Balkans as a cultural symbol in the Serbian music of the first half of the twentieth century

Focus on the internalization of Western images in the Balkans has special significance in researching Serbian art. The functioning of Balkanism as it overlapped and intersected with Orientalism is indicated in the text by an examination of the cases of Petar Konjovi , Miloje Milojevi and Josip Slavenski, the three significant composers working in Serbia during the first half of the twentieth century. Their modernistic projects present different metaphors of the Balkans. Nevertheless each of them is marked by desire to change the Balkan image into a 'positive' one and thus stands as a special voice for Serbian and regional placing in European competition for musical spaces.