Moldova & Transnistria

 Moldova is another country with an unresolved border dispute.  A narrow sliver of land in the east of its officially internationally recognised territory, between the river Dniester and the Ukrainian border, is controlled by the de facto country of Transnistria or, as they like to be known, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.  They have all the bits making them look like a fully fledged country, such as their own elected administration, currency, military, flag and national anthem, yet they are not recognised by any member of the UN, so are dependent on Moldova for access to the outside world and Russia for military and economic aid.  The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defines the region as under military occupation by Russia.  To be fair to them mind, they did split from Moldova, before Moldova declared its own independence, so as such has never been under Moldovan control.  Apparently it is possible to visit the territory, which would be quite a cool thing to do visiting a country that doesn't exist.

Transnistrian Parliament. Photo credit: By Донор - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27580045

In the interest of completeness I have truffled out a musical act from the region, the worldbeat/hip-hop trio DoReDoS, who were formed 2011 in the northern town of Rîbniţa.  They actually represented Moldova at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.  This is their 2022 single One in a Million:

The rest of Moldova is culturally and linguistically the twin of Romania.  The official language of Moldova is in fact Romanian and there was even talk of the 2 countries uniting at one stage.  It is however one of the poorest countries in Europe.  We start our journey through Moldova proper in the small commune of Pepeni in the north of the country where folk singer Nicolae Glib was born in 1949.  He is the most popular living folk singer in Moldova and has gathered many awards and prestigious titles.  His most famous song is Moldovean ca mine nu-i (There's no Moldovan such as myself), which features on a 2019 self-titled compilation album of his work:

The rest of the time in Moldova we are hanging around the capital Chişinău.  Nearly a third of the population lives there and it hosts an annual wine festival in October, which sounds fun.  Moldova after all is one of the cradles of winemaking with a history dating back to 3000 BCE.  We start with something probably more authentic from folk singer and ethno-musicologist Cristina Godoroja.  I don't know much about her, but she has just released her debut album in 2023 called Ciobănaş Cu Oile: Songs from Moldova and Romania.  All the songs are sung a Capello and this one is called Down the Dniester to the Valley:

Trans-Balkan band Drobinska's link to Moldova is rather tentative.  The band is actually based in St. Petersburg in Russia and the members are from Russia, Ukraine and Palestine, but it was founded by Oleg Drobinski, who studied and discovered Balkan wedding music in Chişinău, before travelling other parts of the Balkan peninsula.  Here's a track from their 2004 album Cuie de Cirnat called Dumi mi, duni:

Folk-rock band Zdob şiZdub were established in 2011 in Chişinău and have already represented Moldova 3 times at the Eurovision song context.  They mix their fun Balkan rhythms with rock and punk elements.  Here's a fun video of their 2021 single Trenulețul (The Train):

And that's it already from Moldova.  Next, like Zdop siZdub, we're heading into Romania. As usual, you can follow my virtual progress on my Tripline map.