It’s a bright July evening in southern Carpathia in Romania and the setting sun reflects on the foothills of the Făgăraș mountains as the crowd gathers in front of the main stage. Today’s the second day of Făgăraș Fest, a three-day festival which celebrates nature, culture and community. Run by Foundation Conservation Carpathia, it’s taking place this year in picturesque Porumbacu de Jos, and the mood is buoyant.
On stage Nico de Transilvania and a collection of musicians prepare to play, and 80-year-old Silvia Dan gets ready to make her debut. Cutting a slight figure in traditional dress and headscarf, as she starts to sing her voice belies her stature, ringing out pure and strong across the meadows, captivating the audience.
The granddaughter of Maria Carstoiu, a famous folk singer from Nucsoara, Silvia sings songs passed down through the generations. ‘Munte Munte, Brad Frumos’ (Mountain, Mountain Beautiful Pine Tree), a traditional doina from the area, tells of connection and conversation with the tree. In ‘Cucu’ (Cuckoo), a song learned from her mother, she sings about the cuckoo’s journey through the forest, leaving behind its babies to be looked after by other birds as it spreads its song.
This is the first live show of Interbeing, a multimedia project by Nico de Transilvania, which won Cambridge University’s Endangered Landscapes Programme’s (ELP) Art Prize in 2022. Featuring traditional songs magically woven into electronic compositions, mixed with soundscapes recorded in the Romanian countryside, it celebrates local music and the beauty of the landscape – one that is under threat. You can watch the short video here, filmed by Paul Chirila and edited by Alex Maxim from Monolit Studio.
The film screened before the show, setting the scene and bringing the stories of people and the environmental challenges they face to life. It’s a poignant moment seeing Silvia watching herself on the big screen, her son and granddaughters by her side. Over the next hour tracks from the album entertain the crowd, with live performances from an array of talented musicians: from the Bucharest Radio Jazz Orchestra, Paolo Profetti on saxophone and Larentiu Moise on trumpet; from Nucsoara 15-year old Ana-Maria Stanciulescu and her father Vasile Stanciulescu on flute; from the UK Andrew Stuart-Buttle on guitar and violin and Dalia Saunders on vocals. Co-producer Jules Dickens mixed the live sound, while Nico sang, introduced and produced the show.
“Bringing Interbeing show to life and having Silvia join us on stage it was a dream come true, one that I thought nearly impossible. The idea was born in this landscape and to perform it in this setting to local people, taking Interbeing back to its roots, is an honour. Art and music are powerful tools to bring people together and inspire them to get involved in protecting the natural world and inspire positive action. We’re also raising money by donating profits from the album sales to help bring nature back to life in this landscape .”
It’s a journey that has been years in the making. Following on from her debut album Be One, Interbeing and the show was funded by the Endangered Landscape Programme and the Romanian Arts Fund (AFCN) recording out in nature was essential to the work, with Abstract Source taking his mobile recording studio into the field and the musicians performing out in the forests. David Alexander Yeoman, who sadly passed away in 2022, was key to the original compositions, doing the sound recordings and composing Saraca Inima mea from Interbeing album.
Putting the live show together was a challenge. With limited rehearsal time, the team put in long hours, working on how best to combine the electronic backdrop with an 80-year singer, who’s never sang accompanied and musicians live on stage. The base for rehearsals was a short drive from Silvia’s modest home, the house where she was born, full of icons and angels and books of poetry. “I asked the priest if what I was doing was okay,” she tells me. “He said ‘yes, it’s making people happy’.”
Silvia, who had never travelled this far from her home in Nucsoara village, said being involved in the project had been life-changing. “I’d never seen anywhere so beautiful, it’s like I’ve entered heaven,” she says of the journey through mountains and forests to get to the festival site. “I wanted to come, to bring the story of the land and it’s songs and keep them alive. I didn’t feel nervous to sing, though I’ve only sung in church before, God gives me strength. I’m only asking for help for the forests – they need saving. We have to do what we can and act now.” And that’s the main message from Interbeing – we need to act to save these beautiful landscapes and music is a powerful tool for spreading the word.
Silvia has also been in top 15 trailblazing women making the world a better place in Positive news after her presence in the article titled The octogenarian whose folk songs are restoring ‘the Amazon of Europe’.
And that’s the main message from Interbeing – we need to act to save these beautiful landscapes and music is a powerful tool for spreading the word. If you wish to listen to the album you can stream it on all platforms including Spotify, or purchase the limited edition vinyl here. All profits go back to help regenerate the landscape.
Later, after the performance, Nico and Jules took to the stage once more for a DJ set that had the crowd partying till late, a global set, that included Nico’s songs. The perfect end to an extraordinary evening.
Thanks to Razvan Leucea and Adrian Murgea for the photography.
Written by Jane Dunford for Forests Without Frontiers