Abstract
Since the early 1990s, interest in various forms of traditional music among middle-class urban ethnic Macedonians has grown. Known by some as the “Ethno Renaissance”, this trend initially grew in the context of educational ensembles in Skopje and gained momentum due to the soundtrack of the internationally acclaimed Macedonian film Before the Rain (1994) and the formation of the group DD Synthesis by musician and pedagogue Dragan Dautovski. This article traces the development of this multifaceted musical practice, which became known as “ethno music” (etno muzika) and now typically features combinations of various traditional music styles with one another and with other musical styles. Ethno music articulates dynamic changes in Macedonian politics and wider global trends in the “world music” market, which valorizes musical hybridity as “authentic” and continues to prioritize performers perceived as exotic and different. This article discusses the rhetoric, representation, and musical styles of ethno music in the 1990s and in a second wave of “ethno bands” (etno bendovi) that began around 2005. Drawing on ethnography conducted between 2011 and 2018 and on experience as a musician performing and recording in Macedonia periodically since 2003, I argue that, while these bands and their multi-layered musical projects resonate with middle-class, cosmopolitan audiences in Macedonia and its diaspora, their avoidance of the term “Balkan” and associated stereotypes constrains their popularity to Macedonian audiences and prevents them from participating widely in world music festival networks and related markets.
Highlights
Combinations of traditional music and contemporary musical styles have captured the attention of musicians, audiences, scholars, and music industry professionals for decades, with responses ranging from thrill and inspiration to concern, vexation, and anger
Though she is not part of the ethno band scene, the original songs on this album were arranged in a style that could be considered “ethno music”, drawing on urban styles of Macedonian traditional music in combination with elements labeled by composer/arranger Micevski as “jazz” and
Macedonian ethno bands today, along with artists such as Karolina who have built on their trends, avoid the use of the word Balkan in their self-representation and, for the most part, avoid stereotypical Balkanist tropes of wild abandon common in the world music circuit
Summary
Combinations of traditional music and contemporary musical styles have captured the attention of musicians, audiences, scholars, and music industry professionals for decades, with responses ranging from thrill and inspiration to concern, vexation, and anger. The term Balkan has appeared in the names of musical groups in Serbia outside the brass scene that hybridize traditional musics with contemporary styles and genres (e.g., Balkanopolis, Balkanika, Balkan Salsa Band) These bands position their music towards the “West” along similar tropes of representation of the Balkans and are part of the Serbian “ethno music” scene, which is a separate phenomenon from ethno music in North Macedonia that has manifested in different ways (Medić 2014). As they draw on musical sounds that affirm and expand on the musical constructs of the Macedonian nation, such as songs of the Aegean Macedonia region and elements of the urban Ottoman genre čalgija, musicians and artists of second-wave ethno music often achieve renown within Macedonia and the diaspora In their efforts to reaffirm the richness of music in Macedonia as belonging to a cosmopolitan Europe and in their avoidances of exoticizing tropes of the Balkans, their appeal to audiences beyond Macedonian ones is constrained
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
