ABSTRACT
In previous chapters, it was demonstrated that the interplay between the archaic as vitality and the archaic as backwardness played a crucial role in Yugoslav cultural politics. The archaic shaped representations of history and created an emancipatory space for the “proletarian” people; it fuelled exoticizations based in “untamed” passions and was subject to ridicule already in 1968. Another key aspect of the archaic’s discursive deadlock is the figure of the Gypsy. This chapter will therefore focus on an iconic character of Yugoslav 1960s popular culture, namely the Gypsy bass player Burduš. Through Burduš, the archaic was not only presented as a desired cultural property, it was also associated with specific modes of representation.
