Music and Memory: Yugoslav Rock in Social Media

In: Southeastern Europe: L' Europe du sud-est, Band 39, Heft 2, S. 215-236

Abstract

This article argues that after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav rock music lost little cultural value and is still a prominent trigger of vernacular memories of the socialist Yugoslav past, as well as a vehicle of socio-political commentary in post-Yugoslav contexts. In this view, music is understood as a galvaniser of affective relationships to that past and to post-Yugoslav presents. In the first part of the article, the author discusses the theoretical and practical implications of digitally mediated music as immersive affective environments, working within the framework of media archaeology and a digital archives approach. It is argued that Yugoslav rock has retained its potency and appeal, where today, in a post-Yugoslavia context, it presents an outlet for the recomposition of musical preferences through nostalgia and opposition to the post-1991 socio-political developments. In the second part of the article, focusing on Facebook and YouTube, the author investigates how Yugoslav rock has been reframed in social media and how fragments of the country's past are reframed in digital media environments. A qualitative multimodal discourse analysis is employed here to investigate a selection of fan pages of rock musicians and bands.