May Music in Moldova

I have enjoyed music in Moldova this month. It is the month of examinations plus a month of great concerts. Here is a photo of some students performing their folklore examination. They wrote the script and selected songs for acting out a Șezatoarea, a visiting event in Moldovan village life. The songs were quite beautiful with some solos and some group songs accompanied by cobza and violin.

Tonight I bought ten tickets for some American and Moldovan friends to attend a concert by Valy Boghean (in the photo) and his band at the Eminescu Theater. My Russian translator and my Romanian translator were there along with some special musical friends from Cricova.

The concert was extremely interesting and moving. Valy Boghean performed with a band of țimbal, bass, percussion, and electric guitar for the first half. They performed music with a strong basis in Moldovan village and folklore music. Valy himself played alto and soprano saxophones, caval, fluier, tylinka, some kind of reed instrument from central Asia, guitar, and flugelhorn. He sang several doinas (sad songs in rubato style) along with fabulous dance tunes.

In the second part of the concert he brought out a group of backup singers along with electric bass, keyboards, and auxiliary percussion to perform a long set of his popular songs.

The first time I met Valy was in October following a violin competition in Ialoveni, a nearby village. It was late and there were not enough seats in the cars we had used to drive out there so Valy was asked to take me back to Chișinău. Several of us packed into his very small car and chatted on the way to the city. He was friendly and a very happy person who was obviously crazy about music. I had not idea that he was actually quite famous and on his way to being a big star.

My Romanian translator has already planned an interview with him. We hope to catch him sometime next week. The most interesting question in my interviews so far has been about what Moldovan music and musicians can offer to the world. Valy Boghean is certainly one person with a very special set of sounds to offer.