ABSTRACT
while the concentration of NCFM production in the yugoslav east was not disputed, its national reach proved a particularly vexing issue. The eastern imagery of NCFM, coupled with the absence of any comprehensive research on the composition of its audience, boosted the impression of its exclusively eastern audience to the status of proven fact. There was an implicit consensus among the commentators that the emergence of the audience for NCFM in the northeast areas of Yugoslavia largely had to do with population movements of Yugoslavs from the southeast to the economically more prosperous Croatia and Slovenia. In other words, the music travelled the migratory path of Bosnians, Serbs, Albanians, and others from the south to the north. Few commentators were ready to argue that it was the music’s appeal which accounted for its nation-wide popularity. Dušan Šarac of Jugoton summed up the issue as the “collision in the [Yugoslavs’] consciousness,” rather than with the conventional rhetoric of contested regionalisms. Based on his attendance at concerts and restaurant venues, and his company’s own data on music sales in Croatia and Slovenia, he felt compelled to claim: “Nowadays I can categorically say there is no difference between audiences in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Sarajevo. In fact, when the moment is right, this music suits everybody. But not everybody wants to admit it.” 1
