A social-philosophical jewel from Belgrade. Anti-sexist poems for special occasions, written by 'two beauties' with 'brains' and 'ovaries'. – This is how the commercial machinery for this young duo could be set in motion. The two Bitcharke ('bitch' pronounced phonetically in Serbian translates into 'whip') could somewhat commercially, 'distributively' speaking be labelled as hip-hoppers. Una and Marija whip without taking on the dominant role; both authors and performers are bitches in the noble sense known to a socially and emotionally mature segment of the population. Their message, of course, comes as no shock to these people; instead, they see it as a necessity, as a confirmation, a relief. Most people will find the following statement over-emotional and exaggerated, some may not: Bitcharke were born of the famous Belgrade underground; they lived through ten and more miserable years in the city. Nowadays they dress proud poems of the too-rare urban spirit with the wounds of the past. Poems which sound like Brechtian moralist parables, but even stronger, either because of the explicit sexual language or because of the unspoiled political ambition, nonchalantly playing with the spine of its own correctness: Bitcharke on Grass aren't trying to change the world, there is no naivety in what they do. Instead, they notice everything that makes it "easy to be human and so hard to be a human" – that is to say grandiosity and its mental patterns, which can be found in the 'grey' everyday life behind the walls of skyscrapers, and at the same time in the 'uptight' and seemingly 'other' underground. The supposed scandalousness of the two artist once again questions the Belgrade myth all over again, the 'open city', the weird jungle where the starched, stuck-up city kids with urban desire always knew how to cunningly catch on.
Miha Zadnikar
