“Nobody forced me to do so. It was my own choice, but I made a mistake. That’s why we aim to encourage other young girls not to let their parents arrange a marriage they don’t want. At the same time, we advocate that they get a new perspective on life.”

Poverty and discrimination

Photo: GRUBB/Daniel Ibraimovic

Pretty Loud grew out of artistic workshops in 2014 for Roma children and young people in Serbia provided by the UK-based GRUBB Foundation, GRUBB meaning Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats.

Founded in 2006, GRUBB works to promote education within a Roma community that lives on the very margins of Serbian society, mired in poverty and systematically discriminated against in education, healthcare and employment. Roma women have an even harder time.

According to United Nations research, an average of nine out of 10 young Roma women in the Western Balkans are not in education, employment or training. Two thirds do not control their own money.

In Serbia, every sixth school-age Roma child is outside of the education system, while according to a 2019 UNICEF study 16 per cent of Roma girls marry before reaching the age of 15. Just over half are married by the age of 18, compared to six per cent among the non-Roma female population of Serbia.

In the Western Balkans, Serbia ranks second when it comes to the rate of child marriage, behind only Albania.

Child marriage among Roma has roots in poverty and, according to a 2019 World Bank study, an insistence that the bride should be a virgin. It frequently puts a halt to the girl’s schooling.

“Girls tend to leave schools when they get married which makes them financially dependent on their husbands and later they have fewer opportunities to get a job,” said Slavica Vasic, director of the Bibija Roma Women’s Centre in Serbia.

“It also opens up the potential for domestic abuse and increases the risk of early birth,” Vasic told BIRN.

A national commission for the prevention of child marriage was founded in Serbia in 2019 with the goal of eradicating child marriage by 2030.

Girls must ‘fight for their rights’

Pretty Loud performance in Nis. Photo: GRUBB/Dragan Kujundzic

The situation is one that Pretty Loud is seeking to address with songs that blend traditional Roma music and contemporary rap, sung in Roma, Serbian and English.

Aged between 14 and 27, the band members say they take their inspiration from their own experiences and those of others around them.

“Girls in this day and age should think in a more mature way and realise that education and studying are very important,” said 17 year-old Aleksandra Uskovic, one of six band members from the southern Serbian town of Nis. “While going out is fun, getting an education should matter to every girl, and even be her priority.”

Silvia Sinani, who, like Ristic, is from the capital, Belgrade, said the role of parents is crucial.

“The situation is changing for the better because the parents let the girls do more and everything is slowly changing,” Sinani, 23, told BIRN.

The London performance in early March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to take hold, marked the highlight of their efforts – so far.

“It was an amazing experience but also a cherished memory because of the fun we had while performing and travelling and being a part of such an amazing event,” said Sinani.

Ristic said the girls were doing “what we love”.

“We try to encourage young women to fight for their rights,” she said, “because no one will do it for them.”