It’s a Saturday night, you’re walking around campus minding your own business when, suddenly, a sound of distinctly Balkan-origin floats through the warm air. You stop, listen for a while, and hear the screeching mix of shout-singing and repetitive unidentifiable instruments. “What is this?” you might ask yourself, “What are these peculiar sounds?”

Whether it’s at a party or someone jamming to some tunes while studying, turbofolk is a genre of music typically associated with and loved by the Balkan community. If you look up turbofolk, it is defined as a musical genre which includes Serbian – and increasingly, Balkan – folk music with elements of electronic, dance, pop and hip-hop music. Loved by many, hated by equally as many, turbofolk is a defining component of parties in the Balkan region.

Turbofolk is more than just a beloved musical genre. The unique genre is associated with Balkan history and culture; with both the gruesome conflicts and with peaceful periods in Yugoslavia. What makes turbofolk particularly interesting is the genre’s ability to unite such a divided region, even though it was created in order to divide.

Kristina Stankovic, NYUAD Class of 2018 alumna who wrote her literature capstone on turbofolk and its ability to unite, shed some light on the phenomenon.

“Turbo-folk spread mostly in the early 1990s, as pop-culture started to become dominant in ex-Yugoslavia, when the countries shifted from Stalinism toward independence,” Stankovic elaborated. “Turbofolk as a genre is a symbol of Milosevic’s – ex-president of Serbia – corrupted regime, and mostly used as a political weapon. Before the rule of Milosevic, turbofolk was seen as kitsch and trashy, but during his rule, when crime and propaganda was on the rise, so was the popularity of turbo-folk.

“A good example of the use of turbofolk as a political weapon was the song by Ceca Raznatovic Kad bi bio ranjen which starts with this sound, as if troops are marching forward. And she sang this to the Serbian military on the border of Serbia and Croatia – during the Yugoslav wars – almost as if to cheer on the soldiers.”

“It was definitely a weapon that was used to separate the people from one another,” Stankovic continues. “Not only that, but it helped promote deeply patriarchal values, and was considered regressive — it still is.”

Yet, even with this history of turbofolk, it is interesting to see the state of the genre today. It is an everyday phenomenon to see Croatians or Bosnians belting lyrics to the very songs which were written against them. How did turbofolk overcome its ability to disunite in order to become an symbol of unity?

“I think the answer to this lies in the attempt to build a national identity,” Stankovic responded. “After the wars, people loved this portrayal of wealth, which was exactly what turbo-folk songs and singers tried — and succeeded — in doing.”

In recent years, this portrayal of wealth has shifted from acquiring wealth in the Balkans to acquiring wealth in a seemingly random place — the place NYU Abu Dhabi calls home.

“This shift of turbo-folk songs to praisals about the Emirates is not surprising, considering that the UAE holds this image of luxury and wealth in the world. And not just that, but people from around the Balkan region and turbofolk singers can easily familiarize themselves with the Arab culture,” Stankovic explains.

“Being under the Ottoman occupation for such a long time has become a big part in the national identity of ex-Yugoslav countries. After the instability of the twentieth century, it is normal to see singers and people shift to the Ottoman period — a more stable time. And the Arab world is the closest thing they have to compare to that period.”

In the end, turbofolk is a uniting genre for many people from the Balkans. Being raised with it, spending a big chunk of our youth listening to turbofolk at parties, it is no surprise that you can hear people from the Balkans singing their favorite turbofolk songs, whether it’s at a Balkan gathering on campus, in the gym or while writing essays.

Kristina ended her capstone project with the following a sentiment that sums up the nostalgic, sometimes shameful feelings South Slavs have when listening to turbofolk:

“Turbofolk is a genre that is in the very same instant both homosexual and homophobic, both conservative and fabulous, both violent and reconciliatory… Though I’m not ending this trip with a precise theory about this type of music, I know that turbofolk is in us all. We’re just worried that if we open Pandora’s box too far, we might just like it.”