Radio România Internațional

Tag: music

August 19, 2023

DECISION – Romania plans to ensure the transit of more than 60% of the Ukrainian grain exports to the international market in the future, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said after Friday’s meeting, in Bucharest, with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Şmyhal. The two officials decided that in the upcoming period, the grain transit from Ukraine to the international market, via Romania, to be doubled, from two to four million tons per month, but with the protection of Romanian farmers. Two accords were also signed during the meeting, one regarding the mutual recognition of documents of study and another one for the opening of a new border checkpoint between the two states, in Sighetul Marmaţiei, in the county of Maramures.

ENERGY – Helleniq Renewables, a Greek subsidiary of one of the main energy groups in South-Eastern Europe, Helleniq Energy Holdings, has signed a contract for the construction of four photovoltaic parks in Romania, with a total capacity of 211 megawatts. The agreement was signed with Mytilineos Energy. The projects will be gradually developed until 2025, and the total annual production of renewable energy will be cover the needs of 100,000 households. In parallel, Helleniq Renewables signed another agreement, for the development of a portfolio of photovoltaic parks with a capacity of 600 megawatts, also located in Romania, in the southern part of the country.

MUSIC — Găesti, the hometown of the famous Romanian musician Gheorghe Zamfir hosts the 5th edition of the “Gheorghe Zamfir” International Music Festival under way until Sunday evening. Symphonic pop and classical music have been scheduled for today, as well as concerts by musicians Aydin Yavas (Turkey) and Jean-Luc Faraux (France). On Sunday, a folk music concert will be held, with the participation of the “Lautarii” Orchestra, from Chisinau, conducted by Nicolae Botgros. Maestro Gheorghe Zamfir will take the stage of the festival on both days. An internationally renowned musician, composer, conductor, poet and painter, Gheorghe Zamfir is a symbol of Romania.

EUROSTAT – Romania registered in June the most significant advance in the European Union in the field of construction works, of 3.6%, followed by Sweden and the Czech Republic, according to the European Statistics Office. At the opposite end are Germany, France, Slovakia and Hungary. Eurostat data also shows that construction works decreased in June by 1% in the eurozone and by 0.6% in the European Union, compared to the previous month, when a slight advance was registered.

SCHENGEN — Austria continues to oppose the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area. The subject was on the agenda of Fridays meeting, in Salzburg, between Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer and German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. While Vienna rejects the bid of the two countries motivating its stand with the increasing flow of migrants, the German chancellor reiterated that Berlin supports “the continued development of the EU, and this includes the fact that EU member countries can join the Schengen Area”. The Austrian chancellor also said that the Schengen system has structural deficiencies and recalled that last year more than 75% of those over 120 thousand asylum seekers in his country had not been registered.

UKRAINE — The Kyiv authorities have hailed the US decision to allow the delivery of F-16 aircraft to the Ukrainian army. The US-made aircraft will be delivered by Denmark and the Netherlands, once Ukrainian pilots are ready to fly them. “What we did this week is formalized, through a letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his counterparts in Europe, that upon the completion of that training, the United States would be prepared, in consultation with Congress, to approve third-party transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine,’’ Jake Sulliven said. (EE)

19 August 2023
August 6, 2023

FIRES The Romanian
fire-fighters deployed to Greece worked on Saturday and Sunday together with
their Greek colleagues to put out a fire in the Aragonitis area, around 55 km
from the village of Vilia, in the region of Attica, the General Inspectorate
for Emergencies announced. According to the institution, at the request of the
Greek liaison officers, the Romanian unit supported the Greek fire-fighters
with 4 fire engines, personnel rotating every 4 hours, and additional lighting
equipment. Scores of Romanian fire-fighters have already taken part, over the
past few weeks, in similar missions to help the Greek authorities manage
extensive wildfires.

BORDERS Road traffic across
Romanian borders is difficult these days as Romanians leaving or returning from
their holidays are queuing at checkpoints. According to the authorities, queues
of tens of minutes are reported at Romania’s western and south-eastern entry checkpoints.
Vehicle queues are recurrent every summer, although all available lanes are
open, because of the high volume of checks border police are required to
complete.

UNTOLD The 8th edition of UNTOLD, one of
the largest music festivals in Europe, held in Cluj-Napoca, central Romania,
ends today. The theme of this year’s festival was Phoenix Light. The 4-day
festival brought together well-known international artists like Armin Van
Buuren, Goran, David Guetta, world-famous DJs like Martin Garrix, as well as
many Romanian artists. Theme parties were organised, and music fans were
entertained by international acrobats, animators, dancers, drummers from Romania,
France, Spain, UK and Germany.

HAFERLAND Today is the last day of Haferland Week
Festival, currently in its 11th year, held near Sighișoara, the only
medieval citadel still inhabited in south-eastern Europe. This is one of the
most important events devoted to the culture of Saxons, a group of German ethnics
that settled in Transylvania in the Middle Ages. The festival is held in 10
localities in the region of Haferland (Oat Country). The theme of the event
attended by officials and public personalities from Romania and Germany, was sustainability
in Haferland’s Saxon villages. On Sunday, an event entitled The brass band is
playing up the hill was followed by a religious service at the fortified church
in Criţ. The public also attended woodworking, painting, weaving and embroidery
workshops.

GAMES Romania came out 2nd in the Francophonie Games hosted
by Kinshasa (Congo), after Morocco, with a total 17 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze
medals. Third came Cameroon. On Saturday, the Romanian athletes won 2 medals, a
silver and a bronze, in African wrestling. Romania participated in the Games
with 57 athletes, competing in athletics, women’s basketball, freestyle and
African wrestling, road cycling, table tennis and judo. The 9th
Francophonie Games were held between July 28 and August 6. (AMP)

6 August 2023
August 2, 2023

BUDGET The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party carry on talks on the fiscal measures that must be implemented in order to reduce the state budget deficit. Overall public expenditure cuts of some EUR 1.2 bln are targeted, concurrently with tax increases by a similar amount. Public institution mergers, the scrapping of 200,000 public sector jobs that are currently vacant, personnel downsizing and cuts in the management allowances paid by public companies are some of the measures considered by the government. The 2 parties have also agreed on 2 VAT rates, 9% and 19%, although a 5% VAT rate will be in place as an exception for books alone. The Social Democrats and the Liberals however differ as regards a proposed additional 1% tax on luxury homes and on the profits of companies with more than EUR 100 mln in turnover.

E-COMMERCE Last year Romanians spent nearly EUR 7 bln online, one-quarter of the amount on clothes and footwear alone. According to a survey, the Romanian e-commerce market comprises a rough 100 online stores reporting over 1,000 orders per day. One in 5 Romanians regularly order online, and 50% of them do so twice every 3 months. In Europe, the share of online shopping rose from 55% in 2012 to 75% in 2022, with the highest increases reported in Estonia, the Czech Republic and Romania.

FORESTRY A new draft Forestry Code was released for public consultation on Tuesday in Romania. The surface areas where forest clearing is banned will be increased approx. 10 fold, and the vehicles that carry wood illegally will be seized. The bill will also enable the government to take over the task of reforesting land that has been cleared and subsequently abandoned by its owners. The measures come after the European Commission initiated an infringement procedure against Romania for failure to implement several environment-related directives.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS The Romanian foreign ministry warns citizens who are traveling or intend to travel to the Italian island of Sardinia that local authorities there have issued a code orange alert for wildfire risks. On the other hand, the ministry also announced it was taking steps to repatriate 4 Romanian nationals from Niger, as the security situation in that country is worsening.

UKRAINE Russia’s continued attacks against the Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on Danube, in the proximity of Romania, are unacceptable. These are war crimes and they further affect Ukraine’s capacity to transfer their food products towards those in need in the world, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis posted on Wednesday on social media. A Russian drone attack hit Ukrainian port infrastructure in Izmail, on the Danube, close to NATO-member Romania. According to Kyiv, the attack caused fires at the port and industrial infrastructure and damaged the elevator there. Russia started targeting Ukraine’s ports after terminating a UN deal enabling the country’s grain exports via the Black Sea.

UNTOLD Thousands of gendarmes, firefighters, anti-drug and local police officers, as well as 800 private security guards, have been mobilized for the 4-day music festival UNTOLD in Cluj-Napoca, which begins on Thursday, to make sure that safety measures are complied with by all participants. Two mobile hospitals and 3 first-aid stations will be located near the festival site. The line-up for the 8th edition of UNTOLD, one of the largest music festivals in Europe, includes over 250 artists from Romania and abroad. Tens of thousands of music lovers from around the world are expected to attend. (AMP)

2 August 2023
Music Time: Fierbințeanu

RadioRomaniaInternational · Music Time – Fierbințeanu

14 November 2022
August 6, 2022 UPDATE

INFLATION
The National Bank of Romania Friday raised the monetary policy interest rate
for the 6th time this year, in an effort to keep inflation in check.
The key interest went up 0.75%, to 5,5% per year, and takes effect on Monday. The
central bank also decided to raise the interest rates for loans and for
deposits. Keeping a firm control on cash flows in the monetary market and
maintaining the current levels of minimum compulsory reserves for banks’
domestic and foreign currency liabilities are also decisions made on Friday by
the National Bank. Experts expect a steady annual inflation rate in Q3 and a
gradual decrease later on. In June the inflation rate reached 15.1%.

DIASPORA
The Romanians in the diaspora who plan to return and invest in a business that
creates at least 2 new jobs may obtain funding of up to EUR 40,000 under the 3rd
edition of the Start-Up Nation programme, the Romanian tourism ministry
announced. Applicants whose start-ups create only one job may receive up to EUR
20,000. To benefit from the EUR 4 million programme, applicants must submit
proof of their residence abroad.

BUDGET
A state budget adjustment is scheduled for next week in Romania, according to
PM Nicolae Ciucă. Among other things, expenses with supplies and services will
be cut by 10% for each ministry. An analysis will also be conducted to ensure
the coherence of the forthcoming budget adjustment and of the funding programmes
for Romania.

ECONOMY
East-Europeans started to feel the effects of the war in Ukraine later than the
major Western economies, due to 2-digit salary increases and generous
subsidies. Now however, they have to reduce their expenses in order to make
ends meet, reads a Reuters analysis, according to which the 2-digit inflation,
the over 15% rise in foodstuff prices and the growing energy costs are affecting
the spending power of people in Eastern Europe. In Poland, people are
shortening their holidays, Czechs are saving by eating out less and looking for
a second job, while in Hungary people are buying less food and a lot fewer
durable goods. According to analysts, the risk of 2-digit inflation extending
into 2023, as well as the new revised estimates regarding the Eurozone point to
a risk of recession.

NATURAL
GAS An EU-wide 15% reduction of natural gas consumption will come into force
early next week, the Czech presidency of the EU Council announced. The
regulation was adopted officially, and the text will be published in the
Official Journal on Monday and will take effect the next day. The president of
the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on member states to
prepare for the worst-case scenario of Russia suspending gas supplies. Member
states must also secure 80% of their winter needs ahead of time.

COVID-19 Over 6,400 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed on Saturday in
Romania. More than 3,800 patients are hospitalised, nearly 260 of whom in ICUs,
and 28 Covid-related deaths were reported.Since
the start of the pandemic, nearly 66,200 people have died of COVID-19 in
România.

UNTOLD Cluj Napoca, north-western Romania, is hosting the most eagerly
awaited music festival this summer, Untold. The event takes place on several
stages, with over 200 Romanian and foreign artists, as well as the world’s best
DJs, performing until Sunday night. This year’s theme of the festival is Temple
of Luna, an artistic concept that highlights the mythological side of
Transylvania, seen as a land of the night and magic. Scores of stands sell
food, drinks, clothing and gadgets. The organisers expect over 400,000 people
to attend this year’s edition.

6 August 2022
August 4, 2022 UPDATE

INTEREST The 3-month ROBOR index, based on which the cost of consumer loans in lei with variable interest is calculated in Romania, rose on Thursday from 8.05% to 8.11% per annum, the highest level in the last 12 years. In early 2022, the index was 3% per year. Rates on mortgage loans and “First house” loans have increased by 50% since the beginning of the year and almost doubled as compared to a few years ago. IRCC, the reference index for consumer loans, is 2.65% p.a., up from 1.86% three months ago. In the last three months, more than 10,000 beneficiaries of the “First house” programme have requested to switch from ROBOR to IRCC for calculating loan interests.

AIR FORCES As of August 4, the Canadian Royal Air Force is conducting an air policing mission in Romania. According to the defence ministry, a unit of 180 troops and 6 CF-188 Hornet aircraft, will operate under NATO command in the next 4 months, jointly with Romanian Air Force units, while another 2 aircraft will take part in drills organised jointly with NATO allies. This is the 6th rotation of Canadian troops at Romanias Mihail Kogălniceanu air base since 2017. Canadian forces were also deployed in Câmpia Turzii in central Romania in 2014. The presence of the CF-188 Hornet aircraft in Romania is part of the action plan for ensuring NATO operational capability in the eastern flank, and proves the Alliances unity and determination in response to recent security challenges, the Romanian defence ministry said.

COVID-19 Three military hospitals in Romania have reopened wards for treating COVID patients. In Sibiu (centre), patients have five beds available, with another five available in Cluj Napoca (north-west). The Emergency Military Clinical Hospital in Timisoara (west) also reopened the Modular Medical Isolation and Treatment System, where patients have already been admitted. More than 4,000 people infected with coronavirus are currently hospitalised in Romania, and the number of those in Intensive Care is around 300. On Thursday, more than 8,600 new infections with SARS-COV-2 were announced in 24 hours. The authorities also reported 27 deaths.

TAIWAN The Chinese army Thursday fired missiles towards the Taiwan Strait, shortly after the start of military drills around the island, France Presse and Reuters reported. China initiated large-scale live-fire drills around Taiwan in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taipei. Pelosi is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in the last 25 years. She assured Taipei of the USs commitment to supporting the democracy of the self-governed island claimed by Beijing. Taiwan has condemned the Chinese drills.

UNTOLD Cluj-Napoca, in north-western Romania, is hosting until August 7 the UNTOLD electronica festival, currently at its 7th edition. For the opening night on Thursday, the organisers have brought to Romania, for the first time ever, a unique show by the German DJ and producer duo Claptone and 100 dancers and animators. The crowd will be welcomed by fantastic characters, international acrobats, animators, cheerleaders, dancers from Romania, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Ukraine, with parades, fireworks and laser shows. UNTOLD takes place in several locations, with the main stage placed in the Cluj Arena. The line-up includes the worlds best DJs, and the organisers expect nearly 400,000 people to attend. UNTOLD is one of the largest music festivals in the world. (AMP)

4 August 2022
Radio Romania Culture Awards

The 21st edition of Radio Romania Culture (RRC) Awards Gala was recently held on the stage of the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest, after two years of absence caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Radio Romania Culture Awards Gala is the only event that grants awards in all areas of culture in Romania. During this anniversary edition awards were granted for the most important achievements of the Romanian culture in 2021. The Radio Romania Culture Excellence Award went to medical doctor Cătălin Denciu and the Intensive Care Unit team of the Piatra-Neamt County Hospital, as these people put their lives in danger to save their patients during a tragic fire in 2020. The special award for education went to the mathematics training platform MateX.xyz. The platform was created by 8 Olympiad participants with the aim of preparing poor 8th graders, online, for the National Assessment.

The special prize for science was awarded to the founder of Graphs.ro, Dragoș Vana. His platform presented data on the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic in Romania, on a daily basis, as well as information about the anti-COVID vaccination campaign. Started as a personal project, with personal resources, in April 2020, Graphs.ro has become a reference source and an indispensable tool for tracking the evolution of the pandemic in Romania. The special prize for literature was awarded to the bookshop ‘La Două bufnițe – ‘At Two Owls from Timisoara, a large-scale cultural project, an example of cultural survival in the difficult days of lockdown.

Here are Raluca Selejan and Oana Doboşi, the founders of the bookshop At Two Owls, upon receiving the Special Prize for Literature awarded by RRC: We thank RRC and the jury who nominated us for this award. It is an award that comes at a time when we were almost ready to put down our weapons after two very difficult years, but the award reminds us that a beautiful community was formed around our bookshop, that supports us when it is very difficult for us, without knowing that it is very difficult for us. We want to thank our parents who have always supported us and thanks to whom our bookshop has survived and all our friends. The pandemic has been a difficult time because in our country, as you know, books are not essential, bookshops are not protected by law, we do not have a law on a single book price, so the only ones who can protect this market and the books are the readers. We also want to thank the teacher and writer Daniel Vighi, who believed in us as few people believed in us when we were very young, who encouraged us to become what we are today and from whom we learned that in literature there is no weekend, vacation or holidays. Its from Daniel Vighi that we also learned that the greatest joy which literature brings is that moment of solitude when the reader meets the text, and that is why we hope to bring as many books as possible as close as possible to the readers. We are urging you to support physical bookshops because booksellers are very fondly waiting for you.

Simona Popescu received a prize at Radio Romania Culture Awards Gala for her book ‘Cartea plantelor și animalelor – ‘The Book of Plants and Animals (Nemira Publishing House). Simona Popescu is the author of the poetry volumes ‘Xilofonul şi alte poeme – ‘Xylophone and other poems (1990), ‘Pauză de respir – ‘Pause for breath (together with Andrei Bodiu, Caius Dobrescu and Marius Oprea, (1991), Juventus, (1994), reprinted entirely in the collection Opera poetica (2021), and ‘Lucrări în verde. Pledoaria mea pentru poezie – ‘Works in green. My Plea for Poetry (2006). She wrote the novel Exuvii (1997; seven editions until 2021), a volume of essays, Volubilis (1998), and books of critifiction about the surrealist poet Gellu Naum, ‘Salvarea speciei. Despre suprarealism și Gellu Naum – ‘Saving the Species. On Surrealism and Gellu Naum (2000) and ‘Clava. Critificțiune cu Gellu Naum – ‘Clava. Critifiction with Gellu Naum (2004).

Here is Simona Popescu: I thank the jury and I feel honored to receive an award granted by RRC. Thank you for stopping in my garden with an opening to the sea and to the ocean, the garden being a metaphor for my book. It is a book of over 300 pages, with dozens of plants and animals, which are, in fact, pretexts to talk about the wide world, about the human species, not just about plants and animals, and to touch upon several themes of literature, be they great, small or average. My good thoughts go to my good friends who were also nominated, Ștefania Mihalache and Miruna Vlada, and of course to all those who wrote good and very good poetry books, and also other books, in 2021.

In the Prose category, Alina Nelega received an award for the novel ‘un nor în formă de cămilă – ‘a cloud in the shape of a camel (Polirom Publishing House) and in the Theatre category, Andrei Mureșanu Theatre in Sfântu Gheorghe received an award for the show ‘Consimțământ – ‚Consent by Evan Placey, directed by Radu Afrim. The film ‘Otto Barbarul – ‘Otto the Barbarian, directed by Ruxandra Ghițescu, received the RRC Award in the Film category, and the four solo exhibitions by Mircia Dumitrescu were awarded in the Visual Arts category. The prize in the Science category went to Răzvan Cherecheș, Director of the Department of Public Health of the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, for the campaign to promote the anti-COVID public health measures in Romania. In the Music category, Nicu Alifantis & Zan received an award for the album Dimov • Leoneed is love, and in the Education category, the Narada Association received an award for their projects that bring the technology of the 21st century closer to education. (LS)

23 July 2022
Large-scale music events in Romania

After years of COVID-related restrictions, this summer
returned some of the most eagerly-awaited music festivals to the Romanian
public.

One such event, which brings tens of thousands of
people to the Romanian Black Sea coast every year, came to a close on Sunday,
after 4 days and nights of music and fun. The 4th edition of Neversea,recognised as the
largest music festival held on a beach in Europe, this year brought to
Romania 150 artists from over 20 countries. The last night at Neversea saw
the performance of US rapper TYGA, one of the most popular artists of the
moment. As with the previous nights, the opening performance came from a
Romanian artist, and Delia managed to charm the audience once again.

Delia: Great vibe, there was a very interesting flow
of energy between myself and the crowd. I loved it. I can say I was nervous, although I rarely get
nervous performing.

Every day, over 60,000 people of all ages came to see
the performances on the Neversea beach. Edy Chereji, a member of the organising
team, had this to say:

Edy Chereji:2022 Neversea is the first post-pandemic event
held without restrictions and obviously people’s enthusiasm was tremendous, a
lot of people came with a thirst for fun, and this edition virtually made up
for 3 lost years.

Other notable acts included DJ Dimitri Vegas &
Like Mike and Tujamo (Germany) who wrapped up the festival in Constanţa.

The 26th Gărâna International Jazz Festival,
held in western Romania, also came to a close, after 4 nights packed with gigs
by Romanian and international jazz legends. For the first time ever, three of
the nights were devoted to jazz musicians from Norway, Finland and Sweden,
while the best Romanian musicians came together in the Romanian Jazz Meeting. Soft
Machine, who celebrate a music career spanning 55 years, and Charles Lloyd, on
his last European tour, were also among the highlights of the event. There were
27 concerts in all, 3 film screenings and an album release.

Also last week, the Sibiu State Philharmonic organised
the ‘Summer Concerts: Romanian-American Music Days,’ a festival which, for the
19th year, has offered the public performances by international
musicians in unconventional venues, with genres ranging from Baroque and Classical
to symphonic rock, film scores and pop music. This year’s highlight was a
concert called ‘Sophisticated Lady’, by the Bucharest Jazz Orchestra.

Summer continues with other music events like Electric
Castle, between July 13 and 17, Untold, between August 4 and 7, Summer
Well, on August 12-14 and Living Rock, on August 19 to 21. (AMP)

11 July 2022
Franz Liszt Touring the Romanian Principalities

In 1846, pianist and composer Franz Liszt, already a world celebrity at that point, started his last grand European tour in the southeast of the continent. He held recitals in many cities, among them Vienna, Sibiu, Bucharest, Iasi, Cernauti, Istanbul, and finally Odessa, wrapping up his tour in Czarist Russia.

In December 1846, he landed in Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia, where he was hosted by the grand boyar Mihai Ghica. In January 1847 he held a recital in the palace of Prince Gheorghe Bibescu. In Bucharest, the cosmopolitan musician found a special kind of society, hospitable and curious, which was still navigating the dividing line between the Orient that had been the basis of local culture, and the West, whose ways the local elites were starting to adopt.

The elites, meaning the old nobility and the nascent bourgeoisie, had started to modernize, and their children were already Western educated, and were starting to be seen as individuals, not simply miniature inheritors of their parents’ traditions.

Nicoleta Roman, a historian specializing in the 19th century, spoke to us about the ways in which artistic tastes and education of children in the Romanian Principalities in the early 19th century:

Nicoleta Roman: In the 18th century we see these kids in votive paintings wearing pretty much the same clothing as their parents, just at a smaller scale. Which is why votive paintings are a great source for studying the appearance of elite children. Then there is the way in which they were educated, mostly at home. In late 18th century, these were mostly of Greek extraction, due to the presence of the Phanariote rule, but, as we transition into the 19th century, the teachers are mostly French, and some were German, even English. These teachers bring in Western culture to Eastern Europe and the Romanian Principalities, and the parents seek to strike a balance between these influences. Then there is the bourgeoisie taking shape at the time, mainly traders, who are striving to imitate what they see in noble families. Which means they invest in their children, in their education, or veneer of education. This is what differentiates the offspring of noble and bourgeois families from peasant children.

The change of the education paradigm also reflects in artistic tastes. Which is why such and excellent representative of Western music as Franz Liszt enjoyed such huge success in Bucharest and in Iasi, the capital of Moldavia. He went there in January 1847, staying in the home of treasury keeper Alecu Bals. There he held a recital, and for that he was brought from Paris an Erard piano. This type of professional instruments were not available in the Principalities at the time. Publications of the time, with articles written by young intellectuals that were about to take part in the 1848 revolution, fighting for the modernization of the country, featured many enthusiastic articles about Liszt.

At the same time, the great artist took full advantage of his tour, learning about Romanian folk music and meeting local composers, such as the one who wrote the anthem for the union of the Principalities in 1859.

Nicoleta Roman:

I loved Liszt because he went all over Southeast Europe, and had the resilience to get through a very busy concert schedule. This was admirable for that time, because he was almost 40 years old. This series of concerts in Southeast Europe was the last of his grand tours, and I see him as the artist who best embodies this meeting between West and East. He was a true product of Western culture, but his origins helped understand Southeast Europe. He did not exclude the local element in his concerts, and we see him collaborating with composer Alexandru Flecthenmacher, and other personalities over here.

As a great collector of Southeast European folklore, which he used in his compositions, Franz Liszt had the opportunity to listen to famous traditional composers and interpreters, such as Barbu Lautaru, whose last name is actually a nickname, meaning ‘traditional urban player’. In fact, Liszt, as he was unconcerned with making money, knew how to draw in both rich and poor audiences.

Nicoleta Roman:

We could say he had stage star behavior. He knew who he was, and what he needed to be successful. His style and his way of playing could pull at the heartstrings of every nobleman, and even the Sultan, because he also played in Constantinople. He could also touch the hearts of less wealthy people. That is the reason he was in such high demand, because by the time he came here, in 1846-1847, he knew how to put on a great show. He had resounding fame everywhere, and he could fill any room. He played for the elites, but he also held free concerts, for the less wealthy.

When he left Iasi, he made a short stopover in the Danube port of Galati, then went on to go to Istanbul, ending the tour in Odessa.

9 July 2022
Radio Romania Culture Awards

The 21st edition of Radio Romania Culture (RRC) Awards Gala was recently held on the stage of the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest, after two years of absence caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Radio Romania Culture Awards Gala is the only event that grants awards in all areas of culture in Romania. During this anniversary edition awards were granted for the most important achievements of the Romanian culture in 2021. The Radio Romania Culture Excellence Award went to medical doctor Cătălin Denciu and the Intensive Care Unit team of the Piatra-Neamt County Hospital, as these people put their lives in danger to save their patients during a tragic fire in 2020. The special award for education went to the mathematics training platform MateX.xyz. The platform was created by 8 Olympiad participants with the aim of preparing poor 8th graders, online, for the National Assessment.

The special prize for science was awarded to the founder of Graphs.ro, Dragoș Vana. His platform presented data on the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic in Romania, on a daily basis, as well as information about the anti-COVID vaccination campaign. Started as a personal project, with personal resources, in April 2020, Graphs.ro has become a reference source and an indispensable tool for tracking the evolution of the pandemic in Romania. The special prize for literature was awarded to the bookshop ‘La Două bufnițe – ‘At Two Owls from Timisoara, a large-scale cultural project, an example of cultural survival in the difficult days of lockdown.

Here are Raluca Selejan and Oana Doboşi, the founders of the bookshop At Two Owls, upon receiving the Special Prize for Literature awarded by RRC: We thank RRC and the jury who nominated us for this award. It is an award that comes at a time when we were almost ready to put down our weapons after two very difficult years, but the award reminds us that a beautiful community was formed around our bookshop, that supports us when it is very difficult for us, without knowing that it is very difficult for us. We want to thank our parents who have always supported us and thanks to whom our bookshop has survived and all our friends. The pandemic has been a difficult time because in our country, as you know, books are not essential, bookshops are not protected by law, we do not have a law on a single book price, so the only ones who can protect this market and the books are the readers. We also want to thank the teacher and writer Daniel Vighi, who believed in us as few people believed in us when we were very young, who encouraged us to become what we are today and from whom we learned that in literature there is no weekend, vacation or holidays. Its from Daniel Vighi that we also learned that the greatest joy which literature brings is that moment of solitude when the reader meets the text, and that is why we hope to bring as many books as possible as close as possible to the readers. We are urging you to support physical bookshops because booksellers are very fondly waiting for you.

Simona Popescu received a prize at Radio Romania Culture Awards Gala for her book ‘Cartea plantelor și animalelor – ‘The Book of Plants and Animals (Nemira Publishing House). Simona Popescu is the author of the poetry volumes ‘Xilofonul şi alte poeme – ‘Xylophone and other poems (1990), ‘Pauză de respir – ‘Pause for breath (together with Andrei Bodiu, Caius Dobrescu and Marius Oprea, (1991), Juventus, (1994), reprinted entirely in the collection Opera poetica (2021), and ‘Lucrări în verde. Pledoaria mea pentru poezie – ‘Works in green. My Plea for Poetry (2006). She wrote the novel Exuvii (1997; seven editions until 2021), a volume of essays, Volubilis (1998), and books of critifiction about the surrealist poet Gellu Naum, ‘Salvarea speciei. Despre suprarealism și Gellu Naum – ‘Saving the Species. On Surrealism and Gellu Naum (2000) and ‘Clava. Critificțiune cu Gellu Naum – ‘Clava. Critifiction with Gellu Naum (2004).

Here is Simona Popescu: I thank the jury and I feel honored to receive an award granted by RRC. Thank you for stopping in my garden with an opening to the sea and to the ocean, the garden being a metaphor for my book. It is a book of over 300 pages, with dozens of plants and animals, which are, in fact, pretexts to talk about the wide world, about the human species, not just about plants and animals, and to touch upon several themes of literature, be they great, small or average. My good thoughts go to my good friends who were also nominated, Ștefania Mihalache and Miruna Vlada, and of course to all those who wrote good and very good poetry books, and also other books, in 2021.

In the Prose category, Alina Nelega received an award for the novel ‘un nor în formă de cămilă – ‘a cloud in the shape of a camel (Polirom Publishing House) and in the Theatre category, Andrei Mureșanu Theatre in Sfântu Gheorghe received an award for the show ‘Consimțământ – ‚Consent by Evan Placey, directed by Radu Afrim. The film ‘Otto Barbarul – ‘Otto the Barbarian, directed by Ruxandra Ghițescu, received the RRC Award in the Film category, and the four solo exhibitions by Mircia Dumitrescu were awarded in the Visual Arts category. The prize in the Science category went to Răzvan Cherecheș, Director of the Department of Public Health of the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, for the campaign to promote the anti-COVID public health measures in Romania. In the Music category, Nicu Alifantis & Zan received an award for the album Dimov • Leoneed is love, and in the Education category, the Narada Association received an award for their projects that bring the technology of the 21st century closer to education. (LS)

4 May 2022
September 6, 2020

Coronavirus. 1,150 new daily
coronavirus cases were reported on Sunday in Romania, with infections now
passing 95,000. 43 new deaths were also reported, which raises the death toll
to 3,893. 474 people are in intensive care. The largest number of new cases
were in Bucharest and Bacau county.

Forum. The European Union must be
prepared in the future to give more convincing answers about its role in the
Balkans and the Black Sea region, said the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu at the end of a security forum held in Bucharest. He added that the
Union should pay more attention to its neighbourhood, citing as an example the
Black Sea area, where there are a number of sources of insecurity, from the open
conflict in eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia to
the growing militarisation of the Black Sea. The Romanian minister also warned about
what he called infodemic, an epidemic of disinformation and fake news. He
said everything has become geo-politicised, including vaccines, treatments,
science and expertise, even citizens’ private lives and convictions. The Black
Sea and Balkans Security Forum held on Friday and Saturday in Bucharest and
organised by the New Strategy Center with the support of the Romanian foreign
affairs and defence ministries looked at all types of security
risks and threats in the Black Sea region and the Balkans, including those
arising in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

EU. The European Commission has
requested its members to coordinate their responses to the coronavirus pandemic and to communicate them
clearly within the Union. The commission president Ursula von der Leyen emphasised
the need for predictability, especially with respect to decisions that restrict
the freedom of movement, a reference to the border restrictions imposed
recently by Hungary. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is
to publish a weekly updated map based on information from member states. The
map will show countries in colours, green, orange or red, depending on their
epidemiological situation. The European Commission has also proposed testing
travellers after they cross the border to improve freedom of movement and setting a common
infection rate level at which EU member states could start imposing
restrictions.

Vaccine. India has shown an interest
in the Romanian Covid-19 vaccine under development at the OncoGen centre in
Timisoara, in the west. Radio Romania Timisoara has cited OncoGen head Virgil
Paunescu as saying that the centre was visited by India’s ambassador in
Bucharest Rahul Shrivastava who said the results of research point to one of
the most efficient vaccines, with the information about to be presented to a
special coronavirus commission in India. The Timisoara centre may collaborate
with India to mass produce the vaccine that Romanian researchers are working
on. India is the world’s biggest vaccine producers, supplying 60% of world
vaccines.

Festival. The first stage of the
violin section of the George Enescu International Competition is under way
between the 5th and the 9th of September and features 60
recitals by young violinists from around world which can be watched online on
the festival’s website, at www.festivalenescu.ro.
The results will be made public on 10th September. Only 12 out of 60
participants will go to the next stage. In the cello section, 13 participants
reached the second stage, which comes to an end on Monday. This year’s edition
of the George Enescu International Competition, which was due to take place
between 29th August and 20th September, has been
reorganised because of the pandemic into two separate events: the first two
stages are held online this month, as initially scheduled, while the semifinals
and the finals in each category will be held in May next year. The competition
has brought together 205 musicians from 39 different countries. 184 are competing
in the three instrument sections, violin, cello and piano, while 21 are competing
in the composition section.

Tennis. Romania’s Simona Halep was chosen August tennis
Player of the Month based on fan vote on the WTA website. Halep, who is no. 2
in the world, last month won the Prague tournament, her second title this year,
after a six-month break because of the coronavirus outbreak. Halep now has 21
titles, including two Grand Slams. In other tennis news, Sorana Cirstea lost
on Saturday to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in the third round at the
US Open. Cirstea was the last Romanian player still in competition in the
singles draw. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien
Rojer reached the competition’s quarterfinals after defeating the first seeds
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia.

Football. Romania will be facing
Austria on Monday in a League B Group 1 match as part of the Nations League
competition. On Friday, Romania drew against Northern Ireland 1-all at home.
The group also includes Norway, which Romania will be playing next month. On 8th
October, Romania will also be playing Iceland in the semifinals of the
qualifying playoffs for the European Championship. If they win, Romania will
face the winner of the other playoff semifinal, Hungary or Bulgaria. On
Tuesday, Romania’s under-21 side are facing Malta in a qualifying match for the
European Under-21 Championship next year. Last Friday, they won against Finland
3-1 away. (CM)

6 September 2020
July 30, 2020

COVID-19 President Klaus Iohannis has a new meeting today with the interior minister Marcel Vela and with the head of the Department for Emergencies Raed Arafat, to assess the situation and the causes of the steady growth in the number of COVID-19 cases. New containment measures were included by the Government on Wednesday night in an executive order concerning the state of alert. Authorities have decided that in counties or localities with large numbers of COVID-19 cases, the opening hours of outdoor bars and restaurants may be restricted. Also, in crowded areas where social distancing cannot be ensured, protection masks may become compulsory even outdoors. As of Thursday, face masks are compulsory in crowded outdoor areas in several counties in Romania where the number of coronavirus infections has risen sharply in recent weeks. The measure is adopted by an increasing number of counties, after more than a week with over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases per day. On Thursday a new record-high number of new cases was reported, 1,356, with the total so far in Romania nearing 50,000, and the death toll standing at 2,304. Nearly 26,600 patients have recovered.

CHILDREN The labour minister Violeta Alexandru presented in the Cabinet meeting a bill providing for the gradual doubling of child benefits, to roughly 60 euros per month for children aged 2 to 18 and to 120 euros per month for children up to 2 years of age and for children with disabilities. The minister explained the increase will be gradual, up until 2022. In a first stage, in September, child benefits will be raised by 20%. The Government intends to pass the bill in Fridays Cabinet meeting. Parliament voted to double child benefits, at the proposal of the Social Democratic Party in opposition, but the implementation of the measure was postponed because the coronavirus crisis has put pressure on the state budget.

YOUTH 56% of Romanian youth lost their confidence and motivation, according to a survey, Insights PulseZ, designed to identify the response and behaviour of young people during the 2-month state of emergency introduced in March over the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the survey revealed, the sudden suspension of day to day activities disrupted youngsters emotional balance. More than half of them were affected by the lack of face-to-face meetings, and nearly 35% admitted to having experienced tiredness and mood swings. The survey also shows that 44% of Romanian youth spent over 8 hours a day online. 33% of them attended online classes, and an equal number watched series and films.

ELECTION Over 2,000 Romanian citizens living abroad have registered on an electronic platform, votstrainatate.ro, to vote in this years parliamentary elections. Over 1,390 of them chose to vote by mail, and nearly 620 registered to vote in polling stations. The Permanent Electoral Authority in Bucharest urges Romanian nationals living abroad to choose voting by mail as a safe and comfortable means to cast their ballots, without queuing, traveling, costs or risks, particularly in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Information on the registration procedure is available at votstrainatate.ro, and questions can be sent by email at contact@votstrainatate.ro. The Permanent Electoral Authority says citizens may enrol as voters abroad no later than 15 days prior to the election date.

UNTOLD The 6th edition of the largest electronic music festival in Romania, Untold, begins today and will be held online for 4 days, amid restrictions and social distancing rules triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The organisers have announced exceptional guests and surprises. In February, Untold announced its first participants this year, including David Guetta, Martin Garrix and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. Pussycat Dolls, Iggy Azalea and The Script also confirmed their participation, while Paul Kalkbrenner, Charlotte de Witte and Richie Hawtin make up the techno section of the festival. Over 80,000 fans have enrolled to take part in this online edition of the festival. (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

30 July 2020
DISCO BTT

Disco
BTT – Discos of Communist Romania is an exhibition that was staged for the
first time a year ago in Bucharest with support from the Cultural-National Fund
Administration (AFCN). The exhibition proved to be a great success with 5,000
visitors on the premises of the Stirbei Palace, which was housing the event
last autumn. The event got the AFCN award for good results in its attempt to
preserve the immaterial cultural patrimony.

The concept of the DISCO BTT exhibition belongs to
film director Iulia Rugina, known for her productions, Breaking News, Love Building
and Stuck on Christmas. Here she is
at the microphone with more on this idea.

I got the idea a couple
of years ago while I was doing research for a fiction film. I am a film
director and the film I was working on was about a guy who used to be a DJ back
in the 80s. While doing my research I met Sorin Lupascu who was a DJ in
communist Romania and I got really captivated by this idea of introducing
people to a period that was quite unknown to many as palpable evidence is still
scarce. Of course there were stories from this period but no one was able to
put these stories together. So we thought we should be trying to take steps in
this direction.

DISCO
BTT is an original artistic creation inspired from that period, which is taking
the visitor through various unconventional spaces mounted in six rooms. No
groups are formed and that enables visitors to stay and admire the exhibits as
long as they want. Here is Iulia Rugina with details.

We started the project
as an original artistic creation. The exhibition is displayed in several rooms,
each room presenting an aspect of that time. Visitors are thus introduced to
the places where music was being played at a time when communist censorship was
at its highest. People got access to music only by means of these DJ or music
presenters as they were called back in the day. I am convinced those places
were quite known to the older generations. I talked to a lot of people who saw
those places first hand and gleaned stories about them. I also got posters,
devices and even music from that time on tapes, records and cassette tapes. All
these are on view in the exhibition, which makes for a rather sensorial
experience.

The
success of the aforementioned project happened to exceed the organizers’
expectations. Here is Iulia Rugina back at the microphone.

I personally didn’t
expect the exhibition to enjoy such a tremendous success in Bucharest last year
but it did. The explanation was that we had been visited by a varied public
consisting of those who were young at that time and saw these things first
hand. They later brought their children or grandchildren along. We also had a
good number of young visitors, mainly people interested in this cultural area
who later introduced the exhibition to their older relatives. This exhibition
is a very warm place, which brings a lot of emotion into visitors’ hearts,
whether they lived through those times or not.

Visiting
hours are more or less as opening hours used to be for discotheques in the
communist times. There are also many surprise elements, which visitors are
invited to discover while taking a tour of the exhibition. Entrance is free of
charge. Iulia Rugina told us what visitors are to discover this time:

The exhibition almost fully recreates
that atmosphere back then in Bucharest. The changes it suffered were due to the
space, which is slightly different. But it is divided into six rooms, and each
room is dedicated to one element from that period, with lots of music, photos,
archive materials. What is very nice, and was quite spectacular about the first
edition, is that it’s an exhibition that takes you in, because in one of the
rooms people start dancing: they come as visitors and they end up as
participants, exhibits even, because they get to dance in the last room of the
exhibition, which is in fact a 1980s discotheque, recreated as they used to be
back then. The opening will be accompanied by lots of music, we have as guests
the disco team and Florin Lupascu, who is the one who also provided the
consulting part for the exhibition. What I think is interesting about this
project is the fact that it takes you back in time.

The one who provided specialist advice for the
exhibition was Sorin Lupascu, who used to be one of the best DJs back then. The
stage design was signed by Andreea Popa, whose record includes some 20 feature
films and collaborations with directors such as Claude Lelouche, Joel
Schumacher, Cristi Puiu, Cristian Nemescu or Nae Caranfil. The light design
concept is signed by Alin Popa. And, another piece of good news: the organizers
want to bring the exhibition to as many cities across Romania as possible.

9 October 2018
August 11, 2018

PROTESTS President Klaus Iohannis Saturday asked the Prosecutor General of Romania Augustin Lazăr to immediately initiate investigations into the intervention of riot police at Friday nights protests in Victoriei Square in Bucharest, the Presidency announced in a news release. The head of state requested the Prosecutor General to identify the participants in the violent clashes in the Romanian capital city and their involvement and responsibility for the events. On Friday President Klaus Iohannis had firmly condemned the brutal police intervention against the protesters in Victoriei Square and said the Interior Minister, Carmen Dan, must immediately present explanations for how the ministry handled the events. Over 450 people, including 35 gendarmes, received medical treatment further to the clashes on Friday night at the rally in Victoriei Square, a gendarme spokesperson told a press conference on Saturday. According to him, riot police had orders from the Prefect of Bucharest to take tough action in Victoriei Square on Friday night. The gendarme spokesman added that 8 criminal cases have been initiated so far. Some 100,000 people gathered on Friday in front of the Government headquarters in Bucharest, at a rally of Romanian expats, joined by many locals. Also on Friday, in several cities in the country, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to voice their solidarity with the protest of diaspora members, shouting anti-government slogans. The protesters, disgruntled with the current government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, demanded the resignation of the cabinet and early elections. There were clashes between the protesters and the gendarmes, and riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Police reported the presence of groups of provocateurs in front of the Government headquarters. The gendarmes moved in after some of their colleagues were attacked.

REACTIONS Save Romania Union, in opposition, demands the resignation of the Interior Minister, of the Gendarme Service chief, of the Bucharest Prefect, a parliamentary inquiry and a special government meeting to clarify the gendarme intervention during Fridays protests of Romanian expats, the party president Dan Barna announced on Saturday. Also in opposition, the Peoples Movement Party labels the intervention of riot police as “outrageous, “unjustified, and the gendarmes measures as “unprecedented and out of proportion. Codrin Ştefănescu, the secretary general of the Social Democratic Party in power, said on Saturday that President Klaus Iohannis and the leaders of the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union and Peoples Movement Party in opposition should present public apologies for how their statements encouraged violence. The vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Deputy Andrei Gerea, claims the violent clashes that took place on Friday night in front of the Government headquarters are the result of an instigation and misinformation campaign run over the past few days by the opposition and the President of the country.

ECHOES International media covered Fridays protests in Romania and the violence in Victoriei Square. “Hundreds injured in protests as emigrants return to fight corruption, writes The Guardian, while The New York Times notes that “Violence erupts as tens of thousands protest corruption in Romania. Tear gas and water cannons to disperse diaspora rally, France Presse reports, and Radio Free Europe reports that hundreds were injured during clashes between the police and protesters. Associated Press writes that the Romanian diaspora organised a massive anti-governmental protest in Bucharest and mentions that the rally was marred by violence.

FESTIVAL The 8th Summer Well alternative music festival continues until Sunday in Buftea, near Bucharest. This year as well popular names in the international music scene are taking part, including the British indie rock band Bastille, the Irish alternative rock outfit, for the first time in Romania, and the American jungle pop duo Sofi Tukker. The line-up also includes Lantern Company, from Liverpool, who brought to Bucharest illuminated installations in a breath-taking performance.

TENNIS The Romanian Simona Halep, number 1 in the world, is playing today against the Australian Ashleigh Barty (16 WTA), in the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Montreal, which has 2.8 million US dollars in total prize money. On Friday in the quarterfinals Halep defeated the French Caroline Garcia (6 WTA), while Barty outplayed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands (18 WTA). Simona Halep is playing the Rogers Cup semis for the 4th consecutive time. Last year, when the tournament took place in Toronto, Halep lost the semi-final to Elina Svitolina. The Romanian won the tournament in 2016, in Montreal, against Madison Keys, after having lost the 2015 final to the Swiss Belinda Bencic.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

11 August 2018
The Week in Review July 31 – August 5

A heat wave hits Romania

This week, temperatures have been extremely high, way above the average for this time of the year. The entire country was under a code yellow and orange alert, going up to a code red alert in the west of the country. This is the second time this summer when meteorologists issued a code red, the first being in early July. Temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, and the heat index exceeded the critical threshold of 80. In every major city first aid stations were set up for people affected by the swelterin heat. Trains ran at lower speeds, resulting in long delays. Traffic restrictions were instituted on most major roads, and vehicles over 7.5 metric tons were banned from circulating.

The Higher Defense Council issues the budget for the Romanian armed forces

The Higher Defense Council of Romania has issued the budgeting plan for the next decade for the Romanian armed forces, worth almost 10 billion Euro. The document has been revised from its July 4th version, which did not comply with the National Political Agreement to allocate 2% of the GDP to defense, an agreement signed by all political parties in early 2015. The new version of the plan provides for reforming and equipping the armed forces until 2026. According to the Presidential Administration, the Romanian army should be provided by a coherent and sustained supply of resources, as underfinancing would affect gravely its ability to carry out its base missions and operational effectiveness. In May, Parliament approved contract negotiations for eight programs to supply the military, worth over 100 million Euro each. One program will supply Patriot surface to air missiles, another will provide for the purchase of 36 F-16 fighter jets. These programs will also develop the domestic arms industry, allowing it to modernize and develop its manufacturing ability.

The biggest electronic music festival in Romania begins in Cluj

The third edition of the Untold electronic music festival, the largest of its kind in Romania, kicked off on Thursday in Cluj. For four days, almost 200 artists will perform on 10 stages, with over 100 hours of music. The main stage, nicknamed The Dragon’s Den, and is the biggest in the country, with 100 meters in width and 35 meters in height. It features a ferris wheel 40 meters in diameter, called The Dragon’s Eye, which spectators can climb for a better view of the events. The festival is held in multiple locations, featuring cosplay and fantasy make-up. Romanian fashion designers will have on display special limited editions of their couture. The event will feature street performers, stilt walkers, acrobats and magicians. Untold has been a worldwide phenomenon since its inception in 2015, and was designated European festival, and in 2016 it was attended by over 300,000 people.

FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, has qualified for the Champions League play-offs

Five Romanian football teams have played in the European cups. In the Champions League, FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, have managed to qualify for the play-offs, after defeating the Czechs from Viktoria Plzen. In Bucharest the score was 2-all, after a 4-1 victory away from home. The second Romanian representative in the competition, FC Viitorul Constanta, was eliminated after two games against APOEL Nicosia, which ended 1-nil and nil-4 respectively. Although lacking experience in big confrontations, the team coached by the former great player Gheorghe Hagi remains in the European competitions and will compete in the Europa League play-offs. Another three Romanian teams, Dinamo Bucharest, Astra Giurgiu and CSU Craiova have been eliminated from Europa League. They lost their matches against Athletic Bilbao of Spain, AC Milan and the Ukranian FK Oleksandria respectively.

(translated by: Mihaela Ignatescu, Calin Cotoiu)

5 August 2017