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]
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.
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(2019). You are being
redirected....
[online] Available at: http://www.serbia.com/about-serbia/culture/music/
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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
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[online] Available at:
[Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].
Ristic, I. (2007). Serbian identity and the concept of Europeanness. Panoeconomicus, 54(2), 185-195.
