much or they don’t feel as a country they need one meaning they don’t see the relevance of it.

While Eurovision is just a song contest it provides a baseline for countries to broadcast political messages to the rest of their European neighbours. Politically focused entries usually make their way into the final even when they shouldn’t. Fringe European countries that have been othered by western Europe use the contest to make pleas to the European ‘in group’ by staging themselves as having similar social-political beliefs or playing into western Europe fantasies of their cultural traditions.

Countries within the Europe ‘in-group’ tend to send a radio-pop song that say little about their national identities. By already being a part of the in group you have little gain by making appeals to other European countries, It benefits you a lot less. Serbia, I don’t feel portrays any sort of national identity at Eurovision within these two performances, not portraying any important messages only love songs. However they also are not in the in group of Europe, people rarely think of Serbian when talking about Europe. So I feel this is a wasted opportunity for Serbia to really express who they are or send a message out to help their ‘undefined or unfinished’ national identity and put Serbia on the map (Ristić, 2007, p. 185).

In 2010, Serbia entered a fun upbeat themed soon by Milan Stankovic, named ‘Ovo Je Balkan’ (This is the Balkans). From blog post two I discovered this song is about Serbian beauty, the perfect girl is a Serbian girl. It also touches on a sexist, controlling narrative from an androgynous man. The song is sung in Serbian which could be a sign they are looking for votes from the Balkan region as they will all understand the lyrics due to the very similar language barrier. If you were a viewer with no Serbian understanding the only word you would take from this song would be ‘Balkans’, which is a part of the Serbian identity. It is clear from this song that Serbia is proud to be a part of the Balkan region otherwise they would not be singing a song about it. I identified that ‘Kosovo control’ is a huge part of what Serbia are as Kosovo is home of a very important building to Serbia. Belgrade and Pristina both claim ownership of the Trepca mining complex. In the song ‘Ovo Je Balkan’, in the background two men and women are being controlled in rotating pedestals as you can see them doing a robotic dance like a music box or puppet which could relate to how Serbia were said to be in control of the Balkans and dominant over Kosovo. In blog post one, it came to my attention that Serbia isn’t a very well-known or established country, which goes hand in hand to me with this performance as I felt it was very messy and confusing to the public with what the message actually was , repeating the word ‘Balkan’ over and over again with no background information, and also with the song being about the ‘perfect girl’, nobody would realize that unless you spoke to a Serbian citizen. I could not identify any connection to the orthodox religion throughout this performance at all.

In 2011, Serbia sent a song called ‘Čaroban’ By Nina. The song is seen to be about the perfect man and what she’s feeling isn’t real because as the title translates to English its ‘magical’. The perfect man is magical being a metaphor for its not real. It looks like Serbia put in a lot of effort into the staging and background of this performance, as the backing singers reactions and motions look very fake and also the lighting on the back screen moves very quick which makes it feel like it’s not real life. This song is also sung in Serbian as many of the Balkan region sings in their native language. Serbia potentially sings in their native language because it’s used in several countries, Serbo-Croatian is spoken in four countries and closely related to Macedonian, Bulgarian and Slovene. Therefore by singing in their native language they are targeting six entire countries, plus their diasporas. Also like the other song, ‘Ovo Je Balkan’, the performance doesn’t play on any type of religious orthodox message or theme, which could bring up the question of is orthodox a key part of national identity, or do Serbia not present their true national identity through performances at Eurovision. I don’t feel like its significantly playing on the fact that they are in control of Kosovo, however Nina is wearing target like ear-rings which could represent the fact that Serbia are seen as a target due to them denying independence of Kosovo. Finally, I feel this performance is very fantasied and dreamlike, with the colors, staging and overall performance which relates to how Serbia are an unestablished country and their national identity isn’t very well-known.

Serbia choose to not essentialize themselves by ‘not emphasizing certain traditions at the expense of others’(Baker, 2008). Therefore not a wide population will understand the lyrics which represents the culture and pride that is associated with Serbia but also the Balkan region, as these are the only countries that would understand the performance properly. By referencing distinctive features of Serbian culture in a way that people will not understand indicates that they are comfortable with their national identity and are not interested in Eurovision as a marketing proposal. The only references of Serbian identity show in one of these performances is the background using red, blue and white, the national colors of Serbia.

I feel like there are many alignments but also misalignments with Serbian’s national brand and Eurovision performance, I do not feel that even Serbia fully understand their own national identity, therefore how would they be able to portray this through a music competition. Even though they do take Eurovision very seriously, if you were to watch a Serbian performance without knowing which country it was, you would be able to directly link the two together.

While Serbia does not use the contest as an opportunity to affect its national brand the ways some other participants do, it takes the Eurovision song contest just as seriously as those that do. The first year it participated in 2007, Serbia in fact won the competition and hosted the following year. And even though most of its entries are generic and not telling of the Serbian national identity, the competition Beovizija, Is the national selection process they host in Belgrade to pick the song for Eurovision, it is 50% jury and 50% televoting which proves Serbia as a country care highly about the Eurovision contest.

Nation branding is a problematic concept as nations want to brand themselves positively but that does not get rid of problems or negativity that may be happening in the nation. Serbia seem as if they are trying to nation brand, but it’s not too clear what the main focus is. It unintentionally participates in nation branding, not essentializing themselves and does not have an identity to push onto the rest of Europe and the world.

Word Count: 1608

References:

Eurovision.tv. (2019). 42 countries to compete in Eurovision 2019. [online] Available at: https://eurovision.tv/story/42-countries-take-part-in-eurovision-2019

 [Accessed 20 Mar. 2019]

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ri.html

Jordan, Paul. (2014). The Modern Fairy Tale: Nation Branding, National Identity and the 

Eurovision Song Contest in Estonia. University of Tartu Press. Retrieved from http://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=474310

Milan Stankovic (2010). Eurovision song contest

Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/milan-stankovic

Nina Radojcic (2011). Eurovision Song Contest.

Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/nina-1

Radojicic, N (2011). Magical (Čaroban) preview video. (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC8hu_9lonw

Stankovic, M (2010). This is the Balkans (Ovo Je Balkan) preview video. (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Oslo.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=4xKeYFkB9Pw

Triandafyllidou, Anna. "National Identity and The `Other.'." Ethnic & RacialStudies vol. 21, no. 4, 1998, pp. 593-610 SocINDEX with Full Text.

Serbia.com. (2019). You are being redirected.... [online] Available at:    http://www.serbia.com/about-serbia/culture/music/ 

Baker, C. (2008). Wild Dances and Dying Wolves: Simulation, Essentialization, and National Identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular Communication, 6(3), pp.173-189

Mylifeelsewhere.com. (2019). Size of United States compared to Serbia. [online] Available at:

https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison/united-states/serbia

[Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

Ristic, I. (2007). Serbian identity and the concept of Europeanness. Panoeconomicus, 54(2), 185-195.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.430.7728&rep=rep1&type=pdf

The nation on Stage:

Eurovision performance’s tend to be considered as very over-the-top or dramatic, but when you actually look deeper into the lyrics, staging or lighting, it can provide you with a very clear message as to what the country is trying to portray or represent. We are going to be analyzing Serbia and more specifically its performances in 2010 and 2011.

In 2010, Serbia continued from previous years, with the fun, upbeat theme and sent Milan Stankovic, entering a song called ‘Ovo Je Balkan’(This is the Balkans). From the title you could make predictions that the song is going to be about the Balkan states. A former Yugoslav musician named Goran Bregović who is commonly known as the Balkans’ most celebrated composer, wrote the music and lyrics of this song, making the song stand out in the field of pop ballads and Eurodance tracks. Bregović is also the first man to imbue Serbian music with elements of gipsy folk, rebranding what is thought of as ‘traditional’. This song received a lot of publicly stating that it was very traditional yet stylish ("This is the Balkans – traditional yet stylish, 2019).

Digging deeper into the lyrics of the song it seems that ‘Milan Stankovic is begging his girlfriend to get physical. This can be identified from the lines “Oh, Ljubica, Ljubica, You make me want you so much Oh, squeeze-me, kiss-me, Ljubica, hold me close to your chest”(Eurovision Song Contest 2010). Milan connects sex with culture and he says it’s within the Balkan D.N.A.. He seems to say the word ‘Ljubica’ which in English means ‘sweetheart’, referencing it in terms of love, however, there are two women on the stage, making the message a lot more confusing. Throughout the performance, you see three main distinct colours of, blue, white and red, which are the national colours of Serbia. This could indicate and send a message that this is Serbia and we are proud of who we are, but also these colours are the Pan-Slav colours that represent freedom and revolutionary ideas. The line ‘Not once, not twice, but three times Belgrade’ clearly represents the fact that when Serbian’s introduce themselves to people they kiss three times which is a unique thing that only Serbia does (Eurovision Song Contest 2010).

The song overall cleverly plays on the Balkan identity, and Milan the singer due to his recognizable voice, appearance and attitude became a very highly popular and loved star ("This is the Balkans – traditional yet stylish, 2019).  In my opinion, the two men and women who are behind him, are being controlled in the rotating pedestals as you can see them doing a robotic dance like a music box doll or puppet which could relate to how Serbia was said to be in control of the Balkans. This also reminds me of the song “Doll on a box” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where truly is disguised as a wind up music box doll, metaphorically and actually on a pedestal. Truly sings about herself and her rigid nature, all behind the mask of the ‘doll’ she is portraying. This could relate to how all backing singers are trying to portray something they aren’t and are being controlled.

However, Speaking to Serbians friends it is clear that the song is about Serbian girl beauty and how nothing can compare to her. Also, how there is no need to change who you are to satisfy the man, as everyone favours the Serbian girl. The perfect girl is a Serbian girl. This indicates a sexist, controlling narrative from an androgynous man which means the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Having the physical features of both sexes. It can be identified when talking about gender identity, sexual identity or sexual lifestyle which is why it relates well to this particular song as Milan has very feminine like features however referenced as a male.

In 2011, Serbia entered a retro, cutesy theme song called “Čaroban” by nina (2011,Serbia), sung in Serbian which translates as ‘magical’.

            Looking at the lyrics it is clear that Nina is talking about ‘the perfect man’, coming home from a rough day to your lover and being good enough just the way you are and not having to change to please someone else. When she says ‘goodbye sorrow, hello smile’, this could indicate a lot of things for example, she had a bad day at work, that she came out of an abusive relationship or she just got left feeling as if she wasn’t good enough for anyone , however, this man has come into her life and put the smile back on her face (Eurovision Song Contest 2011).

It is evidently a love song, the line ‘their love is contagious’ could represent them trying to spread love not only around Serbia but around the world (Eurovision Song Contest 2011). The song is called magical which could mean that what she’s feeling doesn’t feel real because he makes her feel ‘beautiful’ and as ‘strong as a rock’ which she’s not used to (Eurovision song contest 2011). It’s not real in her eyes. In my opinion, the overall message that this song is trying to put across is the perfect man in everyone’s eyes is magical being a metaphor for it is not true or real. The staging helps portray this message as it feels like you’re in a fantasy watching it, a lot of bright colors and the backing singers reactions looked very fake and unrealistic. The whole setting makes you feel like your in a dream which is exactly what the message of the song is, the ideal man is an illusory. Also all the lighting on the back screen is moving very quick which makes me feel like is not real life.

On stage, singer Nina wears a white dress which is considered the colour of perfection and innocence, and three other backing singer who are all wearing much more extravagant colours; orange, green and pink. There are a lot of spirals circles being projected on the back screen which could represent she’s lost in a tunnel however it’s in bright colours which could show she sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

Nina is wearing target like ear-rings which symbolise the fact that she is the main target, and everyone is after Serbia. The target ear-rings could be relating it to the 2010 performance ‘Ovo Je Balkan’ where a Serbian girl is the perfect girl and the men are after her because they are sexist and controlling. Also what I find interesting is how all the backing singers right at the end turn and look at the singer, which could indicate that there’s a world much brighter than having the perfect man, for example, having three best friends.

To conclude, I feel like This is Balkans says a lot more about Serbia’s attitude as they performed that song looking for votes from the Balkan countries. The fact that Serbia believes the song is about Serbian beauty and that nothing can compare to a Serbian girl, suggests there confidence and arrogance as a country, which helps the statement they are known as a ‘dominant’ country. I feel ‘Čaroban’ is more of a generic and broad topic rather than being related solely to Serbia, it's more just around the perfect man isn’t real or true it's more of a magical feeling or thought.

I believe ‘This is Balkans’ can be related back to Serbia’s location and history, when they were a part of Yugoslavia and then took over Kosovo, as the song is very dominant emphasizing Belgrade and no other Balkan country symbolising their potential hierarchy to the other countries. However, I do not believe they are trying to insult or speak poorly of the other Balkan countries as this song was intended to get the majority of its votes from them. Both songs are touching on gender expectations and relationships which could symbolise Serbia are a very gender orientated country who put a lot of time into relationships and finding there ‘ideal man’. Ovo Je Balkan’s upbeat song about a love story set in Belgrade qualified for the final and finished 13th place. Nina in 2011 with her 60’s inspired song, qualified for the final and achieved 14th place. The fact that Serbia has finished in the top 15 in both years suggests that they are a country willing to fight and do well which relates back to their competitive behavior.

References:

Stankovic, M (2010). This is the Balkans (Ovo Je Balkan). (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Oslo. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=4pVEII2pmso

Nina (2011). Magical (Čaroban). (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=111&v=-CWvXKxjCs8

Milan Stankovic (2010). Eurovision song contest. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/milan-stankovic

Nina (2011). Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved from

https://eurovision.tv/participant/nina-1

Nina (2011). Magical (Čaroban) preview video. (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf.

Retrieved from

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC8hu_9lonw

Stankovic, M (2010). This is the Balkans (Ovo Je Balkan) preview video. (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Oslo. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=4xKeYFkB9Pw

Trading economics (2019) Serbia Competitivness Index Retrieved from       

https://tradingeconomics.com/serbia/competitiveness-index

This is the Balkans – traditional yet stylish: Serbia's Milan Stanković | ESC Radio - Eurovision Song Contest Eurosong Webradio. (2019). Retrieved from

             http://www.escradio.com/2010/05/ovo-je-balkan-traditional-yet-stylish-serbia’s-milan-stankovic/