Monday, September 7, 2009

I don't know what the song of the summer was in the states, but in the 'dova...(NOTE: there is a VIDEO BELOW - check it out!)

Hey everyone,

Seeing as yesterday was Labor Day and we are all celebrating/mourning the end of summer, I thought it would be fitting to give you a little slide show of what I have been up to. And, as an added bonus, you will hear the stylings of Romania's supergroup, Florinel. I did not go more than a day this summer without hearing their single, "Ma insor la anu-n mai." Anyway, I know nothing about Romanian music, but the folks here seem to love this tune....and, I will admit that it's kind of catchy.

So, if you can put up with this song, and my extremely amateur photography skills, enjoy!

Oh yeah, and happy Labor Day!

P.S..... right now I am waiting for this video to load...so I will give you a few BONUS remarks about Moldova and music. First, playing music really loud all day everyday in Moldovan villages is somewhat common. There is slightly more room between houses than we normally have in the states, so noise is not a major problem; though, from time to time neighbors do get annoyed. Nonetheless it seems that music here is very popular. The song below is more modern, but classic Moldovan folk also has a strong following. In fact, there is a TV station here that plays traditional Moldovan music with variety-show type performances 24-7. There is more I will say about this - but I'm saving that for later.

Occasionally we will also hear songs from the US. A few weeks ago, as I was riding the bus back to my village from Chisinau, I heard a song on the radio that sounded extremely familiar. It was sung, however, in Romanian. But it bothered me, because I knew I had heard this tune somewhere before. When I got home I scoured my mp3 collection until I realized what I heard was a Romanian cover of "If not for you," by Bob Dylan (also popularly covered by George Harrison). But anyway, I thought that was interesting, and wanted to share.

Hey, my video has finally loaded....now I can stop typing!