Identity Politics and Romani Musical Performance in Vranje, Serbia BY ALEXANDER MARKOVIĆ

370 Pages·2017·20.8 MB·English

Gypsy Fingers are Unique!

Identity Politics and Romani Musical Performance in Vranje, Serbia

BY

ALEXANDER MARKOVIĆ
B.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, 2005
M.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, 2007

THESIS

Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
in the Graduate College of the
University of Illinois at Chicago, 2017

Chicago, Illinois

Defense Committee:

Mark Liechty, Chair and Advisor
Molly Doane
Gayatri Reddy
John Monaghan
Carol Silverman, University of Oregon
This thesis is dedicated to my wife, Cristina Ocón, who has seen me through this process
from its inception, offering tireless support and encouragement—without her, this work would
never have been accomplished.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Research for this dissertation was generously supported by funds from the Charles Reed
Memorial Fund (UIC Anthropology Department), the Provost Award (UIC Graduate College),
and by a 2009-2010 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities grant from the International
Research Exchanges Board. I am also grateful for funds from the Dean’s Scholar Award (UIC
Graduate College) and the Graduate Fellowship for the Study of Eastern Europe (University of
Illinois Foundation) to support dissertation writing.
My dissertation committee members have been staunch supporters and exceptional
intellectual mentors in this endeavor. My thanks go to Mark Liechty for agreeing early on to
guide me on this journey with insightful clarity and gentle direction; to Molly Doane for her sage
advice on the pragmatics of professional development in anthropology, constructive critiques on
my work at various stages, and heartfelt encouragement; to Gayatri Reddy for thorough readings
and stimulating provocations about broader conceptual and theoretical connections; and to John
Monaghan for encouraging me to address the “so what” questions for my wider audiences as
well as for his generous support, as Department Head, of my needs over many years as a
graduate student. Last but not least, I am profoundly grateful for Carol Silverman’s incisive
mentorship, critical engagement with my work at all stages, and genuine warmth and support
throughout this journey—since our first phone conversation in 2007, her work and guidance have
been an inspiration.
Many other colleagues have contributed immeasurably to this project through stimulating
conversations, provocative critiques, and moral support along the way. I am grateful for myriad
exchanges with Jane Sugarman, Donna Buchanan, Sonia Seeman, and Margaret Beissinger,
colleagues whose phenomenal research in Balkan music and culture continue to inspire me. At
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (continued)

the University of Illinois-Chicago, I would like to thank many colleagues for their intellectual
and moral encouragement over the years: Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz, Neslihan Şen, Luisa Rollins,
Laura Nussbaum Barbarena, Nicola Sharratt, John Michels, Evin Rodkey, Paul Bick, Caleb
Kestle, and Jim Meierhoff. Outside of UIC, I have also benefited immensely from camaraderie
and intellectual exchanges with Siv Lie, Owen Kohl, Ian Macmillen, and last but not least
Ioannis Tsekouras—thank you! My thanks go also to Kathleen Rizzo and Melanie Kane in the
Anthropology Department at UIC for their never-ending logistical support during my graduate
training and dissertation-writing, and for their warm friendship throughout.
Ethnographic research is inevitably a collaborative endeavor. This project would never
have been possible without the generous help and active involvement of many people in Vranje
and in Serbia more generally. Many thanks go to Grgur, Radmila, Dragan, Tanja, Jelena, and
Milica of the Milićević family, and Aleksandar and Djurdja Marković and their family for
opening their homes and extending support and friendship during my many trips. I would also
like to thank Belgrade-based colleagues Sanja Zlatanović, Biljana Sikimić, Selena Rakočević,
and Mirjana Zakić for their assistance and intellectual support of my project. Additional thanks
are due to Mile and Ankica Stevanović, who made initial connections on my behalf and helped
me to find good hosts in Vranje. In Leskovac, I remain grateful to Joca and Sladja who made me
feel welcome in their home and helped make connections for me, and to Mustafa Šabanović and
family in the Romani community for giving me entree and (indirectly) turning my attention to
Vranje. In Vranje, many, many people graciously allowed me into their homes and lives to help
me better understand their world. My deepest gratitude and heartfelt thanks go to: Dejan
Bajramović and family; Goran Silistarević and family; Miroslav and Nedžipa Jašarević; Staniša
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (continued)

“Šmeker” and Martin Ibišević; Alija and family; Fabijan Selimović and family; Esad and Zlatko
Jašarević and family; Ivan Ramčić; Boban Ćerimović and family; Asan and Jemka Bećirović and
family; Selistar Demirović and family; Avdija and his family; Sara Asanović and Anica; Zoran,
Olga, Sladjan, and Lidija Stojmenović and family; Dejan and Saša Stanković and family; Zoran
and Katarina Dimić; Bane Kace Stošić; Bane Mitrović; Suki and Smilja in Vranjska Banja;
Nebojša Stančić; Perica Janković and family; Slobodan Stamenković; Maja Bulajić; and Ivana
and Jelena. I remain eternally grateful to my landlord Pera Dinić, his wife Mikica, and their
family for their warmth, their help with my work, and for providing a wonderful home away
from home during my extended stay. I owe an immeasurable debt to my colleagues Iva Laković
and Jelena Ničić at the Ethnographic Museum in Vranje, who helped me with key connections,
important information, insights into my ongoing research, and offered genuine friendship and
camaraderie over endless coffees—and to Danijela, who offered many critical insights into
music and culture in Vranje while hearing about my work.
Boundless thanks go to the amazing Romani brass musicians who gave generously of
their time and wisdom over countless hours to provide me with key insights into their world:
Nenad Mladenović, Ekrem Mladenović, and Stefan Mladenović and family; Ekrem Mamutović
and Dobrivoje Mamutović; Aca, Zvezdan, and Adam Ćerimović; Demiran and Novica
Ćerimović; Ekrem Sajdić and family; Jovica Ajdarević and family; Dejan Avdić and family;
Sladjan Bakić; and Negovan Redžepović and family. My good friend and staunch advocate in
Vranje, Nebojša Selistarević, and his family opened many, many doors for me in the area and
facilitated my research in countless ways, while constantly providing important insights and
always making me feel at home with them—I owe them an enormous debt. Likewise, I cannot
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (continued)

even begin to repay the kindness, support, and guidance offered to me by Gordana Stojmenović
and Siniša Petrović, who provided my first home in Vranje and became my closest friends.
Gordana and I spent many hours watching wedding videos, discussing Vranje culture and social
life over coffees and homecooked meals—many of her insights decisively shaped my work. Last,
but certainly not least, enormous thanks are due to Denis Ćerimović and his family: his father
Miroslav, mother Neviza, and brother Robert. Serendipity brought Denis and I together within
minutes of my first visit to Vranje, when he selflessly accompanied me to the first two Romani
weddings I ever attended in town. Over the years, we developed a close friendship that bordered
on brotherhood, and his family became among my closest friends and best interlocutors in
Vranje. They took care of me like family, and ceaselessly explained the fine nuances of their
cultural world to me over endless meals, coffees, and teas; they also connected me with countless
others in the community and constantly advocated on my behalf. Without them, none of this
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would have been possible. Oven saste! Hvala vam od srca!
Closer to home, I would like to acknowledge the loving support of my mother, Mary
Marković, who always believed in my work and my academic dreams. And most importantly,
mere words cannot adequately express my deep gratitude and love for my wife, Cristina Ocón,
without whom this dissertation certainly would never have come to pass. She has stood beside
me since my first days in graduate school, offered good advice and intellectually rigorous
debates that helped me to constantly refine my research questions, and provided immeasurable
mental and emotional support throughout the long and often arduous process of researching,
writing, and defending this thesis. I am privileged to have her by my side. ¡Te quiero!

AM
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

1. Introduction: Conceptualizing Ethnic Identity Politics and Cultural Performance ........... 1
1.1 Theorizing Identity: On Ethnicity, Nation, and Identity Politics ................................. 2
1.2 Examining Ethnicity and Identity Politics in the Balkans: Situating Roma in the Post-
Yugoslav Space ........................................................................................................... 12
1.3 On the Power of Performance: Music and Identity as Performative Spaces .............. 17
1.4 Methods ....................................................................................................................... 26
1.5 Chapter Overview ....................................................................................................... 28

2. Gypsy Fingers Are Unique! Ethnic Relations, Musical Performance, and Romani Identity
in Vranje, Serbia ................................................................................................................ 32
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 32
2.2 Situating Roma: Ethnicity and Narratives of Difference in Vranje ............................ 34
2.3 Music in the Blood: Musical Performance as Romani Ethnic Marker in Vranje ....... 43
2.4 From Čalgidžije and Surlaši to Trubači: Romani Professional Legacies and Musical
Adaptation Since Ottoman Times .............................................................................. 46
2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 56

3. Roma as Cultural Intimates: Romani Musicians Between Ottoman Cultural Legacies and
Serbian Nationalism ........................................................................................................... 58
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 58
3.2 Pusto Tursko—Cursed Turkish! Ottoman Echoes, Roma, and Regional Pride in
Vranje ......................................................................................................................... 62
3.3 Roma as Ottoman Proxies: Valorized Tradition-Bearers or Suspect Others? ............ 68
3.4 Srpska Truba—“The Serbian Trumpet:” Brass Music and National Tradition at
Serbia’s Annual Guča Festival ................................................................................... 82
3.5 Brass Cultures on the National Stage: Romani Bands and the Cultural Politics of
Difference at Guča ...................................................................................................... 90
3.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 102

4. “Without the Drum, There Is Nothing!” Musical Affect, Embodiment, and Ritual at Vranje
Weddings ........................................................................................................................... 106
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 106
4.2 Theorizing Affect: Bodies, Relations, Sentiment, and Culture .................................. 108
4.3 Svekrvino Kolo and the Zasevka: Ritual Dancing by the Groom’s Mother ................ 121
4.4 The Sabaluk or Blaga Rakija: Celebrating the Consummation of Marriage .............. 134
4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 156

5. Producing Pleasure and Performing Power—Identity Politics and Performativity in Romani
Musical Performances ........................................................................................................ 158
5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 158
5.2 Producing Pleasure: Romani Musical Performance as Affective Labor .................... 161

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)

5.3 Performing Power: Conventions of Practice and Performative Politics at Vranje
Celebrations ................................................................................................................ 171
5.4 Discourses of Power in Practice: Debating Performative Conventions ...................... 194
5.5 Performing the Extraordinary and the Extreme: Romani Musicians and Theatrical
Spectacles of Power .................................................................................................... 203
5.6 Politicizing Performances: Changes in Discourse and Practice since the 1990s ........ 214
5.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 218

6. “They Took From Us Even That Piece of Bread:” Romani Musical Livelihoods, Post-
Socialist Crisis, and Nostalgia as Critique ......................................................................... 223
6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 223
6.2 Why Nostalgia? On Social Change and Memory Work as Critique .......................... 226
6.3 Tito’s Era: “The Golden Years” of Socialist Yugoslavia (1960s - 1980s) ................. 229
6.3.1 Industrialization and Economic Stability in Socialist Vranje .................................. 229
6.3.2 Professional Musicians in the “Time of Plenty” ...................................................... 237
6.3.3 “Musical Intimacy:” Familiarity and Prestige in Patron-Musician Relations ......... 239
6.4 Post-1990s Vranje: Conflict and Collapse .................................................................. 244
6.4.1 Economic Crisis: Neoliberal Changes after Socialism ............................................ 245
6.4.2 Politicizing Ethnicity: Serbian Nationalism since 1990 .......................................... 251
6.5 “There Isn’t Any More Music!” Musical Livelihoods and Romani Musicians in
Crisis ........................................................................................................................... 257
6.6 Conclusion: Remembering to Critique—Interpreting Nostalgia in Post-Socialist
Vranje ......................................................................................................................... 270

7. “So That We Look More Gypsy!” Strategic Performances and Ambivalent Discourses of
Romani Brass for the World Music Scene ......................................................................... 274
7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 274
7.2 “Balkan Gypsy Brass:” From Local Tradition to International Phenomenon ............ 277
7.3 Cosmopolitan Artists or Purveyors of Kitsch? Goran Bregović, Boban Marković, and
the Politics of (Re-)Presentation ................................................................................. 282
7.4 “Performing Gypsyness:” Selling Romani Ethnicity to Cosmopolitan Consumers ... 288
7.5 Gypsies as Cultural Mediators: Musical Fusions and Romani Roots as Symbolic
Bridges for Global Citizenship ................................................................................... 295
7.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 302

8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 305
8.1 Ethnicity as Strategic Performance and Embodied Performativity: Identity Politics
Between Power and Agency ....................................................................................... 305
8.2 Embodiment: Bodily Praxis and Power ...................................................................... 309
8.3 Affect and Music: Visceral Dimensions of Performative Politics .............................. 312
8.4 The Balance of Power and Agency: Romani Musicians and Control over
Representation ............................................................................................................ 315

Cited Literature ........................................................................................................................... 318
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)

Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 343

Vita ............................................................................................................................................. 349

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

I. ROMANI AND SERBIAN WEDDING RITUALS IN VRANJE .................... 120

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