Blog Post 2

 Montenegro On Stage

Montenegro is a young nation, having only just gained its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 2006, however the country has been able to send performers to the Eurovision Song Contest for decades as representatives of Yugoslavia (from 1961-91) and Serbia and Montenegro (from 2004-06). So, despite their recent debut as an independent nation on stage, Montenegrins are no strangers to Eurovision. A Montenegrin act has yet to win Eurovision, but the country’s highest placing performance to date is “Adio” by Knez, which was performed at the 2015 Eurovision in Vienna, Austria. For this, Montenegro took home thirteenth place in the final. In this blog post, we will be analyzing Knez’s Eurovision song and his performance, delving into the lyrics and visuals in order to tie this performance into Montenegro’s sense of national identity (Montenegro - Eurovision Song Contest).

To put Knez’s performance into perspective, one first needs at least a basic understanding of Montenegro’s history and its ongoing struggle for cultural definition amongst the other Balkan nations. Montenegro’s former membership in the union of Yugoslavia shaped its national identity. Being so closely tied to several other Balkan nations means these nations influenced each other, molding each others’ national identities, and challenging each others’ validity. Montenegro’s biggest silent rival is Serbia. Serbia and Montenegro were the last two nations to leave the union of former Yugoslavia, so their ties to each other are especially close. Serbians have historically aggravated Montenegrins for asserting that their Montenegrin identity is invalid and that they are, in fact, Serbians. Montenegrins have put a lot of effort into distinguishing their culture from their Balkan neighbors, so Serbia’s attack on Montenegro’s uniqueness and individuality is significant. If we are thinking back to Anna Triandafyllidou’s article on national identity and the other, we can identify Serbia as the third type of significant other in relation to Montenegro. Triandafyllidou illustrates this type of significant other as a nation that physically borders another nation, but does not challenge the nation territorially. Instead, it challenges the nation’s cultural distinctiveness and unique identity (Triandafyllidou, 1998).

How does this relate to how Montenegro is perceived on stage at Eurovision? Well, the song contest has a reputation for thoroughly utilizing their giant LED backgrounds and flooring, and the final performance of “Adio” is no exception. Beneath the performers’ feet is an LED stage illuminated with the image of the steady, deep blue waves of the Adriatic Sea, which has a coast along the border of Montenegro. The LED background while Knez is performing this traditional Balkan ballad begins with the blacked out silhouette of a mountain range doused in blue light [Knez (Montenegro): This is my vision of BALKAN MUSIC!]. Pretty simple, but as mentioned on Eurovision’s official website, the name “Montenegro'' translates to “black mountain,” so the LED image is representative of the nation as a whole. And as for the blue light,  if we look at the flag of Former Yugoslavia, we see blue, white, and red. If we think about this for a moment, we can infer that the blue haze over the mountains is representative of how Montenegro was once part of the Former Yugoslavia and an ode to all the ties that still remain there. Women dressed in all black circle around Knez, who is donning a black suit, and perform a traditional Montenegrin dance. As the song goes on, the blue is banished from the stage and replaced with a beaming red light right right as the music picks up. This is supposed to represent Montenegro gaining its independence and becoming its own nation in 2006. Slowly, as Knez continues to sing and the dancers continue their dance, the sky returns to a deep, starry blue and a blue shadow creeps along the backside of the mountains, mingling with the red. White lights flash. Yes, the red of Montenegro is still there, but the stage is now also filled with blue, white, and red; the colors of both the Serbian flag and the Yugoslav flag, the two groups that Montenegrins have historically struggled to differentiate themselves from (Joksimović, 2015).

If we look at Knez’s personal life and background, we can see that the Montenegrin singer is actually based in Serbia. Despite being born and raised in Montenegro’s capital city, Podgorica, the singer moved to Begrade, Serbia in his adulthood (Knez - Montenegro - Vienna 2015). This is a bit of a conflict of interest, given how competitive Serbia and Montenegro are over their identities. Sending one performer to represent all of Montenegro, but him actually actively living in Serbia is a bit hypocritical of one of Montenegro’s biggest national identity characteristics, and that is that they are not Serbians. However, this issue is a bit more complicated than simply who is Serbian and who is Montenegrin. The two nations were intertwined for decades and only just recently separated, even still sharing a border. The two’s history is so completely tangled together that it would be impossible for their cultures to not continue to crossover, even today. This means Serbians enjoying Knez as a Montenegrin-born musician and Montenegrins enjoying his work as a Serbian-based musician. Serbia and Montenegro are each other's' number one cultural influence, so with all the pushing back against one another, it's only natural that their cultures would turn out similar and even overap in some places, like they do with their support of Balkan pop-star Knez.

Knez bringing the colors of the Yugoslav and Serbian flags to the Eurovision stage as a representation of Montenegro was a bold move. Although the vote to become an independent nation only passed by a slim margin, Montenegrins that believe in independence have made it blatantly clear that they no longer want their identity to be considered interchangeable with that of Serbians. Distinguishing their culture from the rest of the Balkan nations is necessary to strengthen Montenegro’s national identity and their overall status as a nation. Eurovision is a once a year opportunity for nations to show off and be perceived by the rest of the world, they must be very careful about how they represent themselves. So, Knez creating a performance centered around Montenegro’s ties to former Yugoslavia, Serbia, and the other Balkan nations undermines the message that Montenegro is an independent nation with significance outside of its Balkan roots. Making the performance about Montenegro’s relationship with the former Yugoslavia and Serbia instead of focusing on what makes Montenegro a unique and culturally rich country by itself took away an important opportunity for Montenegro to establish itself as independent on stage and in the public eye.

Knez is proud of his performance and its inclusive message, however. We can infer from his move to Belgrade that Knez has no problem with Serbians or being identified as a Serbian. Although he represented Montenegro at Eurovision in 2015, he has openly spoken about wanting to perform all around the Balkans, for everyone. He considers himself from everywhere and able to represent anyone. He wants to be not the new face of just Montenegrin music, but the face of all of Balkan music as well [Knez (Montenegro): This is my vision of BALKAN MUSIC!]. His song “Adio” is an emotional Balkan ballad about saying goodbye to someone or something you still love dearly. The word “adio” translates to “goodbye” in Montenegrin. It is clear by his incorporation of the Yugoslav and Serbian flags’ colors in his performance and from his relocation to Serbia that Knez still holds his Yugoslav and Serbian ties dear to his heart and that he has little issue with Montenegro’s culture being blended with the rest of the Balkans’. He sees these other nations not as competition or something to distance himself from, but instead as integral parts of Montenegro’s and his personal history. Afterall, when Knez and most other adult Montenegrins were born, they were still part of Yugoslavia. It is very difficult to break those ties in the short amount of time that Montenegro has been independent. Because of this, it is likely that Knez could be singing goodbye to his Yugoslav past and the union he was brought up under. His lyrics don’t delve much deeper than singing of the woes of losing a loved one. He sings of the “mists of the mountains” and the “depths of the water,” geographic features that are not only representative of Montenegro, but also present on stage with him. It could also be an ode to Knez’s life and how he has witnessed the world changing around him. The “goodbye” could be Knez’s personal goodbye to both Yugoslavia when Montenegro became independent and then another goodbye when he relocated to Serbia. If this is the case, it is also misrepresentative of Montenegro as a whole because it is only Knez’s personal journey. Either way, the overall message of this performance is promoting Balkan unity and fluidity and that is something Montenegro has historically pushed back against in order to maintain their newfound independence.

We know from their 2006 independence referendum that the majority of Montenegrin voters wanted to separate themselves from the former union of Yugoslavia and the union of Serbia and Montenegro. Montenegro has put a lot of effort into building a national identity for itself centered around the notion that Montenegrins are not Serbians, so Knez’s message on stage at Eurovision―one of the few major chances a small country like Montenegro gets to show off its national identity and talents to the rest of the world―was not accurately representative of the majority of Montenegrins’ opinions on their relationship with the former Yugoslavia and Serbia. Had he not ended it with the shining colors of the Serbian flag, this performance could have been a beautiful ode to Montenegro’s Yugoslav roots and display of Montenegro thriving as an independent nation, however that was not the moral of this performance (Joksimović, 2015).

“Adio” by Knez may successfully gained Montenegro national pride for being their best placing Eurovision performance to date, but it’s overall message is one that directly conflicts with the image of independence Montenegro has been trying to paint of itself for over fourteen years now. On stage, Knez guides the audience through Montenegro’s journey from Yugoslav nation, to independent nation, the current day where the country continues to struggle against Serbia’s influence. While his performance was not entirely a misrepresentation of Montenegro, the celebration of the former Yugoslavia and Serbian influences directly contests the image Montenegro is actively trying to push of itself, so overall the performance of “Adio” by Knez at the 2015 Eurovision final was not an accurate representation of Montenegro’s national identity.

Works Cited

Montenegro - Eurovision Song Contest (n.d.) Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/country/ montenegro

Joksimović, Željko (2015). Adio [Recorded by Knez]

Knez (Montenegro): This is my vision of BALKAN MUSIC! (2017, April 09). Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://eurovision.tv/story/knez-montenegro-this-is -my-vision-of-balkan-music

Knez - Montenegro - Vienna 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://eurovision.tv/participant/knez

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the 'other'. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593-612.