New Primitives
Encyclopedia
New Primitivism was an urban subcultural
movement that originated in Sarajevo
during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje
and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities include Elvis J. Kurtović, dr. Nele Karajlić
, Rizo Petranović, mr. Sejo Sexon
, Malkolm Muharem, Dražen Ričl
, Branko "Đuro" Đurić, Boris Šiber, Zenit Đozić, and others from Sarajevo
neighbourhood of Koševo. Some of the people from the above group also created the Top lista nadrealista
sketch show that started on radio but eventually moved to TV, going on to become another staple of the movement.
Other bands that at one time or another identified with New Primitives include: Bombaj Štampa
, Plavi orkestar
, Dinar and Crvena jabuka
, although they quickly moved on to more commercial and communicative forms of expression.
The movement expressed itself primarily in musical (Zabranjeno pušenje
, Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors) and radio/TV (Top lista nadrealista
) form. Film director Emir Kusturica
was an associate and friend of the crew, and although his movies can not be directly associated with the movement, their spirit certainly shares some sentiment with New Primitivism.
New Primitives were actually more a group of neighborhood friends than a coherent movement. It is hard to identify many actual followers of the movement. However, the fresh spirit that the group left in the urban Sarajevo culture and a quite new way of expression, flooding directly from street subculture, attracted significant popularity.
The discourse of New Primitivism was primarily humorous, based on the spirit of Bosnian ordinary people from cultural underground. They introduced the jargon, rich in Turcisms, of Sarajevo mahalas (suburban neighborhoods) into the official musical and TV scene. Most of their songs and sketches involve stories about small people—coalmine workers, petty criminals, provincial girls etc. -- put in unusual or even absurd situations. There are comparisons between Monty Python's Flying Circus
show and New Primitives methods, as they share the short sketch form and utilize absurdity
as means to elicit laughs from the audience.
in global pop music and Neue Slowenische Kunst
in Slovenia. On one hand, the term New Primitivism was a clear anti-reference to New Romantic, as they sought to be anything but romantic and sugarsweet. On the other hand, they wanted to emphasize the stereotypes encountered in many jokes about Bosnians and Slovenians – the former portrayed as raw, unsophisticated, vivid, and open-hearted, and the latter likely to be stiff, cold, serious and calculated.
New Primitives are also mentioned in "Anarhija All Over Baščaršija" (Anarchy All Over Baščaršija
), a landmark song by Zabranjeno pušenje
. In the song, new primitives are violent locals who listen to Yugoslav folk music, "attack hippies" and are repulsed by everything that comes from the west.
, the creed of the movement was: "Tuđe hoćemo, svoje nemamo" ("Theirs, we want; ours, we haven't got."). That is a parody on one of the often used political slogans of the communist period: "Tuđe nećemo, svoje ne damo." ("Theirs, we don't want; ours, we don't give.").
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
movement that originated in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
during early-to-mid 1980s. The movement was identified with Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors bands, whose members were the driving forces behind it. Its creators and most notable personalities include Elvis J. Kurtović, dr. Nele Karajlić
Nele Karajlic
dr. Nele Karajlić a.k.a. Nele Karajlić, born on December 11, 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, , is a Bosnian Serb rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director living and working in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.One of the founders of New Primitivism movement in Sarajevo,...
, Rizo Petranović, mr. Sejo Sexon
Sejo Sexon
Sejo Sexon is the stage name of Davor Sučić, Bosnian Croat rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director....
, Malkolm Muharem, Dražen Ričl
Dražen Ricl
Dražen Ričl was a Yugoslav rock musician, best known as the first lead vocalist of the extremely popular Sarajevo based rock band Crvena jabuka.Ričl was born and raised in the Koševo neighborhood of Sarajevo, where he was best known by the nicknames Para...
, Branko "Đuro" Đurić, Boris Šiber, Zenit Đozić, and others from Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
neighbourhood of Koševo. Some of the people from the above group also created the Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista also known as Nadrealisti was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo during early 1980s and later a sketch comedy and variety show on TV Sarajevo in three separate installments from 1984 until 1991.'Top lista nadrealista' started as a segment on Boro Kontić's programme...
sketch show that started on radio but eventually moved to TV, going on to become another staple of the movement.
Other bands that at one time or another identified with New Primitives include: Bombaj Štampa
Bombaj Štampa
"Bombaj štampa" is the pop-rock group from Sarajevo dating from 1982, which, together with "Zabranjeno Pušenje" and Elvis J. Kurtović, participated in creating a new movement known as New Primitivisam in Ex-Yugoslavia. The group was founded by Nedim Babović, guitarist and Branko Đurić, actor and...
, Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar
Plavi orkestar is one of the most popular bands from former Yugoslavia. The band was founded in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1983.The band has remained popular to the present day with 8 albums and more than 3500 concerts worldwide...
, Dinar and Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka
Crvena jabuka is a Sarajevo-based pop band that originated in 1985, and since then has remained very popular. They were also a part of the so called New Primitives movement that occurred in the 1980s in the Former Yugoslavia territory....
, although they quickly moved on to more commercial and communicative forms of expression.
The movement expressed itself primarily in musical (Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
, Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors) and radio/TV (Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista
Top lista nadrealista also known as Nadrealisti was a comedy radio broadcast on Radio Sarajevo during early 1980s and later a sketch comedy and variety show on TV Sarajevo in three separate installments from 1984 until 1991.'Top lista nadrealista' started as a segment on Boro Kontić's programme...
) form. Film director Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
was an associate and friend of the crew, and although his movies can not be directly associated with the movement, their spirit certainly shares some sentiment with New Primitivism.
New Primitives were actually more a group of neighborhood friends than a coherent movement. It is hard to identify many actual followers of the movement. However, the fresh spirit that the group left in the urban Sarajevo culture and a quite new way of expression, flooding directly from street subculture, attracted significant popularity.
The discourse of New Primitivism was primarily humorous, based on the spirit of Bosnian ordinary people from cultural underground. They introduced the jargon, rich in Turcisms, of Sarajevo mahalas (suburban neighborhoods) into the official musical and TV scene. Most of their songs and sketches involve stories about small people—coalmine workers, petty criminals, provincial girls etc. -- put in unusual or even absurd situations. There are comparisons between Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
show and New Primitives methods, as they share the short sketch form and utilize absurdity
Surreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
as means to elicit laughs from the audience.
The name
The movement's name arguably came as a reaction to two then-actual movements: New RomanticNew Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
in global pop music and Neue Slowenische Kunst
Neue Slowenische Kunst
Neue Slowenische Kunst , aka NSK, is a controversial political art collective that announced itself in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans...
in Slovenia. On one hand, the term New Primitivism was a clear anti-reference to New Romantic, as they sought to be anything but romantic and sugarsweet. On the other hand, they wanted to emphasize the stereotypes encountered in many jokes about Bosnians and Slovenians – the former portrayed as raw, unsophisticated, vivid, and open-hearted, and the latter likely to be stiff, cold, serious and calculated.
New Primitives are also mentioned in "Anarhija All Over Baščaršija" (Anarchy All Over Baščaršija
Bašcaršija
Baščaršija is Sarajevo's old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city. Baščaršija was built in the 15th century when Isa-Beg Isaković founded the town. The word Baščaršija derives from the Turkish language...
), a landmark song by Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
. In the song, new primitives are violent locals who listen to Yugoslav folk music, "attack hippies" and are repulsed by everything that comes from the west.
Creed
According to Nele KarajlićNele Karajlic
dr. Nele Karajlić a.k.a. Nele Karajlić, born on December 11, 1962 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, , is a Bosnian Serb rock and roll musician, composer, actor and television director living and working in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.One of the founders of New Primitivism movement in Sarajevo,...
, the creed of the movement was: "Tuđe hoćemo, svoje nemamo" ("Theirs, we want; ours, we haven't got."). That is a parody on one of the often used political slogans of the communist period: "Tuđe nećemo, svoje ne damo." ("Theirs, we don't want; ours, we don't give.").
See also
- SFR Yugoslav pop and rock scene
- Punk in YugoslaviaPunk in YugoslaviaPunk in Yugoslavia was the punk subculture of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a state which existed until 1991. The most developed punk scenes across the federation existed in Socialist Republic of Slovenia, the Adriatic coast of Socialist Republic of Croatia, the Socialist Autonomous...
- Yugoslav New WaveYugoslav New WaveNew Wave in Yugoslavia was the New Wave music scene of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...