Trash-Hop from Belgrade

Interview

Duboka Ilegala («Deep Illegal») perform trash-hop, a genre that mixes low and dark, live played trip-hop, with symbols and markers of Serbian trash-turbo culture. «Our main reference is the absurdity of everyday life», singer Shonegrad O'Connor writes in our e-mail interview.

[Thomas Burkhalter]: Hi Shonegrad, how is life?

[Shonegrad O'Connor]: Life is great, thanks. When it rains, it rains – but in the end we are all wet.

[TB]: Tell us a bit about Duboko Ilegala. What is the band about?

[SOC]: Duboka Ilegala started out as a music workshop back in 2001. The four of us (Sobot Suhi, Andy Pavlov, Biftek Zdravkovic and me) had a 2-hour radio show on SKC radio station and the initial concept was to mix all sorts of sounds with live instruments and present some of the sounds we bumped into while exploring different expressions and concepts. Most of the songs were initially made digitally and then recycled through playing live instruments, then re-recorded and combined with the initial idea to make the final piece. It was (and still is) a fun and joyful process. We had numerous guests from the world of music, drama and other art forms. They were all shrouded in dust, dark or fog, just as we were at the time. Everything was absurd around us, so it was only natural to follow that path. We even held a music competition, where competitors had 5 minutes to make a song live on the air. After SKC radio was shut down, we went to deep cover and made sketches for a lot of songs over the next five-six years. Then, last year we decided to make the album and record the songs in the studio. Our friends, Uce and Neki Stranac (from Studio Shtayga and ShazaLaKazoo) offered their help, connections and know-how and so Plitka Magistrala saw the light of day. Currently, we play live mostly as a DJ and MC duo, but there is a much larger crew that played in the studio and I hope we will be able to tour more as a full band.

[TB]: I see that some of your band members studied at the Conservatory, and/or play New Music and Classical Music? Can you tell us a bit more, about you guys. How do you earn your living?

[SOC]: Most of us have regular day jobs - Graphic designer, Software developer, Sociologist... Uce and Andy are professional musicians. Andy is a pianist, he plays as a part of Piano Duo LP and is in another great band called Ola Horhe. Uce is one half of ShazaLaKazoo and they seem to be taking off to a great career. It's all different music styles, but in my opinion, it is our strength, because we are able to walk through all genres without paying attention to what and how it is defined.

[TB]: To re-work Trash Culture with principles of Experimental music seems an international trend. Do you have references and influences that you like?

[SOC]: Our main reference is the absurdity of everyday life. Everything is upside-down and inside-out. We had our influences, of course, from John Cage to Alice in Chains. We also listened to a lot of trip-hop in the beginning and most of our first songs were under 100bpm. Personally, I admire Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Saban Bajramovic in terms of their lyrical and signing skills, their approach to song writing and live shows.

[TB]: You guys work with elements of Turbo Folk, you state in your press release. Please tell our readers. What was Turbo Folk about in the Milosevic years, and what it is about now - I keep hearing it again became a rather non-political and «clean» trans-regional pop music.

[SOC]: Turbo folk was an important part of the war propaganda machine. It was never directly political, but the politicians put it into one context, so we decided to take it out, chew, slice, distort it and spit it back. We tortured the hell out of it and it was fun. We were able to spice it up with our own lyrics, or use existing ones taken out of context. But it wasn't only turbo folk - we explored traditional folk songs, new electronic music, jazz and even rock'n'roll. At the same time we wanted to create dozens of new expressions and genres: Chain Hop, Silverbeat, Quazzy Jazzy and Trash-hop (which is the tag we like to wear most). Today, if you take a look at Turbo folk it is a lot less interesting - seems like a mellow leftover substance without shape and personality. Mostly it is just about copying popular Greek and Turkish songs.

[TB]: How do you guys approach Turbo Folk musically and lyrically. Which elements do you take over? Which do you leave aside?

[SOC]: It is always different - one of the main goals is that no song should be the same. I love doing different things at the same time and you can hear that listening to the album J. That's why we like to say it's like standing between 4 cafés and hearing the mix of music from all of them. Lyrically, there is a lot of stuff that is really inspirational and funny. Sometimes I take the title and make a completely different song, sometimes it is the singing style, sometimes it's a verse and sometimes it's none of the above.

[TB]: What is your audience? Do they understand your parody?

[SOC]: At first, it was only our friends. We had gigs with only one or two people present in the past. Now that the album is out and we got a little bit more active in social networking, more people heard the songs and now we have people in Uzice, Belgrade, Pancevo, Novi Sad and even Sarajevo and Ljubljana that are spreading the word and promoting us in a way. It was never really about understanding. I see it more as storytelling, where the final message is actually just your interpretation. There is no single true answer so the more questions are raised, the better the song. We're not trying to be smart asses or take ourselves too seriously - that's what destroys the fun.

[TB]: How is the situation for musicans like you in Serbia and the Balkan. Do you find places to perform?

[SOC]: It is hard if you think of living off of music. That's probably the case anywhere in the world. For me, music is pure pleasure, so I think it is going pretty well, we have more and more invitations to play and our performances are getting better.

[TB]: How about the international interest? Have you plans to tour internationally?

[SOC]: Yes we do. Although, it is a bit tricky if people don't understand the lyrics, so we are usually performing in the Balkan area, or somewhere where there are people who can understand «our language» (whatever it is called).

[TB]: These were our questions. You can relax now. What are your plans for the next 60 minutes?

[SOC]: I don't plan that far ahead, but now that you mentioned it, I might do some work today.

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music project «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «South Asian Sound Stories» with musicians from the UK, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Follow him on Spotify, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Instagram, X, or Facebook.

Published on October 21, 2012

Last updated on October 16, 2020

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Parody

Place

Tradition

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Gayngster Rap

by Christian Werthschulte

Schwule im HipHop – das war mal ein Tabu. Aber eine neue Generation queerer Rapper, darunter Mikky Blanco und Le1f, geht an den Start – offensiv und glamourös. Im Unterschied zu den Vorreitern des Queer-Rap sind diese Musikerinnen und Musiker viel sichtbarer.

Der Präsident ruft und alle folgen: Im Mai erklärte Barack Obama seine Unterstützung für die Homo-Ehe und die Reaktion seiner kulturellen Fürsprecher folgte prompt. Nur eine Woche später bezeichnete Rapstar Jay-Z, der seinen Rivalen Nas einst als «fag model» beschimpfte, das Verbot der Schwulenehe als «Diskriminierung, sonst nichts». Wofür die Grand Seigneurs des HipHop eine präsidiale Order brauchten, hat der Nachwuchs von ganz alleine bewältigt. Indie-Rapper und YouTube-Star Lil'B nannte schon 2011 eines seiner Mixtapes «I'm gay», obwohl er in seine «Basedworld» dann doch lieber Frauen einlädt. Auch der mittlerweile millionenschwere Newcomer A Rocky will über die schwulen Homies kein schlechtes Wort verlieren. Schliessllich schneidern sie ja seine Lieblingsklamotten.

Nagellack und fette Beats

Nie waren queere, transsexuelle oder schwullesbische Rapper sichtbarer als heute. Der Brooklyner Zebra Katz wird Dank eines Deals mit Mad Decent gerade durch die einschlägigen Blogs zelebriert, sein Kollege Le1f rappt sich mit reichlich Homo-Anzüglichkeit durch sein Mixtape «Dark York» und die Harlemer Transrapperin Mykki Blanko ist mit ihrem demnächst erscheinenden Debütalbum und den langen, feingeflochtenen Braids das perfekte Coverboygirl für das, was die Musikgazetten «Queer Rap» nennen. Im Video zu «Wavvy» präsentiert sich der Drag-Perfomer als Strassenrapper, der mit blauem Nagellack ein Aphrodisiakum zum «Dickriding» kauft. Später sieht man ihn mit nacktem Oberkörper burlesk auf einem Stuhl sitzen, von dem aus er geschminkt und mit wallendem Haar seine Raps streut.

Glam-Pose auf der Strasse

Le1f bedient sich unterdessen im Video seiner Single «Wut» bei den Posen der New Yorker Tanzbälle, auf denen Ende der 1980er Jahre die Voguer per Wettstreit die glamouröseste Queen ermittelten, während er auf dem Schoss eines weissen Muskelboys mit Pokemon-Maske rappt: «This yuppie's talking blah blah, he wants to Bink my Jar-Jar». Es gerät also gehörig was durcheinander im Rap.

Spiel der Geschlechter

Nur so richtig neu ist das nicht. HipHop, die angebliche «Hochburg der Homophobie« (De:Bug) wurde schon in den Nullerjahren gestürmt (wie es der Film Pick up the Mic für die USA dokumentiert). Nur haben das kaum Musikjournalisten mitbekommen. Dabei ist gerade HipHop besser dafür geeignet, Geschlechterrollen als konstruiert zu entlarven als gefühlsbetonter Indie-Rock mit seinen «Boy meets Girl»-Geschichten. Egal, ob Gangster, militanter Bürgerrechtler, Sister oder Bitch – die Geschlechterstereotypen im HipHop sind dermassen überzeichnet, dass sie sofort als Perfomance begriffen werden können. Das machte sich der HomoHop zunutze.

Vorläufer von heute

Der britische Rapper Q-Boy gab als smoother Boy über Old-School-Beats den HipHop-Nerd, der eh nicht dazugehört und sich daher die Freiheit nimmt, mit Jungs zu knutschen. Yo Majesty! aus Florida zelebrierten lesbische Sisterhood, Partylaune und Empowerment mit butchem Auftreten, und Deadlee aus Los Angeles gab den perfekten Gangster. Mit Bandana, Baggy Pants und Goldkette rappt er über schwulen Sex, das Coming Out und seine Folgen und lässt in seinen Videos immer wieder die Kamera in zärtlichen Close-Ups über seine Homies fahren - klassische HipHop-Ikonographie mit schwulem Begehren.

Globale Beats

Das ist bei den jungen New Yorker Rappern anders. Le1f bezeichnet sich zwar noch ironisch als «Gayngster», aber er, Zebra Katz und Mykki Blanco rappen anstatt über HipHop-Beats eher über die Mischung aus Trap, roughem House und Global Bass Spielarten. Nicht umsonst treten auf den Clubnächten der befreundeten Drag Queen Venus X DJ-Produzenten wie Nguzunguzu oder Kingdom auf, deren Geschlechterperformance um einiges konventioneller ist.

Aktiv in Deutschland

Aber ausserhalb der Blase aus gut vernetzten Producern, Performern, Journalisten und Ausgehprofis wird queerer Rap bis jetzt selten wahrgenommen. Die deutsche Rapperin Sookee beschreibt sich als «Quing», um allzu starke Geschlechterbinaritäten aufzulösen, und spricht sicht wortgewaltig gegen Sexismus und Homophobie aus. Ihr Publikum findet sie aber eher in der Antifa-Szene als unter HipHop-Fans.

Trans-Angola

In den HipHop-Hochburgen im westlichen und südlichen Afrika sind Homo- und Transphobie teils sogar Staatsdoktrin. Ausgerechnet aus Angola kommt jedoch Titica, eine 25-jährige Kuduro-Rapperin, deren Sprechgesang die Airwaves und Tanzflächen der Hauptstadt beherrscht. Geboren wurde sie als Mann, vor vier Jahren begann sie eine Transition in Brasilien. Und obwohl sie deshalb in ihrer Heimat als «unafrikanisch» gilt, ist sie die Königin des Kuduro. Ihr Trademark ist übrigens ein langgezogenes «Aaaaaah - Assume!». Es bedeutet «Steh dazu!»

Dieser Artikel wurde zuerst veröffentlicht bei Funkhaus Europa.

Biography

Christian Werthschulte lebt in Köln und arbeitet in Bochum. An beiden Orten schreibt er für Zeitungen, Magazine und den Doktortitel über Pop, British Cultural Studies und Kanadische Literatur.

Published on October 25, 2012

Last updated on July 09, 2019

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Belonging

Gender

New Geographies

Queer

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Between Crisis and Creative Escapism

Short Essay

by Pan An

It was almost 17 years ago, when the rave explosion in the UK and elsewhere arrived in Athens. Right from the first moment, the new subculture has spread widely in the city. Many years in a row, «the new genre» and contemporary subculture was shaking the night life of Athens, where until today there is always a desire for a creative escapism.

Since the beginning of the 90s, the rave scene seemed to have a large radical potential. In the beginning of the 90s many new people were organizing many free parties near or around Athens. The mountains near the city (Parnitha and Pedeli – the two mountains with which Athens is surrounded) had illegal raves every weekend. Police repression and some arrests were enough to destroy partly the free parties movement in Athens. But just for a while. Universities and empty buildings replaced the nature.

Urban culture was returned to its natural environment. Many people were arrested in connection with drugs. That was also the start of the disaster. Nevertheless many club owners realized how much money they can make from the new rave business. New clubs and new drugs was the new «lifestyle revolution» though, high entrance fee and a wasted youth combined with the new genre which was replacing jungle and breakbeat, «not profitable» music, with the new peace and love hippie style commodity known as psychedelic trance.

Somehow all of those things who were happening in the 90s were interrupted. Many clubs that existed in the 90s (such as Alsos, +soda and many others) have closed, some times after the initiation of the police and other times because the owners decided so. The techno scene stayed «homeless» for a while, or at least was forced to move beyond the clubs once again. A variety of projects were taking place in the universities and sometimes in empty buildings. In that point is good to name some of the Artists who were doing video dance art, combining with experimental electronic music, was a parallel scene to the techno stuff. Artists such as ION, coti K, Stereo Nova (probably the most famous electronic music project, combining beats with a great urban poetry), and many others of the first generation are some good examples.

Party culture as it happens most of the times was always connected to the music production. A handful of labels appeared as a result of many artists desire to release their music and give some publicity to the local music production. Some of these labels exist since the 90s like n-drop recordings, others just established recently.

In the early 00s as well as afterwards, a diversity of festivals, events, experimental art projects and new spaces such as Bios, and astron bar and later on Six dogs opened a new «chapter» in Athens nightlife history. A huge diversity of artists , musicians and art theorists were occupying the city center by organizing many cool things.

I feel that there is a big gap in the Athenian contemporary music scene story. It seems that the development was somehow interrupted or at least radically changed because of this appaling crisis. We could easily write that this crisis affects the art life of the city as much as other daily activities, certainly because the crisis, rather is a multidimensional new situation.

Austerity and crisis itself, became a counter-hedonistic reality. Only a small minority still follow the club scene. Its obvious that entrance fee, beer price (usually 4 to 5 euro for a small one) is becoming not affordable for many people in precarious Athens.

But However there is still a variety of venues, parties and underground events. Most of them are centralized downtown. Venues such as Astron bar (in psiri area) remains one of the absolutely inspiring references. Even though it is a very tinny bar, just few square meters, became one of the techno familly’s hot spots. Astron hosts every week Techno crews, young or even older djs always in combination with the warmness of the techno community.

Bios multi-space on pireos av, a huge space with a very gorgeous balcony offerning an acropolis view hosting regularly several great events and art performances. Similar things happening with SIX DOGS in avramiotou str. There is also an existing party reality, out and beyond the commercial places. It is often strong linked with the political radical potentials such as the anarchist scene. Parties in universities like the fine arts uni, underground crossings, by self organized/diy soundsystems usually with a drum'n'bass, breakcore, dubstep, trance and techno orientation, are a parallel to the expensive club scene.

December 08 uprising seems to be an influence to the Athenian youth concerning that particular sphere. Self organization structures, occupied open spaces like the autonomous parks etc… have facilitated the contemporary electronic music scene and beyond. December among other things was a rising process of a new counter culture who partly replaced the traditional forms of the «insurrectionist» one. Punk and hip hop were not any longer dominating the counter-cultural structures. News about dubstep arrived also after the December. It was kind of spectacular how fast dubstep became a blast. The wobble bass music was extended everywhere in Athens especially the years 2009-11.

There is an uncertain future for Greece. Austerity measures, poverty, repression replaced comforts and a life with dignity. As long as renegotiations of abstract labor and capitalist exploitation are taking place, the situation will remain explosive in any sense. The future of the subcultural scene is also uncertain. Perhaps the people will find new ways of maintain hedonistic zones, building new local alternatives and relations of solidarity. Its a matter of time to see what the future will bring.

This article was written for the German newspaper Jungle world. You can read the german translation online here.

See also the blog shituationist institute.

Published on October 12, 2012

Last updated on April 10, 2024

Topics

Capitalism

Counter-Culture

DIY

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Trash-Hop from Belgrade

Biography

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Gayngster Rap

Biography

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Between Crisis and Creative Escapism

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