The music of my country: How to choose from thousands, a difficult decision

At the beginning of July, I stumbled upon an invitation from our dear @avdesing to participate in a great presentation, in a community that I had not followed until now #youhive

I really liked the idea of ​​presenting to the community through the folklore music of the countries we are from, and I thought that I had to take part in this invitation.

But at the very start I knew one thing:
I will not have a dilemma or a trilemma, I will be faced with a multilemma because of the choices I will have to make.

Because how to choose a few songs that best reflect the folklore of the country I'm from, when music in these areas is woven into the core of our existence.

As the peoples of this region, we have been singing since time immemorial...

I was born as a Yugoslav, in a country where Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians, people of three religions lived.
And everyone (mabe except the Slovenians 🙂) had and still have a lot of song every day of their lives.

The music scene of my early youth was full of pop, rock, disco tracks by local artists.
Our bands participated in international competitions and won prestigious awards there, and the music groups that existed here had millions of fans and countless albums.

Most of the tracks from those albums are still enjoyed today...

However, with the collapse of the state, that music scene also fell apart, creating several smaller scenes, but also full of successful and popular performers.

For me, who stayed in the part of the country called Serbia, there were still many beautiful moments in the following years with various old/new music groups or solo artists, who continued their careers, as if the breakup of the country had not even happened...

We continued listening to rock, pop, disco and all kinds of fun music

But I wouldn't write about that kind of music right now.

Folklore was mentioned, so I would like to go a little further from my childhood and present here some old tracks of original Serbian music that best represent the parts where different peoples from central Serbia live, from the south or the north...

In the heart of Serbia, in Šumadija, the sounds of the accordion can often be heard, and sometimes a violin or a flute is played.

In the north, in Vojvodina, probably the most brilliant example of musical numbers are the "tamburaši" players.
Indispensable songs at all celebrations and in "kafana", when the heated atmosphere subsides and when a slightly quieter tone pleases the ear

And when you want to hear music from all over the Balkans, from city music to sevdalinka or songs from the south, you can listen to this kind of mix.

And what constitutes the very epicenter of Serbian folklore, has been inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural assets since 2017:
Kolo - traditional folk dance

​Kolo is played on all occasions and even though some of the original songs that I presented to you here today may have fallen into oblivion and are no longer wanted for performance, not a single celebration in Serbia goes by without someone leading the Kolo to the sounds of the accordion.

Details about this cultural property can be found on the UNESCO website

And now, in my adult years, I realize how connected I am with folk music.
As a child, I spent a lot of time with my relatives in the village, where folk music was always played on the radio.

Although a teenager, who listened to fun music in the city society, I knew a lot of folk songs.

For this reason, I endured the comments of my friends, who made fun of me because of my "folk" musical taste and the repertoire I loved.

But that changed when we grew up and started going to various celebrations or going out to bars and ordering music from musicians.

That's when my knowledge of "music for the people" really paid off, and my friends, who until then had almost never listened to that kind of music, looked at me in amazement when I asked the orchestra for a song by Toma, Silvana or Šaban...

Thank you once again @avdesing for this initiative and the July theme, because in addition to presenting you a piece of Serbian folklore, I listened again to some of my favorite music tracks and in the late hours treated the neighborhood to music from the loud speakers of my TV.

And I remembered some moments when I ordered these and similar music tracks...
And then I had a difficult choice 20/1000, but, judging by the atmosphere and the party, I hit the "right" chord.