Pop Folk (Čalga): Pros and Cons
Pop Folk (Čalga): Pros and Cons

Summary/Abstract: What is common for all researchers is that pop folk is construed either as having very narrow boundaries or very broad ones. In the former case it is received simply as music, and this presupposes exclusively artistic criteria in the assessment of the phenomenon. The main aspect is its being construed as culture, i.e. its function in the cultural life of society, is also taken into consideration. But even when it is being construed as folk (sub)culture, the specific concept is the music (the lyrics of the songs, included). The context of the performance boils down to an amorphous idea of entertainment accompanying feasting and family holidays, of stage performances or the cassette industry. Within these broad “confines” pop folk is present again as (sub)art, i.e. artistic criteria are applied here, as well. In the final count they cannot give an answer to the question as to why one phenomenon, which sometimes is a bearer of extremely elementary, simple and even simpleton’s charateristics as far as art goes, receives such a positive response; why does it hold “kitsch, yet genius qualties”. The attempts to provide such an answer seem unsatisfactory to me...

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