Lost in Translation
Tom Wilson 07.05.04

This week I decided to go into hiding. If anyone called ‘Fizz' comes looking for me, tell him I'm not at home. Allow me to explain…

Writing about Romania in the western press is a difficult business. As a freelance writer, it's spectacularly tricky to get anything commissioned which puts a positive spin on events in Romania. The interests of foreign readers are limited, and if it's not about orphanages or intimidating tower-blocks, there's little chance of your work getting published. Good news from Romania is often ‘non-news'. So imagine my delight when I was commissioned to write an upbeat feature on youth culture and ‘the MTV generation' for The Independent newspaper, a well-respected UK broadsheet.

The article that was finally published in the UK on Tuesday was one of the biggest PR coups for Romania for a long time. The photographs accompanying the article were particularly powerful, a series of images showing Romania's MTV generation – hip-hop kids; rockers; teens in high heels; boys in tight tees. This was a graphic depiction of the country's youth that couldn't be further from the standard clichés.

In the course of writing numerous features for the foreign press about the country, one thing has become clear. Though Romania has aggressively embraced capitalism and the free market ideal, one aspect of the Ceausescu mentality still looms at large in the background – namely the continuing obsession with the country's external image. Romanians themselves can be spectacularly self-deprecating, and a question familiar to any westerner is ‘why choose to come here?' Corruption, poverty and social inequality are the understandably frequent complaints, clearly visible to even the passing visitor. However, once these realities make their way into the foreign press, a knee-jerk reaction often inexplicably takes over. A nation that has been indoctrinated into nationalism through tyranny can be slow to forget the regrettable brand of patriotism instilled in it. This concern with Romania's image is almost a palpable echo of the days when continually rising steel production and wheat quotas dominated the media.

Take for example the article's description of the girl group ‘Sexxy'. Instead of berating the girlie-duo's lack of talent, the feature praised their hard work in an industry in which it is particularly difficult to make money – an industry in its infancy. Few western pop critics would ever be this kind. However, I was bemused to found myself receiving angry phone calls, explaining just how upset the girls must be.

True, the feature was intended to be a rather tongue-in-cheek look at the developing ‘celebrity industry' – making fun of celebrities should be a national pastime in every country. Despite a little light mockery, the overall focus of the piece was the huge body of domestic talent waiting to burst out onto the Western European scene. Zdob si Zdub were depicted as the stars of the show (they were), while descriptions of the likes of Loredana as being ‘the Romanian Madonna' were intended, if anything, as a compliment. Indeed, the idea behind calling Stefan Banica Jr ‘The Romanian Elvis', or Praf in Ochi as ‘The Romanian Linkin Park' had nothing to do with the artists themselves. Instead, it was a device by which to illustrate one of the biggest problems facing anyone who wants to see the development of a uniquely Romanian culture – namely the deleterious effect of the western media machine. It's the enticing pop products from the west, hiding behind their veneer of glossy invulnerability, which make Romanians themselves so scathing of their own domestic culture. The artists who deserve real praise are those who draw upon, rather than deny, their Eastern European heritage.

Romanian youth culture is missing out on the opportunity to develop its own unique sound. Given the popularity of 80's synth-pop groups such as Depeche Mode and Alphaville, I've personally got my fingers crossed for an explosion of Romanian electro acts. When it happens, expect the London fashionistas to arrive in Bucharest by droves. It's the exoticism and faded glamour of the East that is Romania's biggest asset.

As the article clearly concluded, changing Romania's international reputation is a huge priority. The images that the very name of the country conjures up in the west are still those of fifteen years ago. However, what escapes many people is the fact that correcting Romania's international reputation must not be achieved at the expense of disguising the reality. The country is plagued by many difficulties. It does a great disservice to those surviving on a bread-line income to pretend that their problems don't exist. If foreigners had a better idea of Romania's post-revolutionary history, they might be more stringent in the reforms they demand from the government. Hence the feature's clear illustration of the staggering inequalities that desperately need addressing.

Had I known that the article would receive such attention over here, I doubt I'd have altered my opinions. I would, however, have made it easier to understand and translate. I was bemused to find myself credited with opinions that simply weren't mine. It was alleged that I compared Romanian Hip Hoppers Parazitii to US miserablists Linkin Park (I didn't); that Manele was what the MTV generation really wanted to hear (it wasn't); I even allegedly took pot-shots at the ‘poverty-stricken appearance' of Romanian journalists (trust me. I never did).

However, one aspect of the article was correctly relayed on every occasion. The stand-out quote which was often picked up on was the description of Romanian ‘rapper' Fizz as a looking like a ‘third division footballer that's got dressed in the dark'. Anyone who's ever seen Fizz must agree that the description is rather apt. He is, however, someone that I'd rather not bump into at the moment. In the coming week, should I happen to be hospitalised in suspicious circumstances, you know who to blame…

© Tom Wilson / ZF 2004