Skopje Bans “Turbo Folk” on Public Transport

The ban along with hiring DJ’s to select the music from now on, comes after the Skopje Public Transport Company, JSP received pile of complaints from commuters who said they were tired of listening loud Turbo Folk, the preferred choice of Skopje bus drivers.

“Starting from Thursday, the entire fleet of Skopje’s brand new double-decker busses will be part of the scheme,” JSP head Misho Nikolov announced. If people like the change, the rest of the buses will also tune in to the new sounds.

Turbo Folk music emerged in late 1980s and 90s in Serbia as a sub-genre of Balkan folk music blended with dance and pop elements and quasi-meaningful lyrics.

Although widely rejected by music critics as plain kitsch, this blend soon became mainstream among the masses in many Balkan states.

Macedonia was no exception and situations where bus drivers put loud turbo folk music on have become a common feature that annoyed many comuters.

“We have decided to do something different,” says DJ Icko who along with Skopje’s resident DJ Eric Fox have been hired to do the bus music selection.

He explains that classical music will be played in the mornings and during afternoons in an attempt to relax people when they go and return from work.

During the midday rush, the DJ’s have prepared a mix of pop hits and electronic music will be the preferred choice in the evenings when youngsters use the buses to go out.

This September Skopje introduced its new fleet of retro styled double-decker buses made to resemble the British-made Layland buses that Skopje used during the 1950s and 1960s.

But people soon complained that drivers' habbits of listening to assertive turbo folk had resumed.

Made by Chinese Youtong bus manufacturer, Skopje ordered some 220 of these double-decker busses in addition to another 100 single deck busses from Ukraine’s LAZ. These orders are completely replacing the old fleet of public transport busses for the capital.