Added: 01/24/2006 |
Male Romanian Pop Singers -- Superstars at Home But Gaining Popularity AbroadYou'd be hard pressed to rattle off the names of popular Romanian singers. But the truth of the matter is, you've heard female and male Romanian pop singers and probably didn't even realize it. That's because many of the most popular -- Michael Cretu and Stefan Banica Jr have skillfully maneuvered cross-over success in their home countries and abroad.
Just like it's contemporaries in Hungary and other bordering countries, Romania's contemporary pop music is deeply influenced by Romanian musicians, whose cafe music of World War II-era was modified into the orchestral groups so popular today. Perhaps, the most prominent and internationally known representative of the community of male Romanian pop singers is Michael Cretu, who is also known as Curly M.C. and is a creator of renowned Enigma project.
In his long career, Cretu has worked with numerous producers, artists, ensembles, and both female and male Romanian pop singers. These include his wife Sandra Cretu, Boney M, Frank Farian, Peter Cornelius, Goombay Dance Band, Mike Oldfield and Manfred "Tissy" Thiers in Cretu`s pre-Enigma days, and Frank Peterson, Jens Gad, ATB, David Fairstein, Jam & Spoon, Ruth-Ann Boyle, Andru Donalds and Peter Ries during the course of the project.
Michael Cretu studied classical music in Bucharest in 1965 and in Paris in 1968. Between 1975 and 1978 he attended the Academy of Music in Frankfurt where he attained a degree in music. He was taken on as a producer and keyboard player for Frank Farian, the German creator of several successful acts in the 1970s-80s including Milli Vanilli and Boney M.
Cretu also was the producer of 1987 "Islands" album of Mike Oldfield, in particular in "The Time has Come", the sixth track.
Before moving to the new manor in the Ibiza hills, Cretu was the owner of the A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza. In 1998, Cretu and Jens Gad once again joined up (they earlier had worked together on Le Roi Est Mort) and produced The Energy of Sound album.
The first solo release of Curly M.C. was the single "Wild River", in 1978. Cretu`s first solo LP was brought out in 1979 and bore the title of Ausgewehlte Goldstecke as German release, and the Moon, Light & Flowers as English release.
The second solo album of the singer was released in 1983 and was titled Legionere. The album featured German lyrics and was sung by Cretu himself. It was mastered by Armand Volker and supervised and co-produced by Harald Steinhauer.
Male Romanian pop singers have also influenced many other areas of modern music. Film sound tracks, theatre and the stage in particular. The unique instrumentation of Romanian music has added a new element to the techno-pop sounds of the new millennium.
So maybe that's the secret. The best parts of Romanian music have seamlessly been integrated into today's top sounds thanks to the efforts of female and male Romanian pop singers. Romanian pop music that appears to catch the attention of millions of people around the world. Even while so many people are so sure that in their life they would never endorse or like a pop song, they suddenly catch the tunes of Romanian pop music and they become immediately hooked. Male Romanian pop singers - no longer just superstars at home, they're also gaining popularity abroad.
Cretu's third studio album was released in 1985 and was entitled Die Chinesische Mauer. The exact English translation of this title is "The Chinese Wall", but it is better known as "The Great Wall of China". Akin to Cretu`s previous album, this also featured German lyrics, was sung solely by Michael, and had Armand Volker as a co-producer. The album was later released as a separate LP with English lyrics and a modified track listing and was entitled "The Invisible Man". Some of the songs of "The Invisible Man" were slightly edited, and, thus have different length than the German equivalents of Die Chinesische Mauer.
The complete discography of one of the most prominent male Romanian pop singers, Michael Cretu, pertaining to his solo career:
1979: Moon, Light & Flowers
1983: Legionere
1985: Die Chinesische Mauer
1985: The Invisible Man
The second and the last of striking personalities belonging to the community of prominent male Romanian pop singers to be covered here is Stefan Banica Jr who is also an actor. The son of the Romanian actor Etefan Benice, he is well-known for staring in movies (Liceenii rock'n'roll, Liceenii) and acting in a TV series that are on air now on PRO TV in which he plays the bad gangster character Ciupanezu. Stefan Banica Jr has released several rock`n`roll albums and his performances are always sold out.
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