Author(s): Irena Šentevska / Language(s): Serbian
Issue: 1/2024
The recent social developments in Serbia have established a new model of political monopolies and an effective return to the one-party regime. Such absence of alternatives in the official political sphere provokes three basic forms of resistance: complete disillusionment with the political system and its major exponents which results in political abstinence; mass protests in response to concrete instances of abuse of political power and informal cultural initiatives which communicate political messages through the critique of the politicisation of the cultural sphere. In this paper, the case study for this form of political resistance is the independently produced, low-budget music festival Fesram (Festival sranje muzike or Festival of Crap Music), active between 2012 and 2019, which at the same time challenged the political and cultural systems in the country, and their respective core values. The introductory part of the article situates Fesram in the context of the existing forms of political resistance to the currently dominant political regime. The second part discusses the concept of „bad music“ in the Serbian cultural context, its history and academic treatment (or lack thereof), and its wider cultural and political implications. The third part discusses Fesram, its background, and practices. The fourth part discusses Fesram’s manner of dealing with the cultural stereotypes prevailing throughout Serbian history and the perceived absence of social criticism in Serbia’s official cultural sphere. In the concluding part Fesram is observed as a form of „discreet activism“ resorted to in circumstances in which other forms of political resistance seem to fail. Without permanent funding, venues or a fixed time-frame, Fesram changed its dates and locations, spontaneously responding to current goings-on in Belgrade and Serbia, and communicated with its audiences mainly through its Facebook page. Playing with ideological opposites, confronting them in „outrageous“ combinations (musical, verbal and visual) Fesram invited its audiences to critically (or even un-critically) distance themselves from the extreme poles of the political spectrum. Although it parodied characters from the official political and cultural spheres and mocked the language of tabloid media and the prevailing political jargon, Fesram did not align with any established political option, inviting its audience to think beyond the existing political system and question the society’s core values. Fesram was not didactic: it communicated exclusively by annoying anyone who failed to receive its messages. And Fesram’s probably most important message is that Serbian society has nurtured false cultural values and associated political doctrines for far too long and that it has only itself to blame for the condition it has found itself in. This erratic music festival had not only shaped an alternative form of activism, but a new type of „activist citizen“ who understands the meaning of „crap“ (whether in music, culture, politics or society in general) and the importance of this understanding. Fesram also showed that political resistance goes hand in hand with resistance to the cultural values propelling political action.
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