Abstract
In the aftermath of the Yugoslav wars, listening to Yugoslav popular music has often been seen as a choice charged with political meaning, as a symptom of Yugonostalgia and as a statement against the nationalistic discourses of the post-Yugoslav states. In this article, I will show how the seemingly neutral concept of love is embedded in the music and memory practices in the post-Yugoslav context. In dealing with the issue of love, I draw on the research regarding emotions as social, cultural, and performative categories. The research included the analysis of the interconnectedness of the discourses on love and the discourse on Yugoslavia (promoted by both the performers and the audience). In addition to the striking intertwinement of the two, the actual term love was quite often used when describing the general relation to Yugoslavia, or its music in particular, or the relation of the people from the former country. Pointing to the multifarious meanings and usages of the concept of love as understood in the post-Yugoslav music space, I will argue that Yugonostalgia can be understood as a kind of love. As such, Yugonostalgia can be used for commercial purposes and be a means for the commodification of feelings and memories.
Highlights
More than two decades after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, remembering the country could still be extremely emotional for former Yugoslavs
Arguing that Yugonostalgia can be understood as a kind of love, i.e., analyzed as an ideology of love, I want to show that it can be a means for a commodification of feelings and memories and can be used for commercial purposes
In the aftermath of Yugoslav wars, it can be said that listening to Yugoslav popular music has been often seen as a choice charged with political meaning, as a symptom of nostalgia for the lost homeland, and as a statement against the politics of the post-Yugoslav states
Summary
More than two decades after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, remembering the country could still be extremely emotional for former Yugoslavs. This article analyses Yugonostalgia and explains that its ideation in relation to music has an emotional effect and produces an ideology of love. It argues that this is achieved through the market forces that support this music and the modes of identification used by musicians. I will deal with two rather different examples: the first one refers to the perception of Yugoslavia and its public figures as an emotional heritage and homeland, and the other with an explicit usage of the ideology of love for positioning in the new post-Yugoslav market
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