Western European Influence On American Culture

Many scholars have attempted to identify the paradoxical positioning of the Balkan region or simply Balkans. The Balkans are geographically part of Europe, but conceptually excluded from the Western European political and economic sphere as well as culture, beliefs and values. The “Balkan construction” was part of the Western Hegemonic discourse and it has been seen as a ‘remote area’ - the dark and barbaric side of Europe. The typical Western – created the concept for Balkans reflect stereotypes such as violence, ferocity, irrationality and uncontrollable passion. Balkanism has been always defined as subordinate and as a bipolar system (rational/irrational, center/periphery, civilization/barbarism) arranged hierarchically as a primary point
The role of music is fundamental in the creation and determination of place in multiple ways, through literature, social practices and expressions and interactions in everyday life. The production of a place through music is seen to be cursive, as the interconnections and interrelations between music and place seems to play a significant role to place – making process.
During the recent years, Gypsy ( coming from the Romani ethnic group) music has been recognized as global, as it is performed in various European and American festivals and concerts, found in film scores such as Borat and Sherlock Holmes, posted on social media and YouTube, remixed by DJs in many clubs all over the world. Also, well known pop and rock singers have recorded songs with Gypsy
“Ederlezi” is an amalgamate of national representation and appropriation in an age dominated by global cultures, since it firstly became well known in Serb – Croatian language and it has been rearranged in 2006 and presented by Rozsa Magdolna in Eurovision in Hungarian and Serbian, but not in Romani. Stathis Gourgouris in his book “Hypnosis and Critique ( Film Music for the Balkans) presents and analyzes the film of Emir Kusturica , “Underground, 1995” as well as the music composed by Goran Bregovic. On the contrary with most of Western movies, the music here plays a fundamental role as it is an incorporated and autonomous component of the general cinematic structure. This synthesis is a resistance to the global norms and domains of film music originated and promoted by Hollywood’s culture, as well as an application and core characteristic of a Balkan regional culture. What is enormously different in Bregovic’s music is the sense of euphoria or ecstasy which urge and enrich Kusturica’s narrative on the war in the former Yugoslavia. The goal is to lead to the hypnosis. For Gourgouris, hypnosis can be defined in various ways; as a moment of self-configuration, a nation’s fantasy or an evolution as a dreaming nation. Kusturica and Bregovic aim to disinfect their cultures and