Performing musical personae. Verka Serduchka and Slawomir as examples of critical dance music

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to compare two artists – the Ukrainian Verka Serduchka and the Polish Sławomir – by analysing their most representative songs. The visual (music videos), sonic (genre), and lyrical factors of their performances are viewed as the elements of their musical personae (as understood by Philip Auslander). Verka and Sławomir are presented as folk-rooted but socially elevated stars who tend to mock political (auto)stereotypes through the lens of a rural–urban dichotomy. They both represent a specific local kind of “dance music,” that is a field where political discourse, strongly rooted in folk inspiration, is constructed, reproduced, and sustained. The objective is to disclose how they perform the mockery of classical values based on the themes of folk culture, stardom, and love, through their comedic personae.