Balkan rappers speak out on peace and justice

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The club is dark and sweaty, the beats hypnotic. The rallying cry of Bosnian hip-hopper Frenkie is "Rise Sarajevo and fight."

Frenkie, alias Adnan Hamidovic, is one of a new breed of Balkan musician-activists launching a musical offensive against nationalist politicians, corrupt businessmen and priests meddling in politics.

In their songs they condemn injustice and corruption. On stage they call on fans to rise and fight back.

"The more people listen to this music, the more they think about these problems. The more they talk about them, the more a critical mass grows," Frenkie said. "I understand (activism) as an obligation, it doesn't make sense to write about other stuff at this time."

Hip-hop was a fringe scene in the Balkans before the wars that tore the former Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s.

The musical forms that first sprang up in the successor countries during that period were a sign of the times, such as 'turbo folk', a high energy mix of techno and folk themes with lyrics extolling patriotic virtues and conspicuous consumption.

In Bosnia, the artistic heart of Yugoslavia before the war and the region that suffered most from the conflict, post-war numbness resulted in musical inertia. Until hip-hop came.

Bosnia-born Edo Maajka, the region's biggest hip-hop star, was the first to hit hard with songs focusing on the problems of the post-war society. His songs speak of traumatized ex-soldiers turned criminals, of the selfish, nationalist nouveaux riche, and disoriented youth who see no future.