Bijou asked a great question about how prevalent is US American culture in Moldova, how much do youth know about it. A quick answer is very prevelant (US American TV shows are shown here with dubbing & subtitling, US American movies are shown in the movie theater in the capital, access to the internet is high and YouTube is a very popular site, torrenting is very common because of lack of enforcement against it so people have access to a wide range of our media, events in the US make the international news here daily). Granted, people know as much as we learn through media - meaning some things are accurate (lots of American schools have metal lockers in the hallway) and others not so much (people don't break out into song&dance routines in the middle of lunch, like in movies). The US is not the only country whose media is highly present here - Russian media is very common and better understood language-wise, Indian soap operas and some media are popular as well, and popular pop music comes from all over the world. I thought a fun year-end way to highlight how this shows up around music is with a Top 10 Countdown! This list comes from current top ten in terms of current air play from ProFM, a popular Romanian radio station: 10. Rag'n'Bone Man - Human (British) 9. Lidia Buble ft. Matteo - Mi-e Bine (Romanian) 8. Sak Noel ft. Sean Paul & Salvi - Trumpets (Spanish, Jamaican) (side-note: Our sixth graders recently performed to this at a school concert) 7. Heaven - Inna (Romanian) 6. Drake ft. Kyla & Wizkid - One Dance (Canadian, US American) 5. Jonas Blue ft. JP Cooper - Perfect Strangers (British) 4. Jo - Cu un picior în rai (Romanian) 3. Shakira ft. Carlos Vives - La Bicicleta (Colombian) 2. Carla's Dream - Imperfect (MOLDOVAN!!! Good job Moldova!) 1. Randi - Ochii aia verzi (Romanian) Another top ten list, this time from Romanian Glamour magazine (people here buy either the Romanian or the Russian version, there is no Moldovan version), that I think reflects even better the music I hear daily on the radio and see on TV. Romanian Glamour's "Top 10 best songs from 2016" (I only am linking to the songs I am not sure if made it big in the US market because, well, I got annoyed looking up "clean" versions of the others):
One last list, from me. Below the cut are music videos that I heard and saw EVERYWHERE this year! Number one hit of the year, heard everywhere including people singing the chorus at the top of their lungs anywhere and everywhere at any time, day or night: "Sub Pielea Mea" (Under My Skin) by Carla's Dreams Баклажан (Лада Седан) = Eggplant (Lada Sedan). (a Lada is a type of car, the one in the song happens to be eggplant colored). ”Două Condimente” = Two condiments. Another hit of the summer, "La carciuma de la drum" (The Pub on the Road) by Zdob și Zdub ft. Loredana & Skizzo Skillz. If you're not already into Eurovision, I highly encourage it - I've enjoyed watching it with people all around the world since I first learned about it 15 years ago. It's often joked to be the world's best kept secret from US Americans (though it's now broadcast on US cable and Stephen Colbert did a bit on it). Anyway, Moldova selected "Falling Stars" by Lidia Isac for its 2016 entry. I wanted "Funny Folk" by DoReDos to be Moldova's entry in Eurovision 2016 - it actually won the public vote but the judges' influence pushed the previous song to the top.
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Rebecca LehmanHealth Education volunteer serving at Boris Dînga Middle & High School in Criuleni, Moldova. Archives
May 2017
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