About the Project
The research project “Black Musics in the (Former) Yugoslav Region”, based at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), was led by Linda Cimardi and lasted from September 2022 to August 2026.
The project investigated the presence and performance of Black musics in Yugoslavia (1960s-1990s) and in the post-Yugoslav Republics of Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia (1990s-present). Black musics were understood as a cluster gathering African, African American, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin musical expressions as performed by African as well as local performers. The central idea of the project was to explore the local history, in connection with the global one, of these repertoires and the personal trajectories of their performers in the Yugoslav space, marked by anti-colonial and anti-racist ideals of the Non-Aligned Movement, in relation to the new post-Socialist national contexts marked by capitalism and immigration.
More on the project:
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(English and German) Project page hosted by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg website: https://www.musikwiss.uni-halle.de/drittmittelprojekteundforschung/drittmittelprojekte/yugoslavregion/
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(English and German) Project page hosted by the DFG website: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/495453014
Linda Cimardi is the Principal Investigator of a DFG-funded project “Black Musics in the (Former) Yugoslav Region” based at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. She holds a PhD from the University of Bologna and has been a Guest Researcher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG), a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Phonogram Archive in Berlin.
Her research looks at the multiple interconnections of performing arts and gender with a focus on Central Africa, the dissemination of world musics through the lenses of politics and aesthetics during the Cold War, and the practice, reception and performance of African, African-American and Afro-Caribbean musics in the former Yugoslav region.
Besides various articles in peer-reviewed journals, her publications include the monograph Performing Arts and Gender in Postcolonial Western Uganda (University of Rochester Press 2023), Women’s Leadership in Music (co-edited with Iva Nenić, Transcript 2023) and the forthcoming volume Blackness and Music in Postwar Europe, co-edited with Kira Thurman.
Links:
The Artists
The participation of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFRY, in 1963) in the Non-Aligned Movement, founded in Belgrade in 1961, fostered extensive connections and collaborations between Yugoslavia and numerous African countries. These exchanges encompassed political, economic, developmental, educational, and cultural initiatives, creating new opportunities for cooperation across continents.
Through scholarship programs sponsored by both the SFRY and African states, thousands of African students came to Yugoslavia to pursue secondary and higher education. Beyond their academic activities, many played an active role in the political, social, and cultural life of the cities in which they lived, participating in student associations and a wide range of public initiatives.
Among them were singers, instrumentalists, composers, and music enthusiasts who contributed to Yugoslavia's vibrant musical landscape. They performed in venues ranging from university clubs and cultural centres to major festivals, recorded singles and albums with domestic and international labels, appeared on radio and television programmes, and were featured in newspapers and magazines. For some, music remained an activity closely tied to their student years; for others, it developed into a long-term artistic career that continued well beyond their studies.
This website brings together the available (until now) information and documentation on these musicians and their work. It seeks to highlight their often-overlooked contribution to musical life in Yugoslavia—and, in some cases, in the post-Yugoslav region—while acknowledging their artistic achievements and preserving their stories. It is intended both as a tribute to their legacy and as a starting point for further research, critical reassessment, and new connections among scholars, musicians, and communities interested in this shared history.