| dc.description.abstract | Music video, although inextricably linked to the rise of television broadcasting and the recording
industry in the 1960s, has received only cursory attention in Yugoslav pop music historiography,
mainly because it lacked the discursive power of song lyrics privileged by rock journalists. More
recently, a few pop culture commentators, straddling the socialist/post-socialist periods, have
addressed the importance of television in shaping youth culture, most notably the music journalist
Aleksandar Žikić, in his 1999 book Fatalni ringišpil (The Fatal Carousel). Following a brief
overview of music video on Yugoslavia’s television, I focus on three leading artists who stood
out in terms of their visual identity, self-presentation, and engagement with the format: the jazzpop-
rock singer from Zagreb, Josipa Lisac; the new wave/alt-rock band from Belgrade, Ekaterina
Velika (EKV); and Montenegrin, Belgrade-based singer/songwriter Rambo Amadeus, reputed
for his eclectic rock-pop, jazz, hip-hop, and folk style. My analysis explores how Lisac’s image
of a powerful and artistically liberated woman challenged the conventional visual presentation
of female performers; how EKV developed from the underground into a mainstream act while
maintaining their signature cryptic narratives and distinctive iconography; and how Rambo
Amadeus’s critical satire of the Balkan cultural codes earned him the distinction of oppositional
voice within the context of Yugoslavia’s dissolution. | sr |
