MARIA TANASE PROJECT

I see this project as a very ambitious one, both in its musical aims, and in the means of achieving these aims. Following on from my work on the album ''Luminitza'', for which I took elements of eastern European folk music as sources of inspiration for new musical material, on this particular project I took the songs of Maria Tanase as a basis for new compositions. Like in the album ³Luminitza², my intention was not to make transcriptions or arrangements of the ethnic material, but through my own particular musical perspective, (with its classical, jazz, electronic, and generally very eclectic influences) to develop a new personal language, but always remaining true to the spirit of the original source material.

 I¹d like to achieve great variety in dealing with different songs-compositions, but the main idea is that there is a kind of meeting, bridging the years and the cultural divide between us and Maria Tanase; in other words, I¹d like to mostly use Maria Tanase¹s actual vocals, combined with live material.  I find the idea that we can meet somehow with the help of new technology, really exciting.

 I have chosen to work with these songs for many different reasons, the main one being a kind of gut feeling of affinity. Also, I think Maria Tanase, notwithstanding her legendary star status in Romania, has the potential to be more widely known. I think she was the possessor of a truly great voice, with all the multitude of nuances of expression ranging from theatrical to almost operatic. From my research I also get the sense that she was a very interesting personality, coming from an economically deprived background, which she tried to escape all her life. This was the main engine in a relentless and passionate search for an identity. Along the way for this quest she was helped by some very interesting people such as Harry Brauner, who was a great musicologist and collector of folk music, and who advised her on repertoire and her career in general. Apart from everything else, Maria Tanase was very glamorous, living life to the full and, in a way, like all great singers, singing about her own joys, sorrows and aspirations. All this contributes to the fact that, for me, these songs are full of expression and they embody the essential spirit of Romanian poetry and philosophy.

 In the last few years, I have come to realize how important the visual aspect of musical performance is. For this project in particular, it becomes essential, as the singer (normally the focus of attention for the audience) is physically absent, but omnipresent in every other respect.

 For designing the staging and visual aspect of the show, I worked together with the well known Austrian video artist Klaus Obermaier

.Our aim was to suggesting to the audience the ³spirit ³ of Maria Tanase.

This is achieved through a variety of means; first and foremost lighting,stage design and video projections  ;  I have accessed TV-film footage of Maria Tanase from the late 50¹s  and early 60¹s. Klaus chose a poetic approach, taking inspiration from the texts of the songs, the patterns and

textures of Romanian traditional arts and crafts and  from the cultural-political atmosphere in Romania before, during,  and after the 1940-45 war, and the transition to communism.

As well as Maria Tanase, Romanian culture and philosophy themselves become the  subject of the show, as ,through her life and work ,she came to reflect and redefine the complex and beautiful contradictions of the Romanian soul.

 Maria Tanase was born in 1913, and died in 1963 in Bucharest, Romania, becoming the greatest Romanian popular singer and creating a musical genre which is completely unique. Coming from a deprived social background, she collected and reworked traditional songs from different regions of Romania, and made them very much her own. At the core of her art is the fatalistic Romanian folk philosophy, with its central idea of the transience of existence. She used her voice as an instrument of extreme emotions; desperation, elation, sarcastic bitterness, hysterical laughter, intoxicated joy and sadness, all meshed together with complete control. Ultimately, she passed on a bittersweet message about the transcendence of daily suffering by ordinary people.

 I used this legacy, rich in emotional and musical material, as a catalyst for new pieces. In the same way that Maria Tanase collected songs and transformed them, I took this material and recomposed it, filtering it through my own personal experience.

Alexander Balanescu.