BEEP           

Romanians have a beeping system when using their cellphones which is quite extraordinary.

Having a mobile phone in Romania is common these days, even if you have to stay without food the following two weeks after having bought one. If you're not lucky enough to have a house to put up as a garantee for having a subscription phone, you're stuck with expensive cashcards. Yes they are extremely expensive even by international standards. Consequently you phone only when there is an emergency, and you sms when it is just vital.

However, Romanians are creative people and have invented a system of calling each other without really calling. One beep to your friend means that you want your friend to call you and empty his or her own card and not yours. The receiver checks the incoming log and has the possibility to see who wants to be called - but on the receiver's expense. If you do not respond, it beeps again, at least three times. If you're stupid enough to put an ad in a paper to sell your car or hi-fi, it will beep until you have to get a new simcard. As a foreigner staying in Romania EVERYONE thinks you can afford and are happy to phone any beeper anytime - so nobody calls you; they beep you and get real sulky if you do not respond at once. Anywhere else this would have been regarded as utterly rude - even named illegal digital terror - but not in this country.

But there is more. Friend may have a code system of beeps that works on a mutual basis. Two short beeps may say " I am ok", three beeps " I am in town ", four beeps " I am coming home" etc. It works,many family members communicate like this. And friends and lovers as well. So there are beeps everywhere. In fact, in this country most people call hoping that the receiver will not push the yes-button.

Another catch for those in need of impressing the surroundings is to really have a long and live mobile phone conversation in public. If someone chats away on their cellphone in a bus or on the street, they get stunned nods from their fellow citizens: - Aha, you're rich or you have rich friends-!, - something that always seems to create immediate admiration in this peculiar country.

AT THE MOVIES THE ROMANIAN WAY   

Even though Romanians without fear download movies at home ,any Romanian town with a certain self respect has at least three cinemas.  During summer one  outdoor cimema may be added, most likely in the town's central park. An outdoor cinema opens at sunset when the weather is not too bad of course. A summer drizzle may not stop the outdoor movie performance, but a thunderstorm will.

Cinema theatres in Romania are either huge and over-sized, or tiny makeshifts that have seen far better days. And sometimes there is another category, disco clubs that show movies at daytime and work as dance clubs at nighttime. Usually the cleaning lady has showed up before the first movie performance in the morning, but the sent of sex, drug and rock'n roll may still be in the air.

When it comes to sound and screen gear, the cinemas in Romania may offer anything from the latest of technology - to ancient rolls of movie tapes that the operator has to change manually between his sippings of vodka. In Bucharest they have the Hollywood Complex - with several small and luxurious cinemas within the same building, having rules on smoking and behaviour, - but Bucharest is the exception, not the rule. The mainstream Romanian cinema culture still belongs to the provinces.

The Romanians do not dub foreign movies, you get the original sound with Romanian subtitles. It is a real blessing compared to for instance Germany where you may see John Wayne ride into the sunset while he roars " Jetzt geht's los". Or even worse like in Poland where one voice tops all original voices with a Polish explanation of what the actors are saying. Nope, thank God! -  in Romania the American actors speak English. The loudspeakers' sharp metal sound may sometimes ruin even naive and simplified Hollywood dialogues, but mostly it is all audible.

An average Romanian has to pay half a day's salary to see a movie, so he or she only goes to the movies when there is something special going on - socially or on the screen. The international box office hits arrive quickly in Romania, but the pirate film versions on computer cd's even more so. Many young Romanians watch the latest movie on a pc first, then they watch the real thing in a cinama if the preview was appealing beyond the average.

Romanians love action movies,YiHaa-karate movies, science fiction movies  and macho comedy movies, - and that's it. Putting on something else means an empty theatre. Still some cinemas do, and you may experience to watch an internationally awarded movie in a seating of 2000 almost alone. In such a situation you may regard it all as an exclusive big screen private performance,-  or consider yourself to be alone in this world having a bizarre intellectual taste.

In the outdoor cinemas the number of audience may be higher outside the cinema than inside the cinema area itself. Street boys of all ages may have a free view from nearby roofs,trees or walls, enjoying their free movie with a lit sigarette shared with their fellow comrades. On a warm summer night you may see the glowing ends of sigarettes from the trees all around. Probably this is the hightlight of their difficult day. If someone falls down, the paying audience down under may have a good laugh and an entertainment bonus. No experienced cinema guard bothers to chase them away, it is useless and probably they will be back next night anyway. After all, this IS Romania.

When popular movies like LORD OF THE RINGS or HARRY POTTER come to town, the personal saving accounts all over town are emptied and the theatre is packed by a festive crowd. Nobody bothers to book in advance and everyone arrives 1o minutes before, so an organised chaos is included in the ticket. All tickets have numbers, but the seat numbers do not count, so you have to race in style for a good seat in complete darkness. As anywhere else in the world soft drinks, popcorn and chocolate are sold in the reception, and it is obvious to bring it all immediatley into the theatre and drop the leftovers under your seat when the meal is over with.

When the film begins, it is all very quiet for 10 -15 minutes. Probably the crowd is evaluating the story for a short while. Then the movie night may be ruined if you actually have come to see the movie and not experience Romanian cinema culture. Friends start chatting loudly about the movie, making comments about the actors and what they're saying.....and THEN...then the BEEPING of cellphones starts. Near you, in front of you, at the back, here and there...and there. Some may sms their mates elsewhere, some call home to tell about the movie, others may check out the games on the phone of their friends in the next seats, and some may phone their mama or girlfriend who did not want to come. Some even do their business deals on their phones while half watching what's going on on the screen.

If you get angry and you  turn around asking the natives to buzz off or switch of their mobiles, you're just making yourself into yet another entertainment factor. So you may do one of two things; - leave or delevop a selective listening ability. The last option is possible with some practise, and if the film is worth the effort. Actually I can manage this, but only when in Romania, elsewhere I would have given up.

After the performace the crowd moves silently into the darkness outside, catching up on their buses or minibuses back home to the blocks. They all agree that it has been a great night and a great movie. And above all they had a great time showing off their mobile phones, and also showing off the fact that one has friends that one can afford phoning to.

ROMANIAN ROCK AND ROLL    

As a frequent visitor to Romania I have had the opportunity to see and hear most of the best-selling Romanian pop artists since 1990. Among all the miming and playback stupidities, there are plenty of artists with a great international potential .'- if they had been performing in English or were given the chance to tour abroad.. During several summers I have seen the shows of Stefan Banica Jr - and it always turns out to be plain rock'n roll of high quality both musically and as a stage show.

Stefan Banica is the son of a late famous Romanian actor and probably the name itself has partly given him a free ride into the entertainment business, but today he stands on his own feet indeed. Record and video hits like  " ASTA-S EU " has made it possible for him to find good sponsors and competent musicians to back his stage show. It all looks and sound good.

Watching his moves on stage, it is easy to get the notion that he is a kind of Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis clone, but in the way Banica does it - one accepts it as something of his own. Because it is natural and well planned, with a certainty that is professional and relaxed at the same time. It is not original, but what is in the pop business of today ? - The clue is to make a show... to make people feel good.....to show respect to everyone who has bought a ticket. And he is of course a good singer in the real sense of the word. That is why I claim that Banica is a great artist regardless his obvious idols of the past. He knows what he does and he loves it.

All Romanian artists seem to love hiring extremely beautiful female dancers to boost their shows, beauties that seemingly are able to do anything - but dance. So also Stefan Banica, his great-looking dancers have taken some aerobic dance classes all right but the dancing itself is unsynchronized and embarrassing. However, this very poor part is saved by irony and gags well staged by instant choreography and actions from the singer himself. In this way the show is ambitious beyond just being an ordinary gig.

The light setting is limited with no high-tech surprises, but sufficient. The artist and the music are in the front and the concert is also partly a sing-a-long party due to the fans in the audience. And if they hesitate, Stefan Banica flirts with the crowd and gets them into the atmosphere. Which an artist should do, crossing the border between the stage and the seats in front. The sound quality is acceptable, though the volume is pumped up to a level at the end of the concert which the PA equipment used locally can't handle. At least this was true of one of his concerts in Gradina Soveja, Constanta.

The songs in the show is a mix of classical rock'n roll hits and Banicas own national hits, all brilliantly performed in style. The mature saxophone players and the piano man are brilliant musicians also - they add the right  impressive touch to the instrumental parts of the concert. - Though medleys of Chuck Berry and company in English are common highlights in the middle of the shows, Stefan Banica is at his very best when he performs his own catchy Romanian songs. This makes him an artist of international standard, with a show that would have been accepted as perfect in any rock'n roll club in Europe or elsewhere.

Stefan Banica is also a good actor and the spring of 2005 he played a part in a Tv-serial where Banica is the mafioso.He is also the presenter of the popular TV show "DANCING FOR YOU"

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