Black-market journalism
Mirko Hornjak Kole, Ruski Kerestur, Serbia
The Rusyn-language version of this article can be found in MAK.
More or less, fanzines (low-budget, non-professional magazines, usually with small print runs and few readers) are a sort of journalistic subculture in Ruski Kerestur and other towns where Rusyns live (I sound like a history professor, right?) which picked up steam and kicked up some dust in the 1990s. People were used to conventional newspapers and were deprived of the possibilities of thought and expression found on the other, politically – mentally – urbanized – civilized side of the Iron Curtain, whether within the context of the state or the Rusyn nation, and they were left confused. Something was saved at the point of no return.
One project which I don’t think falls into the category of fanzines is the youth magazine Mi (We – or To Me), which was published by the Cultural Center in Ruski Kerestur in the mid-1980s. The magazine was under the patronage of the town council and the Union of Socialist Youth of Vojvodina, and like other Socialist fanzines of that time, it sounds silly and not very serious today. Few people remembered the problems with its publishing when we decided in the mid-1990s to publish similar things.
With the coming of the wars and the appearance of the punk subculture, the first hard-rock bands appeared in Ruski Kerestur, as a protest against the idiotism of the state. Together with them came the first fanzines. For New Year 1995, the first issue of Glas Rektum (Voice of the Rectum) appeared in Kerestur, which I prepared with Oleg Kolbas-Kolbij. The magazine was critical and cynical/satirical in a way that no one caught, neither the nation nor the state. I was not responsible for the articles, that was done by someone else. A promotional event for the first issue was held at Ruska Matka in Novi Sad and was really hot, and on the occasion of the first issue, TV Novi Sad recorded what might have been the raciest report they had ever broadcast. People still talk about it today. The magazine reached a large number of readers despite the small print run of just about 80 copies. It was opposed to the regime at Ruske Slovo, and created an open path for people to publish materials without censorship. Radio, telelvsion and Ruske Slovo used humor from Glas Rektuma, sometimes paying honoraria, other times outright stealing material. There were some awards, and congratulations came from all sides. The magazine was published for five years, one issue per year. It closed up shop in 1999, but people still ask about it today, which means that it justified its existence.
In September 1996, the Kerestur high school began to publish a bilingual bulletin, Školski Time Out (School Time Out). It was done more or less by the same people who are published today in MAK. The magazine primarily published news from the school and events in and around it, but it also published literature, poetry and similar things.
The magazine won awards at the provincial level, for which the school took most of the credit, although the success only earned them misery. After a couple talented generations left the school, the magazine was shut down. On the initiative of some students, it started back up, publishing one issue per year with a much more powerful visual image (thanks to the miracle of computers) and more or less the same contents. I hope that the magazine continues to appear and I wish the editors the best of luck in swimming through the mud of Rusyn culture.
At the beginning of 1997 in Kerestur, a real treat for mental extremists appeared, called Keresturkski Pendrek (Kerestur Nightstick). The magazine was radical beyond all of the limits then in place. Pendrek was an incredibly vulgar magazine, with strange concepts and contents. It had an ultra-local character, focusing on the Kerestur elite, but it was widely read in town. It was more or less a parody of Serbian teen magazines, with an alcoholic, anachronistically punk character, intended for consumers with strong stomachs. Several members of Kerestur’s alternative scene helped produce it. I don’t know whether anyone will ever see another issue of Kersturski Pendrek…maybe the CIA or Mulder and Scully.
In September 1997, the first music fanzine in Kerestur was published. The magazine was called Maximus Metallus, was written in Serbian and focused on the most extreme aspects of heavy metal music. Most of the first issue was made up of translated interviews with primarily Scandinavian black metal bands, as well as album reviews, song lyrics and biographies. Insofar as black metal is not trendy music, the goal of the authors was to acquaint people with the style and to extend their own knowledge of it. Later issues focus on original interviews with Yugoslav groups, as well as with groups from Romania, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania and other countries. They are in contact with many fanzines both at home and abroad. Interestingly, reviews of this magazine were positive and one even appeared in most important music magazine in Serbia at that time, Rok Ekspres.
Kerestur has also seen six issues of a fanzine called Raven Lord which deals with similar things as Maximus Metallus, but unfortunately I could not locate even a single issue of it… Otherwise, music fanzines are generally in decline thanks to the speed and ease of access of information on the internet.
As far as the rest of the Rusyn world in Serbia goes, it must be mentioned that Kocur had its own fanzine, called Kocurski Budjii, (Kocur Panties), which was primarily written in Serbian and I believe only two issues were published.
Generally speaking, the fanzines of the 1990s in Kerestur made a strong contribution to the question of the written word, whether people like it or not. If you aren’t convinced, just take a look at the list of people who write for MAK and you will see that it is nearly identical to the list of authors of the biggest fanzines. Am I right, or am I right?
Originally printed in Outpost Dispatch, Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2004.