“Memes as the Gusle of the 21st Century”: An Analysis of Memes About Gusle, Gusle Players and Gusle Practices on the Internet

Abstract

Memes are nowadays both a simple digital form and one of the most prevalent, widely shared contents in the field of creative freedom and digital culture, observed in this case as part of the so-called “Cyber Folk Art”. This paper aims to analyze Internet memes about the gusle (one-stringed instrument) and gusle players, primarily found on social networks such as Instagram and Facebook or obtained via Google searches. Based on the collected (internet) sources and materials, different levels of identification, symbolism, communication and stereotypes, which already emerge as the first associations with gusle practices, can be discerned. The cultural and social contexts will be included in the analysis and interpretation of memes, i.e. comprehensive performances and depictions of ethnic, national, musical and personal foundations of certain historical and public figures from the political and gusle music world will be interpreted through memes – a combination of image, text, and/or videos. As is the case with other genres of Internet memes and musical genres and styles, the creation of content based on social needs, the writing of social space into musical space and vice versa, as well as the mapping of a symbolic space and stereotypes are evident in the presented and analyzed memes. It can be said that memes about gusle and gusle players, i.e. gusle practices, represent a kind of simplified form of communication in terms of the use of stereotypes and symbolism that indicate different levels of identification, which is the topic with potential for further and more detailed research.