UNIVERSITY OF NOVA GORICA GRADUATE SCHOOL ...

Another intriguing thing (which to some extent was already discussed in Tatu videos) is the use of
the same song in different memorials. The Xpartizani0zauvijekX‘s digital memorial was in fact
only made after sthepko357 posted his version:
Uploaded by stjepko357 26 June 2008
Branimir Štulić – Partizan
......this song is about the ideals of human freedom and unconditional sacrifice for her
[freedom in Slavic languages is femininum], freedom is not to be thrown about, neither is
it enforced, it has to be earned, for her we fight, for her we spill blood like our ancestors
and like our grandchildren, in freedom we‘re united.........FREEDOM
Category:
Glasba
Tags:
Branimir Štulić Partizan Azra rock 1995 sloboda naroda
In this video the same song is used to dub a completely different selection of photographs (no
video), and it seems to be perhaps slightly more structured as it features a title and the makers
name at the beginning, and it opens with a socialist realist picture depicting a group of partisans in
black and white and a colour Yugoslav flag. After this introduction, the photos are edited and
feature various content: partisans engaged in battles, marching through a snow-covered plain, a
photo from a concentration camp, etc. The video has been seen by 126,031 visitors, considerably
more than Xpartizani0zauvijekX‘s (37,943), it has 182 comments, not that much more than
Xpartizani0zauvijekX‘s video (95), relatively speaking. Interestingly, however, the responses to
Xpartizani0zauvijekX‘s memorial are considerably more elaborate and emotional. In great part
they are related to the memorial and the topic depicted (memory of a person and also of a country
and ideology), while stjepko357‘s video elicits more responses related to the performer of the
song, to issues of authenticity and originality (Cohen vs. Štulić), to the way the video is made. In
this respect, the issue of song‘s origin seems particularly relevant to the commentators: the debate
ensues over whether it was Leonard Cohen who is the author (which is often taken for granted),
and whether Štulić plagiarised the song or just covered it. One fairly apparent reason for this
seems to be the very intentionality of both videos: while the Xpartizani0zauvijekX‘s is in fact
declared a personal memorial, stjepko357‘s has no such overt ambition, but rather declares at in
the very first post:
Right, I made sort of a video clip for this excellent Štulić‘s thing comment how you like it
stjepko357
Despite no explicit ambition of the maker, the video does nevertheless play the role of a memorial,
as several comments demonstrate:
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