Serbian music history – music today

While Serbia’s rural folk music still exists, Serbia also has a strong urban music scene. Due to the influence of Yugoslavian music before its civil war, western music became accepted.

Pop and rock music appeared in the fifties of the 20th century, while it gained popularity in the eighties.
Djordje Marjanovic, the biggest music star of the region of all times, was the first one to fall into the state of “ecstasy” along with his fans in concerts. He used to cry with them, throw his jacket into the audience and fall down on his knees in ecstasy. Serbian music came to the turning point with the formation of the band “Bijelo Dugme” in 1974. Combining rock and folk, they were surely one of the greatest bands in the newer history of the Serbian music. Even though folk music still exists today, it is not the only main genre in Serbia.
Over the time, Serbia has picked up the pace with the rest of the world, so it is not uncommon to hear genres like pop, rock, funk, punk, metal.
It also should not come as a surprise that Serbia adopted newer genres like Electro (dance, techno, dnb, rnb, dubstep, etc.)
There is a very popular festival called “Exit” which always attracts tourists from abroad. It is organized in Novi Sad, Vojvodina and it promotes mainly modern music – hip-hop, electronic music, dj-ing, etc. Serbia has a few DJs that are worldwide known: Marko Nastic, Gramophonedzie, Dejan Milicevic, Pookie, etc.
Speaking of traditional and modern music, there is also a wave, called turbo folk, which combines electronic and folk music.
If you need an example of a country/nation that has saved its tradition, it would be Serbia. Serbian’s music became rich by adopting new genres and still saving the traditional ones. If you go to Serbia, you have many choices as to what type of music you would prefer to hear.

You can go to clubs and pubs, where you will find good electronic music and DJs, or you can go to taverns where you are most likely going to hear more traditional types of music.

Photo credits: Jovana Rakic