Evoking the past in the Croatian popular music. A case study  Cover Image

Aktualizacja przeszłości w chorwackiej muzyce popularnej. Studium przypadku.
Evoking the past in the Croatian popular music. A case study

Author(s): Maciej Falski
Subject(s): Cultural Essay, Political Essay, Societal Essay
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Summary/Abstract: This article is based on the thesis that in modern societies history ceases to be the domain of professional historians. Owing the decline of the position of sciences, and generally of social authortites, different ways of constructing the image of the past may appear. One of the most important factors in this process is the mass media and especially the popular music. The article proposes the case of Marko Perković Thompson, a famous Croatian singer, as an exemple. Thompson in his lyrics uses some elements of the Croatian history that could be treated as a base for the reconstructed national identity. All of them can be seen as symboles of Croatian independence. By relating them to the ustasha movement and NDH (Croatian Independent State, 1941–1945), and opposing to the communist period, he proceedes to the reinterpretation of Croatian fascist movement. The article reveals some of the procedures which make the popular music so influential in modern society, among them the indentification of the listeners with the singer or the evocation of national pride. As a conclusion is proposed the examination of the relation between the reinterpreted history and the politics.

  • Issue Year: 2005
  • Issue No: 05
  • Page Range: 215-232
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Polish