The Nation on Stage: Serbia’s Identity Through Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest is the world's largest live music event, reaching nearly 200 million viewers every year (Eurovision, 2020). This massive audience gives each country in the Eurovision final the length of one three-minute song to represent themselves to a large part of the world. Different aspects of a country’s performance or song choice may closely reflect their national identity, or they may differ from it. They could instead present a separate image the country constructed or even a generic song they believed could win. In this post, I will be analyzing one of Serbia’s Eurovision Song Contest entries and the extent that it aligns with the Serbian national identity that I outlined in my previous post. This identity is primarily built around their religion, language, and the unity of the Serb people.  

“Nova Deca”

In 2018, Serbia selected the song “Nova Deca” as their Eurovision entry, which was performed by Sanja Ilić and his group Balkanika. “Nova Deca”, which Eurovision described “as both global and Balkan” (Eurovision, n.d.), combined traditional Balkan vocals and instruments with modern electronic and pop sounds. At Eurovision, this song was performed by four vocalists and accompanied by two onstage instrument players. 

The performance consisted of carefully synchronized arm movements and had the vocalists walking across the stage in various patterns. This gave the audience something to look at but remained simple, not distracting from the song and the instruments. The lighting behind the performers was initially all blue, but later flashed between blue, white, and red, which are Serbia’s national colors. This color scheme was later joined by circular, yellow lights in the dramatic ending to the song. The color yellow joins blue, white, and red to make up Serbia’s flag, as the additional color on its coat of arms. This means that their lights were likely chosen as a subtle way to represent their country. 

Modern vs Traditional 

The combination of sounds used in “Nova Deca” reveal one of the central themes of the song, the connection between modern and traditional. Their unique sound and look pull from both modern ideas, which are often tied to the west, and traditional ideas, which are often tied to the east. Balkanika’s performance included quick and bright flashing lights that are stereotypical of Eurovision acts. The pop sounds they incorporated are also similar to many other songs brought to the show. That popular style of music created a song that feels somewhat familiar to the audience, but it also brought something new with the Balkan singing and instruments. The Balkan Duduk, a variation of the double-reeded wind instrument called the Duduk was played onstage (Smith, 2021). The man playing this instrument was raised on a small platform, which seemed to bring a high level of importance to him. Additionally, the initial shot shown in the performance was him playing, which further pulled the focus to him and the eastern, traditional sound he was creating.  

The outfits chosen by Balkanika also reflect this combination of ideas. The women wore long, flowing white skirts with black, wrapped tops and the man singing was draped in different layers of black fabric. The design and shape of the women’s skirts were somewhat similar to Balkan clothing. I think that they were designed to appear traditional and stand out from other Eurovision outfits, which are often very western, bright, and sparkly. Despite this effort, they were still not traditionally Balkan. 

They traded out the colorful and detailed patterns present in most traditional Balkan clothing for the simple black and white colors seen on stage. Although the majority of Balkanika’s performance felt authentic, I think that their clothing choice was a simulation of Balkan clothing. A simulation occurs in Eurovision when a performer reproduces something that appears real but doesn’t actually exist (Baker, 2008). In this case, Balkanika appeared to be representing their traditions through clothing but actually created something new. This simulation allowed them to appear more aligned with the traditional aspects of the song, which can be appealing to western audiences, while still presenting as an “attractively modernized package” (Baker, 2008, p.177).

In addition, all of the performers had black ropes put over various parts of their outfit. When asked backstage at Eurovision, the group said that "The ropes on our clothes symbolize the connections between the old and new generation, between old and new tradition" (Groot, 2018). This is further evidence that Balkanika was trying to bring together these two ideas by connecting the modern with the traditional. 

The Choice of Language 

“Nova Deca” was performed primarily in Serbian. I previously defined their language as one important aspect of Serbian national identity, so the choice to include it was also an inclusion of their identity. Many countries, including Serbia in other years, have chosen to sing their Eurovision song in English, instead of a national language, in an attempt to give it a wider appeal. In contrast to this, Sanja Ilić and Balkanika decided to represent the language that is culturally significant to them. 

In addition to Serbian, “Nova Deca” included singing from the Torlakian Dialect. This language is usually spoken in Southeastern Serbia as well as parts of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has classified it as a vulnerable language (Moseley, 2010). Torlakian includes aspects of both the Serbian and Bulgarian language so it can be recognized by people in various countries. This makes the song even more inclusive than it presents by directly appealing to those people. 

The Torlakian parts of “Nova Deca” were not included in the official lyrics on Eurovision’s website, but they were translated by Jovana Radojevic for wiwibloggs. Eurovision’s strange omission of nearly half of the song caused only the lyrics of the western pop sounding portions to be published, leaving out the more traditional Balkan parts. 

Song Meaning and the Unity of the Serbian People

On the surface, “Nova Deca” is a love song. With lyrics like “everything is clearer” and “the sun shines differently” (Radojevic, 2018) to describe the two people together, it illustrates a powerful relationship that changes everything for the people in it. This message is clear throughout the lyrics, and the emotions portrayed on stage align with it well. 

An aspect of this love story that stands out is the way that it ties love to the ideas of making a new world and continuing together as a family. Some of the lyrics in “Nova Deca,” which translates to new children, are “the world is ours and new children create a better world with us” (Radojevic, 2018). This implies the idea that the most meaningful thing that they can do with their love is expanding their family. The importance placed on these future generations of Serbians can also be seen in the visuals shown behind the performers when the song ended. Rows of overlapping circular rings covered the screen and I believe that these rings were symbolizing those connections. The circles appeared to be linked together, which reminded me of the lineage of a family. The group Balkanika and their personal message also furthers this idea because they bring together musicians of different generations to create Balkan music.

I believe that this unification of people is partially reflective of another part of Serbia’s national identity. Serbia has a long history of wanting to expand their territory to bring together the Serbian people, which led me to write that one aspect of their identity is the unity of their people. While this idea and the message of “Nova Deca” do relate and both center around the value of togetherness, they were not presented in the same way. The performance felt very welcoming, including arm movements that appeared to be reaching out to the audience and the previously mentioned inclusion of the Torlakian Dialect. In contrast to this, Serbia has a history of being much more forceful. A common trait of Serbian people is inat. Although this word does not have a direct translation, it can be described as a proud defiance. This prominent ideology within Serbia has created a history of assertiveness that has often labeled them as an aggressor. Balkanika was able to present a friendlier and more positive version of this identity of caring about the unity of the Serbian people.  

Serbia’s 2018 Eurovision entry, “Nova Deca,” was partially aligned with the national identity of Serbia that I outlined in my previous blog post.  While it did not touch on certain key aspects of this identity, like the Orthodox Church, it did include the Serbian language and it reflected the value of Serbian unity. 

 

Word count: 1443

 

 

References

Baker, C. (2008). Wild Dances and Dying Wolves: Simulation, Essentialization, and National Identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular Communication, 6(3), 173-189. https://doi-org.proxy.seattleu.edu/10.1080/15405700802198113 

Groot, E. (2018, May 1). Serbia arrives in Eurovision bubble to perform 'Nova Deca'. Eurovision. https://eurovision.tv/story/novadece-serbia-2018-sanja-ilic-balkanika-first-rehearsal

Moseley, C (Ed.). (2010). Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (3rd ed.). UNESCO Publishing. http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap.html

Radojevic, J. (2018, April 21). “Nova deca” lyrics — Sanja Ilic & Balkanika (Serbia, Eurovision 2018). Wiwibloggs. https://wiwibloggs.com/2018/04/21/nova-deca-lyrics-sanja-ilic-balkanika-serbia-eurovision-2018/221501/

Sanja Ilić & Balkanika. (n.d.). Eurovision. https://eurovision.tv/participant/sanja-ilic-balkanika

Sanja Ilić & Balkanika. (2018). "Nova deca" (Serbia). Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Lisbon [DVD]. Universal Music Group.

Smith, L. (2021, July 31). 10 Uncommon Instruments at the Eurovision Song Contest. Aussie Vision. https://www.aussievision.net/post/10-uncommon-instruments-at-the-eurovision-song-contest

What is Eurovision: How to explain it to the world. (2020, May 28). Eurovision. https://eurovision.tv/story/what-is-eurovision-how-to-explain-it-to-the-world