Serbia is the most successful ex-Yugoslav country at Eurovision. They have one victory behind them and two Top 10 results. Despite their Moje 3-shaped hiccup in Malmö, the country’s chances for a second victory are on the up: they returned to the national final format after three years of choosing their entry internally. Back in 2007 Marija Serifovic — she who has a confession to make — won the Beosong national selection and later Eurovision itself. It was the sweetest gift they could have received for their debut at Eurovision (after separating from Montenegro). As a Croat I guess I should be proud that Serbia is Croatia’s neigbour. We are actually the same nation with a slight difference in our languages.

The genres that Serbia sends to Eurovision run the gamut from pop to folk. The question that every real Eurovision fan in the Balkans asks is, “How come they’ve never sent turbo folk?” For y’all who don’t know, turbo folk is a musical style that came about in Serbia in early 1990’s. It emerged from the pop – folk style popular among the rural population. Melos, or Serbian folk, is itself is a mix of Arab-Turkish-Greek-Gipsy and old Serbian music. The modern turbo folk is a mix of pop, techno and folk. It’s quite catchy and very popular among the teenagers in ex-Yugoslav countries. Turbo folk also exists in Greece but under a different name – laika.

However, the performances of turbo folk singers are often accompanied with a whole lot of non-sense. Turned-out teenagers, female strippers  and ridic lyrics. Take this for an example:

Girls, two girls a day

and you’ll never be sick

Take your girl by her hand, two girls every day

and bye, bye, bye doctor

Rambo Amadeus, Montenegro’s 2012 Eurovision contestant, knows a thing or two about the genre. He’s often credited with inventing it. Here’s his explanation of turbo folk.

Folk is a nation. Turbo is a system of fuel injection under the pressure into the cylinder of an engine with internal combustion. Turbo folk is the burning of people. Turbo folk is a favorite of the masses. Turbo folk is not music. It’s exciting the lowest passion of homo sapiens. Turbo folk is the injection system of the people. I didn’t invent turbo folk. I gave it a name.

Put more simply, turbo folk is a mix of Bulgaria 2013 and Austria 2012.

Here are some of the most recent hits from the genre.

http://youtu.be/o20g5Sac7U4

http://youtu.be/61xwrr2KJvo

To be honest, I hate this type of music and it makes me sick every time I hear it. But I’d give it a try at Eurovision just to see how far a song from this genre could go. Have you all seen Lordi?! They did an amazing  job with an awful song…

Some of the singers do perform outside the borders of the former Yugoslavia—mostly in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Perhaps Serbia could bag a few points from beyond the Balkans…

What do you think? Is there enough space for turbo folk at Eurovision? Which song  above do you like the most?

Mario Saucedo contributed this report from Croatia. Follow the team from WiwiBloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs. And while you’re at it, like our Facebook page to stay up-to-date with the latest Eurovision news and gossip.

Photo: RTS

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Sejko
Sejko
10 years ago

It’s probably true that Turbo Folk contributed Serbians at war, (i don’t think music can contribute to such bad war like Bosnian, I’m very sad about that, ALWAYS RESPECT – SAY NO TO VIOLENCE PLEASE ), but helped people to come out from that dark age. Indira sings – I da l’ jos svirate nocu pored reke sad je doslo lepo vreme pevate li one nase pesme pisi mi sve (whether you play near rivers, now it has come nice time, sing our sonfs, write me all…) Whether one day no turbo folk singer will sing that, Immigrants will be… Read more »

Sejko
Sejko
10 years ago

Well I think all the people who deny Turbo Folk ara IGNORANT ,RURAL AND FALSE 100% too. You say it, but when you come home, turn on BN MUSIC or DM SAT, and listen it all day. FALSE !!!!! Turbo Folk is part of Serbian Music Culture and Serbian music. It’s popular than ever. You are lucky, in Macedonia you have nothing like it, full of soul, in our kafanas. I was grown with Seka, Dragana and Stoja, and I have good memories. The music I heard is part of my childhood. In all genres you have bad and good… Read more »

Mario Saucedo
Mario Saucedo
10 years ago

@Boris: More or less,my examples ARE turbo folk in its latest.
Elitni odredi isn’t the good example for turbo folk. Let’s say they are mix of pop and turbo folk.

boris
boris
10 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LAYkVWLmbyw……
This is serbian Turbo Folk….Your examples are not so representative of that genre…

Vlad
Vlad
10 years ago

I really hope my country – Serbia – will never send something like this to Eurovision. By doing so, we would show a true lack of taste and bring some nightmarish memories (popularity of this genre reached the culmination during 1990s – a dark age for most Serbian people).
In a word – no!

David Thielen
10 years ago

I’m sorry but the phrase “Rambo Amadeus” and “good idea” just do not go together.

Comy
Comy
10 years ago

For all who actually think that JK can sing,check some of her live perfomances 😉
(I am not responsible for negative effects)

Petar
Petar
10 years ago

No! I hate it too. It’s dissaster. JK is aweful!

pstr
pstr
10 years ago

Just Jelena

Comy
Comy
10 years ago

No 🙂

takecare
takecare
10 years ago

MANELEEEEEE:)))

LENA
LENA
10 years ago

Milan Stankovic is now also pop-singer. Thank god that turbo folk no longer domnate in Serbian music, now pop and rock genre dominate. If you want to know about turbo folk, check BBC documentary. You will see why SHOULD NOT SERBIA SEND TURBO FOLK TO EUROVISION?

Alessandro
10 years ago

I LOVE IT! PLEASE! DRAGANA?

Peccafly
Peccafly
10 years ago

I’d love to see Serbia sending turbo-folk to the Eurovision song contest!
Especially, I want a young and modern turbo-folk singer such as Tanja Savic, Milica Todorovic etc.. rather than traditional big names like Ceca, Dragana, Jelena…

Peccafly
Peccafly
10 years ago

Don’t you forger about Milan Stankovic ? Isn’t he a turbo-folk singer ?

Emily
Emily
10 years ago

It really depends on the artist and the song. Would Bulgaria 2007 and 2013 count? I know it always does well with the televoters, but never with the jury.

M
M
10 years ago

NO!

My name
My name
10 years ago

And I agree with Lena 🙂 But I am a bit more for Dzenan Loncarevic/Amadeus Band,they are awesome 🙂 But Sasa also would be awesome choice 🙂

My name
My name
10 years ago

No,no,no!!! I am from Montenegro and I know a lot about this genre of ”music”.Maybe for non-balkans this would be good,but for us(at least me) this is horrible.Serbia should just keep sending good entries like Molitva,Oro,Nije Ljubav stvar,…
AND DEF. NOT JELENA KARLEUSA OR CECA,I hate them 😀

Joanna
Joanna
10 years ago

YESSSSS!!!! But within the genre there are some that I love and others I hate, so they should choose well if they want to send turbo folk…

D
D
10 years ago

I must say this is quite catchy, but I don’t know if it’s for me. I do like the laika music Greece sends (well some), but this just seems a little strange to me. It actually reminds me of the music someone like Jennifer Lopez would sing, I don’t know why though 😀 . I do think it’d do very well at Eurovision, with all of the ex-Yugoslavs definitely giving it high points and probably other countries giving it a high amount of points too.

LENA
LENA
10 years ago

I am from Serbia and , NO NO NO, NEVER TURBO FOLK!!! Jelena Karleusa used to be turbo folk, but now she sings pop. Google Sasa Kovacevic (he also sings pop), hope we send him for Eurovision 2014!!!

eurovision-berlin
eurovision-berlin
10 years ago

Of the examples only Dragana is turbo folk. The others are pop or rap. So Turbo Folk will be in good hands with Turkvision.

Lanti
Lanti
10 years ago

This is a really stupid question, but would Serbia 2010 and Croatia 2006 count as turbo folk?

Bogdan Honciuc
10 years ago

I loathe this type of music too (mostly because I’ve been over-exposed to the Romanian version), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did very well, especially with the televoters. The juries, on the other hand…

Eric S.
10 years ago

I’m Canadian and am confused by this genre.

Chris
Chris
10 years ago

When Jelena Karleusa goes to Eurovision Serbia would be on top of the list.
In Serbia, she is like Alice in Wonderland. I hope that she will one day represent her country at Eurovision.