On the Other Side of the Genre Boundary

Abstract

TRADITIONES, 48/3, 2019, 21–41 The fieldwork conducted in Belgrade during the summer and autumn of 2017 was oriented towards jazz musicians, and their strategies of action, in gist, implied playing other popular music genres through compromise – function work. Such business tactics are a consequence of jazz musicians’ ever-insecure position, but strategic goals have changed over time with the nature of that insecurity. Going beyond the genre boundary first became a means of securing the profession itself after WWII due to (foreign-)political and ideological influences, whereas from the 1960s to date, it has been the economic guaranty of the survival of many jazz musicians. Playing folk music is one of the observed strategies analysed through a broader sociopolitical, socioeconomic. and professional context.