A Magic Night – Sânzienele

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Diana

IMG_1654I thought I wrote about this before but apparently I didn’t, not on this blog at least. But I did write about it here, in Romanian though. I think this is one of my favourite holidays alongside St. Andrew’s Night. And that is simply because it’s magic. It’s again one of those days when religion meets tradition, when Romanians celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist but also a mystical night belonging to fairies, a celebration called in my part of the country Sânzienele. The name is taken after some beautiful yellow flowers called Sânziene, that I so desperately scatter the fields for every year. Back home they are yellow and in full bloom around this time of the year. Here the ones that are in bloom now are white, the yellow ones are still hiding… but not from me.

IMG_1640So, what is so special about tonight: everything. First and foremost, you dream of your soulmate. This has been the best part about this celebration for more than 15 years for me: I never remember who I dream of and I am pretty sure there has been a different person every year. Leaving the joke aside, it is said to be the night when the skies open for the most faithful and you can see into Heaven. It is also the night when magic fairies dance in the forest and then head off to the villages to bring love and fertility to young wives, give magic and healing power to plants and punish the ones that do not believe in them and don’t celebrate their day. One of the greatest Romanian authors, Mircea Eliade, wrote a novel about this night, “Noaptea de Sânziene” (“The Forbidden Forest”), which is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I am not going to say what it is about, but in a way it all starts and ends in a forest on this night.

IMG_1643I recently read that the celebration’s name, just as the flower’s name, comes from Santa Diana, the goddess of the forest in Roman mythology. The traditions linked to this holiday are just as varied as the regions of Romania. In some parts of the country the celebration is called Dragaica, in other parts great fires are used all night to keep away evil. All in all, almost everywhere it’s a celebration of love and a reason for joy. It is warm and colourful, mystic, magic and sacred in the same time.

IMG_1647And for a personal touch, I found myself today in the middle of the field gathering these beautiful flowers, just as I used to do when I was a kid back home. I went for the yellow ones this year, the ones I so desperately looked for in the countryside a few days ago. I also got a lot of white ones and played around with combinations of other flowers. I might not put them up in a crown and throw it on the roof to gather magic dew tomorrow morning, nor will I put them under my pillow to dream of my soulmate, but I think it is fair and beautiful to have them in the house. Because I grew up with this holiday, because I believe in it, and because one night, a long time ago, I went out on this night to see if the skies opened and if I can see into Heaven, and I saw the most beautiful sky one could ever see: the dark sky of a night at home in the countryside, lit by a shooting star. It made me feel tiny, afraid but for a moment it made me feel like I am looking into infinity. Gonna leave you now with a beautiful song from the Romanian folklore.

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Muse @ Stockholm

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Diana

IMG_1405As a kid who grew up with her nose stuck to the TV screen I remember well when Muse popped up on MTV in 2001. I remember it so well that I even know that I wrote to my brother to find and bring me from abroad some of their songs. I got the whole “Origin of Symmetry” album. I was absolutely fascinated by their song “Bliss” and the video for it. Somehow, when they visited Romania years ago, I skipped their concert, probably because I was still living on pretzels and yogurt for my student lunch break. Well, 15 years later, and after the band became one of the most successful and interesting rock bands you can find in the mainstream, I finally ended up seeing them live.

The ticket was bought months ago. The administrative parts of the concert worked smoothly. And then they started playing. One thing I like about them is their energy and something that I’d dare to call their trademark: they have a specific sound that makes you know from the first sound that it is Muse you are listening to.

IMG_1396The concert started with “Drones” when on the big screen above the stage one could read the lyrics of the song. Which are not exactly easy to take in: “My mother, my father / My sister and my brother / My son and my daughter / Killed by drones”. Then the energy broke loose with “Psycho” which is a quite rhythmic song, good for jumping up and down, feel the rock vibes and enjoy some good music. Add to that a light show and the thrill of a rock concert and you have a perfect setting. With a small exception: I’ve never seen a more passive audience in my life. I know the rules are: sitting means we can’t stand but it’s a rock concert!!! In an over-civilized country. How can you watch Muse while sitting, people? Get up and jump. I wonder if they would interrupt the concert if people were actually standing up? I saw some shy attempts here and there but they calmed down fast. And the people in front of the stage weren’t too active either. But still, it’s cruel to have to sit at such an event.

Going back to enjoying the music, the concert went on with “Reapers”. “Plug in Baby” was the first old song (from 2001) that the band played, making the audience be a bit more cheerful. By that time I actually gave up being disappointed by the audience’s reaction and I just tried to enjoy the music and take in as many good vibes as possible. “Dead Inside” is a song from their latest album (“Drones”, out 2015) that I like a lot. So I was super happy to hear it. It sounds really good live and it makes me want to dance.

I won’t go through all the songs but here are some highlights and things I liked. Good light show, the spinning stage made it even more fun to watch, super nice interaction with the audience, the guys are professional and talented. They did a very nice shift in between new and old songs, running through almost all their hits. Matthew Bellamy showed everybody that he can sing, play the guitar and thrill the audience by playing the piano (especially with the cover of “Feeling Good”).

IMG_1403“Time is Running Out” was probably my favourite song of the evening. I wanted them to play “Resistance” but they didn’t. I had a flashback to one year ago and I woke up in the middle of my master’s thesis all over again when they played “Uprising”, which I so nicely sampled for my narrative analysis. Too bad the giant teddybears weren’t there too to freak out the audience a bit. However they did have a big inflatable plane… Which kinda brought a shiver down my spine. Add to that some really post-apocalyptic sounds every now and then and you get a perfect war-scenery, kinda like the one you see on TV these days when they report about Syria. So here I am again linking what I like with what I work with. But Muse, just like other artists, give me a very good reason to do that, if you do not believe me just listen to “The Globalist”, they included it in the setlist yesterday as well. The concert ended with “Knights of Cydonia”, a very subtle way (or not) to tell the audience to go get a life as no one else will do that for them.

On the whole, this was not a rock concert where you go and listen to power ballads and how you should take life as a rollercoaster ride, get drunk and have fun. Besides the energy that I already mentioned, the rock sound given by the riffs, Muse is another band that seems to want to make its audience think, not just enjoy. Or at least this is what it seemed like to me.

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Short trip to Paris

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Diana

Oh, Paris, Paris! I didn’t get to see much of you this time but I think that in 3 days I covered the most important parts for my visit. As much as I say that I don’t like that place it somehow feels a bit like home, or at least it gives me a sense of familiarity. But skipping that and moving forward to important things, I am going to talk about… tennis, what else?

Like any trip to Paris that is taken in May, the best moment of the month to do that is during Roland Garros. That place is magical. I think the moment I lined up for the queue my mood changed instantly, it has this effect on me. It’s like walking into a sanctuary. The moment I actually sat down to watch a match was the moment when I told myself “here I am, again”. It felt like just yesterday I stepped into the tennis venue for the first time, though that was in 2006 on a short visit to Paris. Then in 2012 I actually went there to see the matches. Now I was back, for a short visit, just one day, but it was enough to get a taste of what a Grand Slam is all about: passion, it’s huge, and it’s all about tennis.

Of course my day started with a classic:

IMG_1114I didn’t see Novak Djokovic enter the stadium but I did catch a glimpse of a Romanian, Adrian Ungur, I saw a very good women’s tennis match: Petra Kvitova vs Danka Kovinik, to end it with a bit of Kei Nishikori vs Simone Bolelli. And of course running around from one court to the other to see who is playing, to check a game, the score or just sitting in front of the huge screens and watching two matches at a time. And I saw a lot of rain, unfortunately. But Roland Garros is an experience in itself, spinning around tennis, of course. But the rain was a good moment to just walk around the huge tennis park and look at everything, enjoy every detail, from the way they placed the food courts to the outfits of the hospitality personnel, from the official merchandise to trying the hotdogs with the ultimate, original and most delicious Dijon mustard. And let’s not forget about the coffee. Lots of it because it was really cold. Though I really think that the French don’t know what a big coffee is.

IMG_1104During the rain the organisers tried to entertain the audience as best as they could. Two girls were singing and playing with the king size tennis balls and dancing to an improvised version of “Les Champs-Elysées” but putting “Roland Garros” in the chorus. Funny enough, today at work after seeing a news item on Paris and the famous street I listened to the song, Joe Dassin version. And then I listened to it again, and to his whole album on Spotify. For those who may not know Joe Dassin I have to say this: “Et si tu n’existais pas”, probably his best known song, back home at least. And shuffling through his songs I ran across one that gave me a bit of a thrill. That was because from the first chords I recognised something amazing, something I have always danced to but haven’t listened to in maybe over 20 years. The song I am talking about is “Siffler sur la colline” and the chorus is the best reason to “play the guitar” with… a tennis racket. I have done it so many times, I can’t even remember it but I had no idea I would run into this song again because I wanted to listen to another song that I heard at a tennis event.

All in all it might not have been a perfect day for tennis, weather-wise, but my visit there was amazing. And most importantly: zai, zai, zai, zai!

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BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2016

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Diana

IMG_0797This post was supposed to come a long time ago. It was also supposed to describe the matches I saw in the second part of my visit at the tournament. Instead of mentioning scores and statistics I will do this.

I’ve been going to the ATP tournament since 2002. The only year I missed it was the year where I was preparing my Master’s admission exam. That year I made it to the gates, wanted to go in, hesitated and left. This year I spent the last days at the tournament (Friday-Sunday) enjoying tennis and thinking back. It was a pleasure to see the Spaniards playing in Bucharest again, though during the same time there was also a tournament in Barcelona. Thank you Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, what a pleasure it is to watch Spaniards play on clay. It was also a pleasure to see Lucas Pouille reach his first ATP final. IMG_0803It was a thrill to see the Romanians play, Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau gave me another chance to attend a near heart-attack match. Than it wasn’t a pleasure to see the finals canceled because of the rain, and miss the last ever finals of the tournament because they got rescheduled for the day when I had my flight back to Sweden.

Even so, as always, on some days I got sunburnt. And as always, on other days I froze. And on all days I enjoyed the tennis. I missed the finals ceremony, I missed “Stand Up for the Champions”, I missed saying a proper goodbye to an event that has been a landmark for my tennis-fan existence. But among all the missing I will miss the tournament the most. The beautiful park, the players, the umpires, the beautiful arena, as old and as shabby as it is, and the sound of the ball on the home clay. For this year I say: game, set match Fernando Verdasco, Florin Mergea/Horia Tecau but after all these years the winner is me. Cause that was where I discovered tennis on a warm September afternoon when I saw Felix Mantilla play against Juan Antonio Marin.

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BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2016 Day 1

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Diana

IMG_0682I’ve been coming to this tournament since 2002…

Today was the first day for me at the tournament, for this year. I am not going to write a post for each day, relax, not that I wouldn’t want to do that, but simply because I won’t be going there every day. But just as every year, I met a cat. And enjoyed a nice coffee with a Lica cake.

IMG_0649I found the tennis park as charming as always but yet a bit sad. Everybody seems to be there: the food court looks the same, the sweets store Poiana Soarelui came again all the way from Brasov, the sports stores. The grass is green and appealing for a nice cool nap, the trees are in bloom. Yet there seems to be some sorrow in the air.

The centre court is locked for the public, the arena is just empty and that makes things seem so strange. For this year the organisers improvised a centre court, half the size of the usual one, not a spectacular view but even so, it looks nice. For the problems they faced I can say that the organisers did quite a good job.

IMG_0643Students get free entrance if they only want to watch the matches from the outside courts. No free access on the central court. That would make sense if the main arena were full but since it’s not, and it won’t be until late in the week (when free entrance won’t be available anymore, anyway) some matches today had only a few hundreds people in the audience. Pitty, I am sure the kids would have loved to see the matches on the central court.

The guys at the security are very strict: everybody sits where it is said on their ticket. It’s the first time I actually had to do that from day 1.

The tennis is as beautiful as always. Probably because it’s the last time the tournament takes place in Bucharest, a lot of people decided to join in for the games even from the earlier stages of the tournament. I think there are going to be a lot of us missing this event.

IMG_0678I went there today to see the Romanians play: Victor Hanescu and Victor Cornea in doubles, Adrian Ungur and Marius Copil in singles. Unfortunately they all lost. Now all our hopes turn to the doubles draw where Copil/Ungur and Mergea/Tecau (playing again together after a looooong break) still have a chance to make the local audience very happy.

It is strange because every year, on the last day of the tournament I would say “see you next year”. Now, as happy as I am to have the chance to watch the matches again, I can not avoid being a bit sad at the thought that there will be no next year for this tournament. Unless a miracle happens. And I have the right to hope for one.

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