Paper short abstract:

The paper proposes the question on how music heritage as an expression of collective identity or collective emotion functions in the discourse of public minority music representation in Slovenia after 1991.

Paper long abstract:

After the independence of Slovenia, many individuals or communities that are ethnically tied to the territory of the former Yugoslavia found themselves in a new position. Many formed communities in which they redefined their position in the space of a newly created state. In this context, the heritage of the homeland or, more precisely, the musical heritage becomes an important meeting point in which members create, experience, or question their identity discourses.

The paper deals with those individuals who take part (actively or passively) in public presentations of ethnically defined musical events. Through a case study it examines which musical practices, musical forms, genres, musical instruments (...) act as a heritage index for a given community and through which they are presented or separated from the majority population, how these indexes formed over time, how they are transmitted to younger generations, and how they are perceived by the audience outside of the ethnically identified communities. In the study, the focus will be on the expressiveness of music in the language of emotion and affect, the sense of "authentic connection" and analysis of how such a common language, sensation and feeling works in the discourse of community. Additionally the role of the heritage discourse in the context of the implementation of minority politics will also be questioned.