Female artists are at the forefront of this year’s edition of Electric Castle. Florence + The Machine will headline the festival, what more proof do you need? Loredana fuckin’ Groza is also worth mentioning, but this article is not about her. I mean, of course you’ll go see them both, you only live once. But when I say that women will rock Bonțida in July, I’m thinking of Romanian indie female acts that you probably haven’t really thought about much.
And this is a big mistake. Regardless of your well- or ill-founded biases about the local indie scene, because, it’s true, there haven’t been many options these past couple of years, things are nonetheless heading in the right direction. But there’s no way to acknowledge this unless you experience it for yourself. The following are four female lead-singer projects performing at EC7 which will spark your interest in Romanian indie again.
Zimbru
There are two reasons why you shouldn’t miss this band at EC7: 1. they are a very new act on the local scene in Cluj-Napoca, which means that they will perform a lot of new songs and 2. based on the few materials I heard from them I can tell you that they have a high chance of appearing on the stages of Europe’s biggest festivals. They have a huge potential and you should go see them if you want to brag in a couple of years’ time that you were among the lucky few who saw this band perform before anyone else has heard about them.
Valeria Stoica
Valeria Stoica is a singer-songwriter from the Republic of Moldova, the country who has been successfully exporting music talents to Romania for many years now. There are quite a few Moldovian mainstream artists Romanians are well aware of, but this time we shall dip our toes in the underground community. Valeria Stoica is an artist with a well-established voice and direction. She’s not at all pop. There’s a very high chance you’ll fall in love with the voice of a girl from Nisporeni, Moldova and I bet you’ve never thought this might ever happen.
Zmei3
The folks of Zmei3 sing songs about how miserable life is in a post-communist country. It might sound a bit cliché, but I guarantee you’ve never witnessed these feelings of daily desperation set to such a cool music. They strike a note within that you’ve never been aware of. This is due to the lead singer’s opera background, but also to their very own music style: rough Romanian soul. I assure you that this sounds rougher than it really is.
Maru
Maru studied classical guitar. Usually, people who study an instrument have a very dull sound. They play it incredibly well, even perfectly, but very dully. They fail to express anything meaningful. Maru’s music, on the other hand, has an authentic sound. She conveys all sorts of interesting vibes. Regardless of whether she performs in front of 200 people or a large crowd in a music festival, she manages to create an intimate connection with the audience. Her music is perfect if you want to ignore all the noise around you and focus on what’s going on on the stage. During a music festival, where you’re surrounded by chaos most of the time, Maru is precisely what you need.
