Page 238 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
About composers’ guest appearances, we should mention the visit of
young and prolific composer Rodion Shchedrin (1932) in Belgrade and Za-
greb to the Music Biennale in Zagreb at the invitation of SOKOJ in 1965,
primarily on the occasion of the premiere of his ballet The Little Hump-
backed Horse (Конь-горбунок, 1956) by the guests Bolshoi theatre ballet
49
troupe. Also, Aram Khachaturian visited Yugoslavia in 1969.
During the 1950s and 1960s, at the meetings of SAKOJ and the Feder-
al Commission for Cultural Cooperation, there was a clear insistence that
cultural exchange should occur exclusively through official state channels.
The complex Yugoslav cultural apparatus thus sought to coordinate and
control such exchanges. Tours by particularly popular musicians to the So-
viet Union that bypassed these channels were labeled “wild” and strongly
opposed. The most prominent example of this “wild” organization – and
its remarkable success – was singer Đorđe Marjanović (1931–2021), followed
by Miki Jevremović (1941–2017) and the singer-songwriter Radoslav Graić
(1932–2023).

Copyrights
The fact that cultural relations were a result of socio-political and econom-
ic trends is also evidenced by the failure to advance the initiative on copy-
right. Specifically, at a meeting of the Composers’ Association of Serbia in
June 1971, there was discussion about potentially agreeing with the USSR,
“considering that our works are performed there to a considerable extent, and
even a large number of our compositions have been recorded on vinyl there.”
50
The envoy on this matter, Voki Kostić, emphasized that there was insistence
on signing an agreement between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union on the
protection of copyright. He also mentioned that Yugoslavia would have a
positive balance when it comes to the concert performance of popular and
entertainment music, as well as choral and chamber music, which is per-
formed extensively there. However, he explained that the conclusion of a
copyright agreement would not only apply to music, but also to literature,
meaning that Yugoslavia would have to spend significant sums on copy-

Borba, 7 January, 1964, 7.
49 Further details about his impressions during visit of Zagreb and Belgrade, and about
music cooperation of two federations, as well as contemporary Soviet music scene,
see: “Još jedan korak napred u sovjetskoj muzici,” Bilten saveza kompozitora Jugo-
slavije, no. 10 (October 1965): 3.
50 Agencija za privredne registre/APR (Serbian Business Registers Agency), folder 2,
doc. 027, Annual General Assembly of SAKOJ, 13 June 1971.

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