Music artists who have expressed support for anti-government protests in Serbia say live bookings have dried up as generous public funds are channelled to pop and folk performers aligned with the ruling party.
Dragana Prica Kovacevic
Some musicians are being booked, however.
Municipal budgets, even in Serbia’s poorest regions, are tapped heavily to help finance open-air concerts on town squares during national holidays, summer festivals, and New Year’s Eve celebrations.
By law, public institutions must issue a tender for interested bidders for any good or service worth more than a million dinars, or roughly 8,500 euros. This obligation can be waived in emergencies or if only one specific company can provide the particular good or service.
Data from the Public Procurement Portal show that local authorities regularly skirted regular procurement procedures to award contracts to production agencies representing artists who have spoken out in the support of the SNS, for anywhere between 15,000 and 50,000 euros per concert.
For example, turbo-folk diva Jelena Karleusa, who threatened to mow down protesters with her car, became the face of state-backed concerts in towns including Subotica, Loznica, Odzaci, and Vrnjacka Banja, reaping between 30,000 and 50,000 euros per event.
Folk veteran Zorica Brunclik was paid some 18,400 euros to perform in Vranje and 16,900 in Surdulica; Ana Bekuta, whose late husband was a senior member of the co-ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, received 38,400 euros to perform in Cacak and 9,400 euros for a concert in Svilajnac.
Another beneficiary is Gen-Z pop-trap star Andjela Ignjatovic, stage name Breskvica [‘Little Peach’] netted 40,000 euros to perform on New Year’s Eve in Vrnjacka Banja and 11,100 euros for an appearance at a grill festival in Leskovac.
The choice of artist has sometimes backfired.
In June last year, residents of the northern municipality of Odzaci overwhelmingly boycotted a two-day, 140,000-euro event at which Karleusa performed, while two months later, in Loznica, environmental activists blew whistles at another state-funded Karleusa concert, forcing the singer to cut short her set.
Authorities have taken to deploying riot police to secure Karleusa’s public appearances.
Similarly, in January this year, Ana Bekuta was pelted with snowballs and booed during a concert in Cacak. Several people were arrested. Rock performer Djordje David was given a similar reception during a state-funded event in the northern town of Sombor in October last year, when some in the crowd chanted anti-government slogans and turned their backs on David.
Asked about the cancellation of artists supportive of the protests, David said such claims were “tendentious”.
“People who do not support the ruling team are absolutely playing,” he said.
An analysis of media reports shows that since the start of 2025 David has performed at eight events funded from local municipality coffers. Significantly more popular alternative acts, such as Ritam Nereda, Goblini, and Atheist Rap have not performed at any.
Contacted by BIRN, David declined to comment on the hostile reception he has received at some concerts, saying: “This is old news; we’re moving forward.”
BIRN contacted Karleusa, Bekuta, Brunclik and Ignjatovic for comment but received no reply. Neither the SNS nor any of the city or municipal authorities mentioned in this story responded to requests for comment.
Self-defeating
