Top 10 Serbian Turbo Folk Icons
Jelena Karleusa
Serbian Turbo-folk is experiencing a bit of buzz right now thanks to Vice magazine’s Guide to the Balkans which aired on VBS.tv and CNN here in America. Here at Balkania Fanzine we thought we’d curate a list of our favorite Turbo-folk diva offerings, making sure each and every one is very Turbo. Here goes:
1. Ceca
The canonized queen of Turbofolk, Post-house arrest Ceca has nothing on Yugoslavia-era Ceca. Znam (I) is pure 90′s-Helmut Newton-fashion-glamour meets Manheim Steamroller.
2. Lepa Brena
Meanwhile, Lepa Brena was conquering Turbo-folk. Grand Production, the Serbian equivalent of Payner is owned by Lepa making her one of the industries most successful, beloved icons, and also one of its mega-moguls. She’s the biggest selling artist in the Balkans with over 20 million records sold worldwide and her recent single Uradi To shows that even at 51 she’s still got it.
3. Marta Savic
Mama Marta is near the top of our list with a typical Serbian television performance of the relentless Zivot Novi. Her powerful voice and fearless femininity have lead her to collaborate twice with Azis over the past few years.
4. Dara Bubamara
Dara pumps out hit after hit. After a difficult choice we picked her recent stadium banger Galama (Noise).
5. Jalena Karleusa
Jalena with her strong serbian beauty is the biggest gay icon in Serbia (and arguably the Balkans). Her camp looks in pop-hits like Upravo Ostavljena have kept her at the top of the charts for almost 20 years.
6. Funky G
Dance duo Funky G’s Šta ti mogu may sound familiar to Chalga fans. Both Azis & Galena have hits borrowed from Marina and Gagi.
7. Dunja Ilic
Controversial starlette Dunja has made some of the most provocative videos in Turbo folk. Euforija is indicative of a trend towards younger, sexed up singers pushing the older generation out of the market.
8. Seka Aleksic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCfYULVP7k
Born in Bosnia, Seka immigrated to Serbia as a child to escape the war. Her dramatic techno-folk track Soba 22 has a sort of Balkan-Ottoman Empire vibe alongside semi-nude muscly men (of course).
9. Goga Sekulic
Goga was the star of Vice’s guide to the Balkans. We especially love her for throbbing, frantic dance tracks like Muska Lutka. (P.S. check out those Balkan bulges).
10. Stoja
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeuciI62lRk
If their rivalry wasn’t legendary, we would probably assume that Stoja and Marta Savic were the same person. But could Marta pull off the naked in a tub full of peppers look from Revolucija as well as Stoja?