Slovenian Folk-Pop Music Groups on Social Media

To find out how social media is used in contemporary Slovenian folk-pop, the authors have conducted a semiological analysis of the social media activities of the six most popular folk-pop bands. Results show that the bands that are close to mainstream pop are more active than the ones that do not depart stylistically from the older Slovenian folk-pop. Regardless of these differences, all bands in the sample share an emphasis on community and partying: it seems that contemporary folk-pop remains committed to one of the most notable traditionalistic values, community, regardless of their hybridization with mainstream pop. Apparently, what matters is only that the community is partying hard.
Keywords: folk pop music, social media, tradition, community, fun

Social media is an influential new communications channel and a useful platform for promotional activities. To find out how contemporary Slovenian folk-pop musicians operate their various social media platforms (most notably Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter), the authors conducted a semiological textual analysis of the social media activities of a sample of the currently most popular Slovenian folk-pop bands: Ansambel Upanje, Fehtarji, Modrijani, Vzrock, Ansambel Andreja Bajuka, and Ansambel Dar. The sample was created by referring to the only three Slovenian popular music charts that have, at the moment of analysis, listed folk-pop bands: Ducat Veseljakovih on radio and TV channel Veseljak, Top 20 on Golica TV, and Narodnozabavna lestvica Radia Tomi on Radio Tomi.
Even though Slovenian folk-pop did not emerge before the 1950s, many Slovenians tend to regard it as one of the most important expressions of their national musical and cultural heritage. The main reason for this is probably its nostalgic symbolic universe, which constructs life in rustic communities as an unquestionable ideal. Things have changed in recent years, first, with the emergence of Slovenian turbo-folk in the early 2000s, where musicians combined folk-pop with eroticized lyrics and EDM dance beats, and later, with the appropriation of various musical, visual, and symbolic elements of mainstream pop. The analysis results show that all bands in the sample are active on social media but in diverse ways: firstly, the bands have been mostly active only on Facebook and Instagram, and secondly, bands that tend to borrow musical, thematic, and iconographic elements from mainstream pop (Fehtarji, Modrijani) are much more active and ingenious that the ones that do not depart from the stylistic frameworks of the older Slovenian folk-pop (Ansambel Andreja Bajuka, Ansambel Dar). Despite all these differences, however, all bands in the sample share the same emphasis on community and partying.
The emphasis on the community is visible in the plethora of posts suggesting that members of the bands are the same as their fans and that their music only expresses the values of the community as a whole. On the other hand, the emphasis on partying is visible in various posts that portray concerts of the analyzed bands as massive parties where everybody is having as much fun as possible. It would seem, therefore, that contemporary Slovenian folk pop musicians remain committed to one of the most notable traditionalistic values, community, regardless of the degrees of their hybridization with mainstream pop. What matters is only that the community is partying hard.