Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

is closely related to that of its neighbour and cultural kin,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. Moldovan folk is known for swift, complex rhythms (a characteristic shared with many

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an traditions),

musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

and much

melodic A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinati ...

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration * Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve o ...

. Pop, hip hop, rock and other modern genres have their own fans in Moldova as well. Modern pop stars include

O-Zone O-Zone was a Moldovan Eurodance group that was active from 1999 to 2019. Originating in 1998 as a duo consisting of Dan Bălan and Petru Jelihovschi before the latter's departure, their official trio lineup in 1999 consisted of Dan Bălan, Rad ...

, a Romanian and Moldovan band whose "

Dragostea din tei "Dragostea Din Tei" (; official English title: "Words of Love", also informally known as "Maya Hi" and "Numa Numa") is a song by Moldova, Moldovan pop group O-Zone, released as the second single from their third studio album, ''DiscO-Zone'' (2004 ...

" was a major 2004 European hit, guitarist and songwriter Vladimir Pogrebniuc,

Natalia Barbu Natalia Barbu (; born 22 August 1979 in Bălți) is a Moldovan singer and songwriter. She is best known for representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Fight". Music career Throughout her career, Natalia has worke ...

, who is well known in Germany, Romania and Ukraine, and Nelly Ciobanu. The band Flacai became well known in the 1970s across Moldova, turning their hometown of

Cahul Cahul (; also known by other alternative names) is a city and municipality in southern Moldova. The city is the administrative center of Cahul District; it also administers one village, Cotihana. As of 2014 census, the city has had a populatio ...

into an important center of music.

Folk music

During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

era, Moldovan folk culture flourished, and was strongly promoted by the government. However, many elements were altered to obscure the shared history of Romania and Moldova, because the Soviet Union wanted to discourage secession. The '' Mioriţa'' is ancient

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

that is a very important part of Moldovan folk culture.

Popular Moldovan musicians

* Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici *

Dan Balan Dan Mihai Bălan (born 6 February 1979) is a Moldovan artist, songwriter, and record producer. He is the founder of Moldovan eurodance band O-Zone, and wrote their international hit single "Dragostea Din Tei", which topped the charts in 32 count ...

* *

* Maria Bieșu * * Nelly Ciobanu * * * * Anatol Dumitraș * Nicolae Glib * *

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. Biography Early life Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. ...

* Anastasia Lazariuc * Arkady Luxemburg * Gândul Mâței *

Andrew Rayel Andrei Rață (born 21 July 1992, in Chișinău), better known by his stage name Andrew Rayel, is a Moldovan producer and DJ. Initially releasing his music on Armada Music, Rayel founded the label "inHarmony Music" on 22 September 2017, where ...

Sofia Rotaru Sofiia Mykhailivna Yevdokymenko-Rotaru (born 7 August 1947), known as Sofia Rotaru ( uk, Софія Михайлівна Ротару ; russian: link=no, Софи́я Миха́йловна Рота́ру; ro, Sofia Rotaru), is a former Ukraini ...

Radu Sîrbu Radu Sîrbu (also known as Radu Sârbu, RadU, Picasso and Radu Alexeevici Sîrbu (russian: Раду Алексеевич Сырбу, translit=Radu Alekseevich Syrbu; born 14 December 1978 in Peresecina) is a Moldovan singer and music producer. H ...

* Pavel Stratan * Cleopatra Stratan * Nicolae Sulac *

Ion Suruceanu Ion Suruceanu (born September 9, 1949) is a Moldovan singer and former parliamentarian. In 1990 he was awarded the People's Artist award of Moldavian SSR. Brief background Ion Suruceanu was born in the village of Suruceni, Ialoveni District, ...

;Groups * Alternosfera * Arsenium *

Carla's Dreams Carla's Dreams is a music project from Moldova, formed in 2012 in Chișinău. The band is composed of an anonymous group of singers and composers who perform their songs in Romanian, English and Russian. Their lead singer, codenamed Sergiu, and h ...

* Delta Pe Obraz * DoReDos * Infected Rain * Noroc * Orizont *

* SunStroke Project *

Zdob și Zdub Zdob și Zdub (; , onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat) is a Moldovan folk punk band, based in Chișinău. The band represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 May 2005, finishing 6th. They also repr ...

Musical institutions

Moldova's folk music and dance companies, troupes and orchestras are well known, especially Joc, an academic dance company; a ''joc'' is a celebration that includes dances, as well as the part of a town where the dancing takes place. The Orchestra of Moldovan Folk Music and Dance was founded in 1949; the orchestra plays

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

German music Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. German classical music is one of the most performed in the world ...

Music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or hol ...

s in Moldova include The Faces of Friends, held in the town of

; this festival was founded in 1996.

References

External links

*
Audio clips: Traditional music of Moldova.

Musée d'ethnographie de Genève The ' ("Geneva Ethnography Museum") is one of the most important ethnographic museums in Switzerland. History The MEG, or Geneva Museum of Ethnography, was founded on 25 September 1901, on the initiative of Professor Eugène Pittard (1867-1962), ...

. Accessed November 25, 2010.
Moldavan folk music at NorocTV
over 500 music videos

2009-11-01)

{{Moldova-stub

Folk music

Popular Moldovan musicians

Musical institutions

See also

References

External links