The Magic of Ceca

Friday 20th of August in Cacak, 135km South of Belgrade: the Madonna of the Balkans - Ceca - is performing at an open field just outside the Serbian Motor-town. And I was there!


Born as Svetlana Veličković in 1973 she had a troublesome career, but after marrying one of the most notorious leaders of Belgrades underworld - Arkan - her career rocketed. This icon of Serbian pop-music is just minutes from going on stage. Me and my friend Rune are eagerly waiting for her performance. We ran away from the cacaphonia of trumpet-bands in Guca to catch this happening in Cacak. Despite that many of my Serbian friends thinks Ceca is a trashy and tasteless artist who slept her way to the top, I can't help from really looking forward to see her live.

At the end of the warm-up set the diva is entering the stage joining the washed-out opening artist in the last part of his last song. This passé guy, who looks like he just stayed behind in the Nineties, leaves the stage for the Queen of Turbo - and for the rest of the concert she owns the crowd! And we are there! I got shivers down my spine.

She performs "Beograd" (the video featured in ths blogg), "Pile" (which I for while had as wake up-signal on my cell), "Manta manta" and "Lepi grome moj" (both songs very popular when I stayed for months in Serbia in 2006). In this moment she is the centre of the Universe! Singing with a great voice, looking like a million - it seems like she is entertaining for friends. Even Rune, which never heard her music before feel moved.

This artist has survived the tragical Nineties - Devetdesete - when she gained popularity singing at rallies held by the nationalist regime of Milosevic which brought misery over all former Yugoslavia. Her music was a blend of up-beat disco and folk music. This mix is known as Turbo-folk. A style as much hated as loved. The lyrics is mostly about money and fast cars; two of the symbols of the wasted decade of the Devetdesete. When she got married to Željko Ražnatović - Arkan - in 1995, the marriage was broadcasted on national television. The sexy girl marrying a rich and powerful man gave fuel to the tide of the time; gangsters with a lot of money "sponsoring" beautiful woman. There's even a surviving term from this style of "teaming up"; Sponsorusa.

But - all this aside - on the open field in Cacak Ceca was the Queen. She captured two Norwegians on tour and we had the time of our life!