New Wave in Ex-Yugoslavias rock ‘n’ roll

“New Wave ” is a musical and cultural phenomenon which occurred in the period that followed the heyday of punk , in the late seventies and early eighties of the twentieth century. First developed in Britain, from where it is further expanded, until it spread all over the Europe, including East Europe ,and United States. The New wave is a concept of music that implies a fusion of different genres. It is a term that brings together different musical styles an gathers different orientations. It is very difficult to find a common musical elements that would represent a feature of the “new wave “.Sometimes the term was used for the bands who predominantly used synthesizers, and sometimes,its used only to divide post punk movements from punk, whatever kind of music being  involved. Some theorists used the term to mark pop music related to punk but not plain punk. To define an aristic or musical genre is is to understand a cultural idea that leads it, its guiding principles,the f low it’s been driven on, towards the needs, expectations and criteria of the audience.New Wave is a postmodern cultural phenomenon not only in popular music,but in fashion, design,and  complete artistic atmosphere of the time. Here we examine the cultural and social aspects of this phenomenon in the former Yugoslavia, its specifics and local artistic, political and sociological significance.

The widest term in which we observe this phenomenon is mass culture. Beside the musical determination and the characteristics of the new wave, I think that it is important to talk about cultural and social aspects of this phenomenon in Ex-Yugoslavia. The rock ‘n’ roll aspect of the new wave is a primarily global musical phenomenon. The mark global indicates that something in the world is well known and spread out. But, it is questionable whether it has remained in its primal form or if modifications have changed the essence of the new wave. But, because the essence of all terms is sensible towards the context, rock ‘n’ roll can describe the local genre because it was characteristic for a certain area only. Some authors don’t consider rock as a musical genre, but as a specific cultural practice.[1] These marks indicate the wider meaning of rock ‘n’ roll, not only in musical terms, but also in cultural aspects where rock ‘n’ roll was fulfilled. Music is just a basic anyway, but we must mention the implications rock ‘n’ roll had in a certain culture and in a certain environment.

During the last decade, in Ex-Yugoslavia you could notice interests for a cultural phenomenon called new wave. The interests for the new wave are already made in the late eighties, to be brought back alive in the nineties, followed by reproductions of important albums, documentaries, movies, biographic literature and exhibitions of that period or certain rock groups. In the last years, regarding three decades since the new wave, many cultural manifestations have been held in Belgrade, as well as many multi-media projects and documentary films about this period. One does get the impression that the new wave was more and more important with the urban legend of the “golden time” that has marked generations in a cultural model of Yugoslavia and formed the identity of the youth in this area. Thus its meaning, the new wave in Yugoslavia remains not that much reworked, although some encyclopedias of Yugoslav rock and many (auto)biographic books have been written, followed by many interviews and documents.

The new wave (new pop music), a name that is generated from the anthology of the new wave, a form of French cinematography from the late 50s (nouvelle vague) remained in the late seventies and early 80s and is considered a wide specter of music genres. The new wave was created in the mid-seventies at the same time with punk rock and in the beginning, it was the synonym for punk rock. Later, when it incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, disco and pop from the 60s with a lot of punk, it was defined as an opposition to punk and commercial rock.[2] In Yugoslav rock, we find that the name new wave was also used for punk, as well as that in Great Britain we speak about punk as the new wave or the new English wave.

The new wave in Yugoslav terms means the genre emerged in the late seventies that  brought to a music scene the new sensibility of the young generation who wanted to express itself in new and different way. Singled out as a new parallel flow with commercial rock music,  in its  body of work and artistic commitment it built its own ideology. At the time the Yugoslav socialist society perceived the culmination of a development.Located in the unstable political situation at the time and after Tito’s death, the New Wave offered a new cultural model to a urban youth.It helped them to identify in specific historical and cultural conditions, as to define and determine the aim of their rebellion. That is why NewWave under these specific political and cultural circumstances has deeper meaning,different aim and further consequences in Yugoslavia then in the Western Europe.It had a role that goes far beyond musical categories.Not linked only to mass culture and modern popular music but also to the phenomenon of youth subcultures and their expansion in the very specific political enviroment..In the late seventies and early eighties of the 20th century youth began to gather around students and youth centers in major cities such as Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Rijeka called. New wave encompassed music, film, television, fine arts, fashion styles and nightlife, contributing to the awakening of critical thinking, engaging youth and student press, electronic media, designers, artists and multimedia artists, who together helped to create a unique cultural front which will completely change its former aesthetic design, photography, clothing, newspapers, film and television. One of the important movements in the field of Fine Arts, founded in the eighties,  had a very pronounced relationship with the New Wave in rock.Called New Painting, along with other urban happenings, gave a striking picture of the Yugoslavian spiritual climate in the eighties , faithfully conveying the spirit of creativity and free speach in Western Europe. In the lyrics that served as the political framework for a different view progress was made by the groups Azra and Idols.

Speaking about problems that the new rock music hat, it spoke also about problems of its generation that required the audience to be involved. This gives new wave the marks of a mass movement in Yugoslavia. [3] The common rock culture tied the industrialized regions of Yugoslavia, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation and mother language. The late 70s have brought the advertisement industries into Yugoslavia, with the promotion of consumerism, the eighties have brought in the show-business, management and marketing ideas and the myth about the image as a strong factor of media representation. The punk phenomenon as a fashion style and the new wave orientation towards the visual image, experiments in media and pop culture were far more important than the political factor, and fashion designers often used them to form a visual identity of the music and the musicians, as well as for the construction of the new wave culture. Because the media of new wave was music, fashion, photography, video and television, we can define it as a musical-fashion-social movement or as a redesign of old musical-cultural forms that have brought up the media-artistic redefinition and the synthesis of different experiences of anti-culture. The new wave will be remembered because of its social importance, aesthetic and marketing experiments and innovations and not for its commercial impact, what retrospective exhibitions like “the last riot in Serbia” can confirm. Documentaries of the world’s most renown magazines such as New Musical Express and Melody maker, that have followed the scene in Yugoslavia with a great interest can only confirm how much the new wave in Yugoslavia was interesting for the rest of the word. Yugoslavia was also considered the most vital music scene east of Great Britain.

The beginning of punk and the new wave in Yugoslavia is marked with the emergence of Pankrt in Slovenia in the year of 1977. It travels first to Zagreb and then to Belgrade, where it reaches its zenith in the year of 1980. Most rock critics think that the new wave was shut down in the year of 1982, but because of generations of post new wave music groups and their impact in the media and the society, some see the year of 1985 as the year new wave ended.[4] We also find statements that the new wave started to fade in the year of 1989, which is confirmed by the name of retrospective events in SKC in Belgrade in 2009 “Remake, playback, blow up-off (1977-1989).

The main base for the new wave is the connection Ljubljana-Zagreb-Belgrade. The music and cultural scene of these cities will be studied in comparison with global events, without the intention for more detailed presentations of the history of those periods. We will consider rock groups that emerged beyond the main centers of new wave (Rijeka, Maribor, Novi Sad), which indicate the simultaneity of the movement as a causal event, as well as the rock traditions of a certain area.[5]

The definition of the word “new wave”

New wave is a term that defines many avant-garde art, literature and also rock music movements (first of all it was a movement in the film industry, where the name also originates from). New wave is not the classy rock ‘n’ roll, it is also not punk and it’s also not a defined musical genre, and that’s why this genre is determined by artist that have nothing in common regarding their musical style. For example, Wikipedia states that Billy Idol, an English rock star is a new wave artist, as well as the British group Cabaret Voltaire – a fact that two artists who have nothing in common can be included in the new wave era of music. With his music, Billy Idol influences punk and hard rock with some dance moments (guitars, bass guitars, drums, keyboards), while Cabaret Voltaire is known for their sound experiments (with samplers, synthesizers, modal voicing etc.), as well as for their visual performances (films on concerts). Various concepts also reflect their communication with the crowd – Billy Idol is believed to be a rock star and an Icon of the eighties, while Cabaret Voltaire has only had contact with few followers.

The relation of punk and „new wave“ is also a little bit weird, because the two terms are used as synonyms on some (not rare) occasions. Teo Kateforis also indicates that „one does often forget that the explosion of British punk in the year of 1976 was also marked as „new wave““. Even if the boarder is not clear enough (and here we must ask ourselves which musical genre is defined by clear boarders?), „new wave“ is not punk, even if it’s directly connected to it, because punk represents a very simple musical form in both – thematically and musical views (short, energetic songs with the message of resistance against the social and political systems), while new wave can be set as a complex and enriched musical form (with new instruments such as keyboards), that includes also different artistic influences. The milestone of difference between new wave and punk can also lie in the period of their establishment. New Wave” became popular in the seventies, in about the same time with the zenith of punk music.