Tradition as a Useful Tool: New Patterns of Culture among the Bosniaks in Novi Pazar

Abstract

This article focuses on the KUD Mladih Novi Pazar Youth Culture and Art Association and the FolklorDaire music group, which play an active role in culture and music in Novi Pazar, Serbia. The core question that I try to understand in the context of these two cases is as follows. As new cultural patterns are formed, how do they gain sources of spirit, intellectual basis, and enthusiasm for practice? At this point, when I consider the historical and geographical positions of Novi Pazar, I underline that cultural and musical behaviors refer to tradition. Basically, I argue that tradition plays a role in the musical and cultural behavior of the city of Novi Pazar as a useful tool in both cases. Theoretically, I prioritize the concept of cultural intimacy borrowed from ethnography and the concept of revitalization movements in order to be able to explain the new cultural patterns produced based on the concept of tradition. The first fieldwork in Serbia, Novi Pazar provided data on getting to know the region, observing musical practices, ongoing cultural structures, and conducting in-depth interviews with active musicians in cultural music movements. In the second stage, Netnography, an online research method, was used to study two refined samples.