They still call it that now, because they see it as a throwback to ancient times, even though there are people living in it, and on summer nights it echoes with music and the enthusiastic buzz of guests. The Pops’ determination to make their home in the way of their grandparents, rehabilitating a dying tradition, is totally at one with their musical preferences.
Popicu against Folklorization and Globalization
The folk ensemble in Baia Mare that Popicu worked with in the last years of Communism gave him no satisfaction. The music which he and his colleagues was forced to produce – corrected, orchestrated, predictable and performed under the command of a conductor – seemed unnatural, and completely different from the tunes he heard in Maramures and played on weekends. But he could not change the rules.
In 1988, while touring Western Europe, Popicu found out that, contrary to what he had been taught, village music is not inferior, artistically speaking, to the official folk music which he had to play. So when December 1989 brought the Ceausescu regime to an end, he was ready to make his move. He quit the folk ensemble and took a job at a cultural centre in Baia Mare, with the idea of organizing artistic events. He wanted to let his fellow Romanians sing and play like they did at home, not in the depressing, artificial conditions he was used to. He soon learned that it wasn’t going to be easy: a host of cultural aparatchiks barred his way, determined to defend Communist-style folk music to the bitter end. Meanwhile, a new enemy emerged: World Music.
