Something is going wrong in the country
Srdja Popović, a young man, born 1973, already a legendary person. If one asks the question who is the most well known activist of political non-violent protest and pro-democratic movement in the contemporary world, the answer can be only one: Srdja Popović. Among other things, he teaches how to use joke and clever provocation to unsettle the tyrants.
Czytaj także po polsku – kliknij tutaj
Władysław Rokiciński: Srdja, thank you very much for accepting our invitation for an interview. For you, it all has started from music, am I right? I mean that forbidden and therefore cancelled in the very last moment rock concert in Belgrade in 1992. You and your colleagues just wanted to freely listen to music. Is it so with democracy that of course it means much much more than just be free to listen to a concert, but without that, democracy is crippled, and sooner or later non-existent?
Srdja Popović: Music played a great role in Belgrade where I grew up in the 80s and early 90s, it was a very interesting place in terms of music, it was one of the world’s largest capitals of ‘New Wave’, which is really interesting. This is probably because the former Yugoslav president Tito was very clever to, kind of steam of people by opening up the culture, so there was a really vivid scene of rock bands and pop bands and theatres. We grew up listening to mainly western music but also to the many, many Serbian bands. 1982 was significant because the war was starting and all the cool people in rock music in Serbia were very vocal and openly against the war. So the concert that was organized and then cancelled and then turned into the moving rally with the musicians playing on the back of a truck was really the moment, not only where I recognized that music matters but I recognized that activism is not a boring thing for old grannies who are fighting for their dog’s rights but rather activism is something really cool. Since 1982, through the 90s, through the students’ protests 1986/1987 and specifically throughout OTPOR it was the rock music which was the stem of this culture. It was not only played on rallies it was rock musicians coming in, stepping out, posing in a T-Shirts with a clenched fist, which was the symbol of the movement. Through all the time the rebellion that rock and popular music brings but also the urban spirit and the culture were really important parts of the movement. The second answer to the question is of course, yes. If somebody prevents you from listening to music that is a clear sign that something is going wrong in the country.
Among the political actions which you organized or advised to others, was any other, since 1992, in which music again played any role? Or, things were too serious and too dangerous to fight with music?
Music is a great addition to every single nonviolent struggle and whether you are looking at the Serbian case or you’re looking to the iconic pictures of Woodstock, you can tell that music was always playing a part in improving societies and fighting for the positive social change. There were many, many different occasions in which music was used as an important point. At least two cases I am aware of. One of them was in Ukraine during the orange revolution. They had this marvelous, endless rock concert which was acting on the main square, Maidan square, for six or seven days, nonstop. There is a great movie, it is called ‘Orange Revolution’, you should take a look and you can see how in the chilling cold it was the music that was keeping people on the street. As well in some other cultures music works great. If you look at the case of the Maldives where you had a popular protest in 2007 and 2008. And you also had the rock campaign like the rock concerts bringing out young people to vote for the positive social change. So you can see that this type of music and this type of glue which keeps people together and active really operates in a variety of societies regardless of whether we are talking east, west, colour of skin, culture or religion. There is an orthodox Serbia and a catholic Ukraine and completely Muslim Maldives where it completely worked. And you can also see great examples of this in the Middle East. When you grow old, young music sounds awful to you, like Hip-hop does to me, but it was Rap and Hip-Hop music in the Arab Spring that the musicians were coming out with protest songs because the street protest were forbidden. So they also found a way to protest through the music.
Serbia, your country, lost her independence long, long ago, and was under occupation for hundreds of years. How was it with keeping the spirit of the nation alive and up, did music play any role in that? Could you name any particular composer or musician, or music activist?
This question opens my favorite quote of one of my friends, who travels even more than me. He used to say “The more turbulent the history of the country, the better the music and the better the cuisine”. These are the effects of this fusion. And if you look at the history of this country where I am living or even the city where I am living, Belgrade, it was literally split between many parts. For three or four centuries the southern part of Belgrade was the farest outcast of the Ottoman Empire, whereas the northern part of Belgrade across the river Sava where the outposts of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. You can certainly see these influences in the culture and architecture but also in the music. And yes, there is a lot of authentic Serbian music. Part of it is related to the trumpet and I must remind you that after several hundreds of years of tradition, which was definitely very important and the main aspect of national identity, Serbia now holds the world’s largest music festival of trumpets every summer in a small village. In the same time there is a completely different musical culture in the northern part of Serbia, very traditional, very ethno, very nice. It plays in a quartet of string instruments, which looks like a tambourine, like little mandolins but with a low-cut stem. Both of these are a part of the national music, and throughout the history it was important and an anchor to the culture and it helped not to be overwhelmed by other influences. Additional, It is music, it is an open thing and influences come in and I think the richness of the music comes from the variety of cultures, that adds to its quality. So through history music only becomes better.
And in your personal life, was it – or is it – just only rock, or also classical music? In Presto, we have a column the title of which is Musical Coming Out. We talk to people who – unexpectedly – disclose classical music fascinations or even roots in their lives. Could it be anything like that to talk about in your life?
Well I must admit that it was mainly rock that influenced me, it was a bit of the world music and it was a bit of electronic music in my late teens. I was never particularly attached to classical music. We have a history of good music education, with it I was exposed to the classical music but I never really got attached to it. More important in my private life what comes with the age is that as you’re growing older you actually can sometimes become more childish. What happened recently with my brother who was a rock musician, he decided to record another CD in the age of 50. So he came to me and said, let’s borrow to acoustic guitars and after that I bought an acoustic guitar and time after time I am playing it with my friends and my wife who sings very nicely. My one year-old has been listening to the acoustic guitar since he was in his mother’s womb so he is a very prominent listener.
Srdja, thank you very much for talking to us, we appreciate it very much. The target of Presto is to build up more popularity and support for music which is good, not just easy. Would you advise us a clever and good-working... provocation to achieve that?
I think promoting great music is a noble mission and I think what you really want to do is to listen to the people. Talk to the people who are reading your magazine, find out why they like it and start thinking about how other people will like it as well. And, how the book ‘Blueprint of Revolution’ would advise you, you always want to think big in terms of what is your vision and start small but think small in achieving small victories.
Władysław Rokiciński’s conversation with Srdja Popović