Eurovision Rants

The Balkan Ballads

(Yes, we're going there because I did eventually promise to cover it at one point - and the day is going to be today. And that we do love them, don't we?)
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Almost every europal's biggest enemy: ballads.

That's not a new thing if you've been around the fandom every so often. They would rather prefer pop songs or joke acts in their favor and try to find every kind of irrelevant argument in order to make their point of views valid.

However, among the recent praised ballads in the last 2 decades, there's a few to point it out.

These kind of ballads managed to make a huge deal in the 2000's and literally went out to be among the most praised ballads even today.

These ballads managed to pull off a multitude of achievements, aside the songs themselves, they scored impressive placements and of course, would become a beloved staple for a certain region which used to be an actual country before 1992.

And, obviously, you know about what ballads I'm talking about because.... it's literally written as a title for the subject we're approaching.
(How ironic, ain't it?)

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the new-formed states were eager to go independently in Eurovision.
Initially being 4 in the 90's - Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, followed by the country with a controversial name (aka Republic of Macedonia) in 1998, to be precise - and with Serbia & Montenegro's debut in 2004, it makes 5 former Yugoslav states.

Meanwhile, 2007 arrived and the 5 became 7.
(You know what happened with Serbia & Montenegro and that 2006 controversy, if not, be kind and go back to that "The Beginning of The End" fanfic to understand more about it)

Therefore, they needed some sort of charm to conquer the world.
(Or, at least, Europe. They can settle with only Europe.)

And thus, with a little bit of slavic magic, a big bottle of rakija and one fancy serbian meme with the arcodion going viral...
...the balkan ballads were formed.

Of course, the genre wasn't technically only made for Eurovision, stay calm, but I needed a good introduction for it.

The Balkan Ballads (okay, more accurate are the Ex-Yugoslav Ballads, I have no clue why it's generally considered as "Balkan Ballads" but I'm just a kebab, what am I supposed to know) have been a staple in the region for decades, going back to the Yugoslavia era and even going on in the present days.

But as much as our topic goes - we only focus on Eurovision, not general musical history. Kebab is not going this overboard.

The Balkan Ballads have been generally there in Eurovision since Yugoslavia used to participate, but only gained major relevance in the 2000's - probably the golden era of those ballads.

It's meant to showcase the country's influence in a musical style, all of then being sung in their native language.
(And, now that I point it out - those balkan ballads rarely go individually.)

What generally makes them stand out is the power of those songs. Not only that, but combined with a singer which can deliver the song well and some god-like backing vocals coming after a long night of prayers from a country (...no pun intended), mix them all up, add a simple yet effective performance and you have the recipe for success.

However, there's one guy which basically kind-of revolutionised the concept in Eurovision and of which artworks have been portrayed a lot throughout the years, as both participant and composer:

Zeljko Joksimovic.
(sorry, can't put any of the accents in this improvised keyboard)

If you need a literal Leonardo DiCaprio of Eurovision, it's this guy over here.

A multi-talented artist, as a musician, composer and instrumentalist, Zeljko basically almost did it all in Eurovision.
He's probably up there, a close second behind Johnny Logan when it comes to overall placements.

Coming 2nd and 3rd as a contestant for two countries (Serbia & Montenegro 2004, respectively Serbia 2012), as a composer managing to reach the best placements for Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina (13th for Montenegro in 2015, respectively 3rd for Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2006) + hosting the edition of 2008 - you'd think he did it all.

But... technically he never won.
Serbia as a country did, yeah, but not Zeljko.
(Okay, now I wonder how comes that the winner isn't performed or composed by him, especially how much he tried throughout the years)

Speaking of winning...
Serbia did manage, as independent nation, to win the contest in their very first edition with a balkan ballad, and ain't a surprise considering how much they tried.
(*cough* back to Molitva again *cough*)

The Balkan Ballad trending is still going on even today, the last one to date being used in the 2018 edition - Montenegro blessing us with "Inje, but unfortunately which brought their second-worst position since 2007.
(Even freaking "Space" did better in points... That's sad.)

Kebab's conclusion?

Despite the golden era passing long time ago for the balkan ballads achieving top 3 every single time the nations sent one, many people acknowledge their influence even today, getting multiple praises and support from the fandom.

Even so, nowadays, they're still around and doing fine, but obviously not having the same impact they used to have in the past.

The world is changing and evolving, so does music.
But the ballads never left. Their legacy is still living and thriving, hopefully managing someday to go back to the golden age of Balkan Ballads we know and love.

But for now, only time will tell if there's going to be another top 3 breakthrough after 2012 for those majestic power-ballads the Ex-Yugoslav region generally blessed us with.

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(Now, allow me to overplay "Inje" and sob into my corner because it deserved way better than it got *ahem*)

Hi hello, and hello hi, once again.
This is literally the 30th page I write, I wrote more in here than I wrote in anything related to school, wow ok

Thankfully for me, the summer holidays are coming extremely soon, which means that I can give this book a little bit more time.
(And obviously for you to read more of whatever is this mess of a book in general but hey, at least we're slowly progressing, so you're welcome)

Untill next time, folks.
(Maybe I'll find about what to write in the meanwhile...)