Episodes 302 and 303 - The Unsung History of Turbofolk (Side A and Side B)

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WARNING: These episodes contains some pretty hideous shit. We play samples and quote some truly despicable lyrics.

Turbofolk is basically Serbian, and sometimes occasionally Balkan, pop music. It's something of a thriving scene these days - think eurodance with traditional Balkan rhythms - but it's origins are very, very murky.

It came to prominence in Serbia during the Yugoslav wars in the 90s, and was heavily exploited by Slobodan Milosevic government. In fact, it essentially became propaganda, pushing a nationalist, often ethno-fascist message. Focused on chauvinism, gangsters, guns, obscene wealth and often racism, it's a fascinating subject that soundtracked some of the darkest times, and acts, in human history.

In Side A we talk about the Yugoslav Wars and touch, very briefly, on some of the artists.

For Side B we looked at Rate Your Music's list of the most critically acclaimed turbofolk albums and decided to do a brief rundown of their music and their message. There are some real, grade A bastards in this mix. Literally some of the worst people to have ever walked the earth writing about terrible things.

We bring these songs to your attention for a multitude of reasons, the biggest of which is that many of these songs have MILLIONS of plays on Spotify and some of the artists in question were popular in the 90s. Some are still popular now, too. History, it seems, has not been as forgetful about some of these acts as it could be.

Anyway, on this episode we continue our fascinating journey into turbofolk.