If you spend just a couple of weeks in any kind of urban environment in Romania you’re going to find that certain songs will get hammered into your consciousness whether you like it or not. What am I talking about? Scanning the Romanian FM radio band, you will find the vast majority of (musical) stations to be extremely similar, based on just a few formulas: … Continue reading The Persistence of Music in Romania
Doing all that writing about manele reminded me of something that happened a few years ago in my verrah own personal life. Now that enough time has passed, I can tell it to you now if you promise not to tell anyone ;) I never look down at anyone because I’ve made just about every mistake a person can make in Romania and the following … Continue reading Adventures in Maneleland
When I first came to Romania, I was confronted with a wild and dazzling array of different kinds of music, most of which I had never heard before. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t understand the words either. In fact, due to my odd memory, I can tell you exactly which song I heard in Romanian first, an old and very popular ballad by … Continue reading Music in Romania
Yes, it’s true. All of you are more American than I am. I might carry a blue passport, know all the words to the Star Spangled Banner but alas, when it comes to who is truly more American, you are clearly the winner. Just about every day of my life I meet people who know more brands, are more conversant in what shows on television … Continue reading You’re More American Than Me!
I think one of my favorite slang words in Romania is marfă (mar-fuh), although I don’t use it very often. The standard use of the word marfa is as a noun to indicate “cargo” or “manufactured goods” or sometimes “freight”, borrowed directly from a Hungarian word (márha) that means cattle or livestock. In slang usage however this becomes an adjective and is used to indicate … Continue reading Slang Word of the Day: Marfa
