Literary Elements of Humor in the lyrical content of Kosovo’s post 2000s music scene: the case of “Cute Babulja” band’s self-titled album
Session
Modern Music, Digital Production and Management
Description
“Cute Babulja,” a self-titled album can be considered one of the (first) alternative music albums that changed the landscape of music in post-war Kosovo. Beside drawing from jazz, folklore, and art-rock influences, it is hypothesized that the album comes as a direct descendant of bands that played in Kosovo all the way to the 60s. Beside (music) influences from Kosovo bands like “Bankrot” during the 80s, Muharrem Qena during the 70s, there are also influences from artists such as Frank Zappa.
This article will focus on exploring the literary elements of humor within the lyrics of “Cute Babulja” band’s self-titled album. We will focus on historical, political, and cultural elements in order to uncover how they come together and interact to produce parody through the language within the bands lyrics. Furthermore, we will explore how language is constructed and used (standardized Albanian Language intermixed with the context and certain Gheg dialect words used in Kosovo) within the band’s lyrics in order to create effects of temporality (i.e. jump back and forth in time and space) that in turn creates a layer of parody that serves as a cultural self-evaluation. Furthermore, in this paper we will focus more on intertextuality and semiotics (rather than purely linguistics) by exploring the culturally-specific connotations and symbolism of specific words, phrases, and lyrics. From explicit literary homages such as Dritero Agolli’s character Cute Babulja, and all the way to more obscure innuendos linked to urban culture in Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital.
We also hypothesize that “Cute Babulja” served as a direct influence to later bands such as “Oborri” (2016), who were not only influenced by their musical elements, but also for their use of subtle humor and parody.
Session Chair
Liburn Jupolli
Proceedings Editor
Edmond Hajrizi
ISBN
978-9951-550-19-2
Location
Pristina, Kosovo
Start Date
26-10-2019 11:00 AM
End Date
26-10-2019 12:30 PM
DOI
10.33107/ubt-ic.2019.59
Recommended Citation
Bytyçi, Artrit and Jupolii, Liburn, "Literary Elements of Humor in the lyrical content of Kosovo’s post 2000s music scene: the case of “Cute Babulja” band’s self-titled album" (2019). UBT International Conference. 59.
https://knowledgecenter.ubt-uni.net/conference/2019/events/59
Literary Elements of Humor in the lyrical content of Kosovo’s post 2000s music scene: the case of “Cute Babulja” band’s self-titled album
Pristina, Kosovo
“Cute Babulja,” a self-titled album can be considered one of the (first) alternative music albums that changed the landscape of music in post-war Kosovo. Beside drawing from jazz, folklore, and art-rock influences, it is hypothesized that the album comes as a direct descendant of bands that played in Kosovo all the way to the 60s. Beside (music) influences from Kosovo bands like “Bankrot” during the 80s, Muharrem Qena during the 70s, there are also influences from artists such as Frank Zappa.
This article will focus on exploring the literary elements of humor within the lyrics of “Cute Babulja” band’s self-titled album. We will focus on historical, political, and cultural elements in order to uncover how they come together and interact to produce parody through the language within the bands lyrics. Furthermore, we will explore how language is constructed and used (standardized Albanian Language intermixed with the context and certain Gheg dialect words used in Kosovo) within the band’s lyrics in order to create effects of temporality (i.e. jump back and forth in time and space) that in turn creates a layer of parody that serves as a cultural self-evaluation. Furthermore, in this paper we will focus more on intertextuality and semiotics (rather than purely linguistics) by exploring the culturally-specific connotations and symbolism of specific words, phrases, and lyrics. From explicit literary homages such as Dritero Agolli’s character Cute Babulja, and all the way to more obscure innuendos linked to urban culture in Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital.
We also hypothesize that “Cute Babulja” served as a direct influence to later bands such as “Oborri” (2016), who were not only influenced by their musical elements, but also for their use of subtle humor and parody.