IÈO VIDMAR (ISH, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

"Jest sem Èefur": Roberto Magnifico as the Magnificent Other in Slovenian Pop

When starting his promotional campaign for his newly released album Kdo je Èefur? in a quite spectacular way, Slovenian pop star Roberto Magnifico intervened in a political debate provoked and intensified by the political parties of the Right marked by chauvinistic discourse on "selling-out the right to the Slovenian citizenship". The mainstream pop album was a best seller within a small, limited Slovenian market. Supported with additional video spots, broadcasted on TV and regularly played on the radio, specially the title piece raised the question of "the (affirmative) inner otherness" in Slovenian society in ambiguous way.

Brief historical comparison would show that such position was and still is merely articulated and advocated as the only possible in the field of "alternative", "underground" popular music (early Slovenian punk groups, techno band Borghesia etc.). In Èefur's case for the first time the shift from the musical margin to the mainstream pop milieu has been made in a such pompous manner.

Was it just an effective commercial move (difference sells), an attempt to "balkanize" Slovenian pop (difference endangers) or a way to party with Ausländer aus Balkan (difference gives pleasure)?