RomaniaInsideOut

Jazz made in Romania
A short documentary about two icons of Romanian jazz. Johnny Raducanu comes from a renowned Gypsy family with a long musical tradition dating back to the 17th century. Among his countless collaborations outside Romania were the ones with Art Farmer (trumpet), Slide Hampton (trombone), Frederich Gulda, Harry Tavitian and Guido Manusardi (piano).
Teodora Enache switched from mathematics (graduated with honors) to a successful jazz career and performed in European and US festivals with musicians such as Philippe Duchemin, Nicolas Montier, and Eric Legnini. Part two here.

Guilty Lemon - young electro-jazz band from Sibiu which I actually discovered this morning… They are veeery nice.
Live at The Sibiu Jazz Festival 2008 
Winner of the Great Prize in student competition - Mihaela Patan (vocal), Mihai Patan (keyboards), Matthias Anton (tenor sax), Vlad Simon (trumpet), Rares Popsa (guitar), Sergiu Bodescu (bass), Ovidiu “Cico” Cristian (drums), Veronica Arizancu, Teodora Birsan (backing vocals).
More about them on their website.
More videos of them here.

This is deffinitelly a music day…
If you want to hear some Romanian electro-folk, Jazzadezz is a perfect example, mixing classical traditional/folk sounds or that became part of the urban Romanian folklore (things everybody knows). I like their atmosphere a lot.
A downtempo/neo-folk/electronic- acoustic environment, or what they call “real environment” group featuring Dezdemona Mihăescu – voice/ Alin Zăbrăuţeanu – guitar, electronics, production/ Călin Torsan – winds.
You can listen to their entire debut album on their website.
Enjoy!

Shadows and Lights
A nice surpirse for me: a drums/guitar duo playing with modern rock and indie/nu-metal/electro influences.
I could only find their Facebook page and their concert promotional video. I guess they prefer (as good old bands) to promote themselves through live concerts, and less through My Space.
Way to go guys ;-)

Nicolae Grigorescu, painter (May 15, 1838—July 21, 1907) was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting. He is the painter of Romania’s independece war and of the essential Romania - the village, its landscapes and its people.

In the autumn of 1861, young Grigorescu left for Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. He also attended the workshop of Sébastien Cornu, where he had as a colleague Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Knowing his weaknesses, he concentrated drawing and composition. However, he soon left this workshop and, attracted by the artistic concepts of the Barbizon school, he left Paris for that village, where he became the associate of artists such as Jean-François Millet, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Théodore Rousseau. Under the influence of the movement, Grigorescu looked for new means of expression and followed the trend of ‘en plein air painting’, which was also important in Impressionism. As part of the Universal Exposition of Paris (1867), he contributed seven works. Then he exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1868 the painting Tânără ţigancă (Gypsy girl).

He returned to Romania a few times and starting from 1870 he participated in the exhibits of living artists and those organized by the Society of the Friends of the Belle-Arts. Between 1873 and 1874 he traveled to Italy, Greece and Vienna.

In 1877 he was called to accompany the Romanian Army as a “frontline painter” in the Romanian War of Independence.

In 1889 his work was featured in the Universal Exhibition in Paris and at the Romanian Atheneum. Centerpiece exhibits took place at the Romanian Atheneum would follow in 1891, 1895, 1897, 1902, and 1905.

From 1879 to 1890 he worked in France, especially in Vitré, Bretagne, and in his workshop in Paris. In 1890 he settled in Câmpina and started depicting pastoral themes, especially portraits of peasant girls, pictures of ox carts on dusty country roads and Romanian village landscapes. He was named honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1899.

Music: George Enescu, Romanian Rhapsody part II - which we wil discuss in another post…

Bucharest people from 1900 until the war
Photos: Nae Ionescu

As Bucharest was a commercial croassroad, here are some portraits of old Bucharest inhabitants, at the beginning of the century.

For the daily life of Bucharest people of those days, the bets source is I.L. Caragiale, referrential Romanian playwright, sarcastic comedies writer, who creates a hilarous carricature of Romanians’ attempts to copy the Western Europe at the time.
Enjoy his “Petition”.

Pre-communism Bucharest
If you haven’t seen pre-communist Bucharest, you cannot realize the extent ot the distruction communism is capable of . Almost totally destroyed by Ceausescu and his ‘urbanisation’ plan, it was very European before the 50’s actually. Following closelly the Frech, German and generally Western European models, pre and between-war Bucharest looked not very different than other European cities. The beautiful pre-60’s buildings were almost all destroyed, except for the ‘Old center’ how we cal it - the Lipscani area. This remains today among the few survining pieces of architecture, well hidden behind the square, grey communist blocks.

Here’s a glimpse of what it was… We often ask ourselves how it would have been, had the Iron Courtain not fallen…

The music is typical Romanian music at played a the beginning of the 1990’s.
A nice gallery of old Bucharest images is available here: 1900-1910 1911-1930 1939-1949 

A short history:
At its origins, Bucharest is a commercial crossroad. Founded around 1500 it becomes a preferred residence for various pre-Romanian rulers (Romania did not exist as a state). It only becomes a capital once the state is formed (The United Principalities) in 1859.
It then becomes the capital of the Romanian kingdom under King Carol’s rule.
The ellaborate architecture and the city’s status as cosmopolitan cultural center won Bucharest the nickname of “Paris of the East” (or Micul Paris - “Little Paris”). Development continued during the 1930s - one of the most prosperous times in Romanian history: after 1928, the population increased by 30,000 inhabitants per year, the area reached 78 km² >n 1939, and many new peripheral boroughs were added.
Under King Carol II, the city skyline began changing, and numerous art deco- and Neo-Romanian-style buildings and monuments were added, including the new Royal Palace, the Military Academy, Arcul de Triumf, the University of Bucharest Faculty of Law, the new main wing of Gara de Nord, the ANEF Stadium, the Victoria Palace, Palatul Telefoanelor, Dimitrie Gusti’s Village Museum, and the present-day Museum of the Romanian Peasant; deep pits were dug to provide Bucharest with safer water, alongside the deviation of the southern course of the Argeş River and the sanitation of the northern lakes (Colentina, Floreasca, Herăstrău, Tei), eventually leading to the creation of the present-day “necklace” of embanked ponds and surrounding parks.
See the entire history here.

Cocoa-bama and other works by Valeriu Mladin
Contemporary Romanian visual artist that recently launched a surprising exhibition - portraits of Obama in cocoa!
But this exhibition is just a small part of his creation. On his blog you can find all his collections.
I particularly loved the Romanin revolution sculpture series: Ten years after, Who shot at us. And his Warm Light collection.
Well, it’s hard to choose, everything is beautiful.
Enjoy everything here. More contemporary Romanian art videos on the Modernism.ro YouTube channel.

Kristina Dragomir - The lovely, arty, colourful, fortunatelly!-mad hatter
I hesitated on labelling Kristina Dragomir. I first thought she did fashion design, then saw her ‘face-paintings’ because they are more than make-up, paintings, drawings and settings. And her hats! She started as a painter, worked in advertising for a long time and extended her activity to fashion design, make-up art and contemporary accesories … Anyway, a multidisciplinary Romanian artist deffinitelly worth seeing.
I saw this video then visited her website and I’m a big fan of what she does, I love her make-ups and hats. And the photo shooting sessions are excellent. Especially the ‘beheaded’ models. Love it.
And btw, her website was chosen by Favourite Website Awards for their ‘site of the day’ section. A nice user experience and great graphics.
Her (Dog Work) Studio is on Str. 32 Sperantei, Bucharest, Romania.
Enjoy!

The Calus Ritual
Performed in the Olt region of southern Romania, the Căluş ritual dance also formed part of the cultural heritage of the Vlachs of Bulgaria and Serbia. Although the oldest documented music used in this dance dates from the seventeenth century, the ritual probably derived from ancient purification and fertility rites using the symbol of the horse, which was worshipped as an embodiment of the sun. The rituals name derives from the Căluş, the wooden part of the horses bridle. The Căluş ritual features a series of games, skits, songs and dances, and was enacted by all-male Căluşari dancers to the accompaniment of two violins and an accordion. Young men used to be initiated into the ritual by a vataf (master) who had inherited the knowledge of descântece (magic charms) and the dance steps from his predecessor. Groups of Căluşari dancers, sporting colourful hats, embroidered shirts and trousers adorned with small jingling bells, perform complex dances, which combine stamping, clicking of the heels, leaping and swinging of the legs.
According to tradition, groups of dancing and chanting Căluşari, who were thought to be endowed with magical healing powers, went from house to house, promising good health and prosperity to villagers.
Until today, Căluşari meet to celebrate their dancing and musical prowess on Whit Sunday. Testifying the rich cultural diversity of Romania, the Căluş ritual is also widely promoted at folklore festivals, such as the Caracal festival in the region of Olt, turning it into a veritable national symbol.
More about this ritual in the video below: