Bosnian rock-band Dubioza kolektiv ridicules Flat Earth conspiracy theory in a new regional hit song
Screenshot from the music video for the song “Balkan Boys” by Dubioza kolektiv published on YouTube. Fair use.
This article is based on coverage by Meta.mk. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and the Metamorphosis Foundation.
In just a few weeks, the music video of “Balkan Boys,” the new single of the Bosnian rock band Dubioza kolektiv, reached over four million views across social networks, gaining a status of regional hit in the Balkans. The song ridicules various stereotypes, including the Flat Earth conspiracy theories which are widespread in the region.
At the moment, the video has over 1.2 million views on YouTube, over 2.4 million views on Instagram and over a million views on Facebook, more than 600,000 as a reel and over 400,000 as a whole video.
The song is in English, but, like some other Dubioza hits, the YouTube version of the song comes with subtitles with translations in Chinese, Czech, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, and Spanish, contributing to its promotion beyond the native region of Western Balkans.
Watch the official video:
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Among the various humorous references, the song contains the following lyrics ridiculing the Flat Earth conspiracy theory, with the video showing a scene of supposed Flat-Earther view of the Earth from the moon, a parody of the famous Blue Marble photograph.
I like planet as a ball
Some people tell me it’s flat
And if it’s flat then I could fall
But where’s the logic in that?
The Flat Earth conspiracy theory, claiming that the planet is not round, is noted in the school curriculum in North Macedonia as an example of lack of critical thinking and non-scientific reasoning. The myth that the shape of the Earth is a flat disk was debunked in antiquity. Based the scientifically proven notion that the Earth is spheroid, mathematician Eratosthenes was able to calculate the circumference of the Earth over 2300 years ago with a high degree of accuracy.
While the educated public around the world and in the Balkans meets the new Flat Earth claims with irony, social networks abound with such conspiracy theories, which are often debunked by the fact-checking services such as the Truthmeter.mk in North Macedonia, Faktoje.al in Albania, Raskrinkavanje.ba in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Raskrinkavanje.me in Montenegro, and Istinomer in Serbia.
Dubiza kolektiv initially planned to release the single “Balkan Boys” on January 24, but they postponed the release for three days as a sign of support for the general strike in Serbia, organized by the student movement for justice, demanding institutional responsibility for the 15 victims of the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse.
In response to malicious comments such as “why does a band from another country meddle in another’s protests,” Dubioza kolektiv issued a statement on their Facebook profile:
Dubioza Kolektiv je bend sastavljen od ljudi iz Bosne i Hercegovine, Srbije, Hrvatske i Slovenije. Podržavamo svaki protest za koji smatramo da ima za cilj borbu za dostojanstvo i bolji život običnog čovjeka. Volimo za sebe reći da smo pri rođenju prvo postali obični ljudi, a tek onda usput i Bosanci, Srbi, Hrvati ili Slovenci.
Dubioza Kolektiv is a band composed of people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. We support any protest which we reckon that demands dignity and better life for the common people. About us, we would like to say that by birth we first become ordinary persons, and then along the way we also become Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, or Slovenes.
This is the first time that Dubioza Kolektiv has expressed support for student movements from the region that have been fighting for democracy and a decent life. In 2015 they held a free concert at the state University Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje in support of the Student Plenum, which was documented in the following Meta.mk video.
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