Longing is a process that makes you grow–up.

From: Suceava Born on: 20 July 1995 Occupation: Musical Artist

Mădălina Pavăl came to Bucharest in 2014, leaving the family, the Moldavia River and the Ștefan cel Mare church back in the north-eastern lands of the country. However, she returns to his native village, Baia, one of the oldest settlements in the area, whenever he has the opportunity.

With the intention of giving to the Law School, Mădălina, ended up enrolled at the Faculty of Music. And she has done well, say our ears to the hearing of her songs, because she has a catching freshness, and she brings long to our lips and soul.

There are artists running into commercial and people looking for their identity, and Mădălina is certainly in the second human structure. She turned doina and longing to the basic words of her musical style, starting a project with her friend, Bogdana Dima. Cată-ţi, dorule, alt loc, consists in seven songs and it will make us close our eyes and look for steadiness in the heap of thought.

She tells with Moldavian savour and accent about the difficulty with which she adapted to the restlessness of the capital and about the moments when her apartment colleague insisted to go out – Mădă, come on, go to store, get out of the house, know the city a little. A while she had the feeling that out there were two completely different worlds: the quiet and relaxing Bucovina and the noisy Bucharest.

All the time I had the desire look in the future, always to do something, and this attitude can also be identified in all the festivals I have participated from a young age. I was alone on the roads. But when I arrived in Bucharest I didn’t know where to go. I remember being on the subway and not orientating myself well enough, I took the phone and called Cosmina. Imagine that I met her fugitive at my first concert in Brasov, we weren’t even friends on Facebook. She guided me to her and seeing that she lived alone, I asked her if she was ok for me to move there. And she agreed. I moved so suddenly, no plans in advance.

When she appeared on a bicycle, with a yellow raincoat, among the cars, on one of the most rainy mornings of Bucharest, I would not have said at all that she was initially a person out of sync with the city. She has something foreigner, but at the same time it’s a native child of Bucharest city.

She is humming in any serious or unserious pause in speech, when she eats or when you get her out of your sight for a few seconds. She arranges her wavy hair with a feminine gentleness and pulls her shirt in a masculine way to pursue ultimate comfort. She doesn’t like sweets, so therefore is an anomaly to take as an example.

She is considers herself a simple person without actually realizing his value. A sincere, pure and talented human being, behind simplicity, is for any ethical calibrated person more than enough. The artificial complexities of character always disappears quickly and for sure on the water of … Moldavia.

There I go right now, with the following question:

MS: How was it growing in Fălticeni?

In fact, I grew up in a smaller village near Fălticeni, named Baia. I had a beautiful forest near the house and the river Moldova somehow behind it. I remember there were a lot of little girls on my street and we always met at the yard entrance to play all sorts of games or just talk. My childhood was very cool, but I didn’t realize that until I grew up. I always avoided telling where I live, feeling an unjustified “shame” at the pronunciation and hearing of the words: “I am from the country side…”. But I was so lucky to live in such a beautiful place, with traditions and history.

I did the primary school, there, in Baia, the former capital of Moldova, and secondary school in Fălticeni, while attending the music school in Suceava. Then I went to Nicu Ganea high school in the same town, focusing on social sciences. Somehow, I’ve always been attracted to the humanist side. And since then I have begun to come into contact with folklore and realize how wonderful it is.

MS: What about your grandparents?

I do not remember my father’s parents because they died when I was pretty young. The roots in Baia are from their part. Everyone, but especially my dad tells me that I resemble very much with my grandmother, and that the voice and talent I have from my grandfather. He played very well and nice to the whistle – they told me so. And my mother is from Arghira, a town about 20 km away from the current house in Moldova. I spent many holidays with my grandparents.

MS: What memories are strongly cemented in your memory?

The moments when I made from willow, or osier as we say, all sorts of bows. And anywhere I went, I had one. I was a kind of miniature warrior of Moldova.

MS: What do you want to transmit through your music?

You know, I like to sing doină. They have a relaxing and calming effect for me. And the audience surely felt my state of mind and soul and resonate more strongly at all the songs related to doină. It was like a confirmation that I must follow my feelings.

In the books you will find, written black on white, that doina is the leitmotif of Romanian folklore. It’s like people had something deep to express, and they did it in the form of doină. In my vision, they created this authentic Romanian rhythm and structure. We can say that each region has brought its sentimental input.

MS: Because we’re talking about this gifts, what do you receive fom your audience?

Frankly, I had emotions every time I was on stage. But the exchange of energy that makes any artist to love concerts, I felt it too, intense. Beyond that, I have the chance to look people in the eye and feel a type of support from their part. Plus, the beautiful places we sang in, it created some memorable magic memories. We had scenes set on the seaside at sunset or concerting in refreshing mountain areas with a perfectly round moon present on the sky.

Instead, I would like Romania to understand the freedom of the concert, because I saw a lot of people with a smile on their lips, dancing regardless of their own “talent” only for the purpose of feeling good and living in the moment, but also people somewhat inhibited by the opinions of others – sometimes real, sometimes only in our heads. Or maybe we still do not have the concert education that we see outside the country.

MS: How are people that are listening to you?

I do not think you have to categorize people, but I have seen a great variety in my concerts, from people over 50 years old, to young parents carrying their baby with earbuds on their ears. If you know what emotional messages I receive, you will be amazed. They really make your day. I often read a few and stop. I leave the rest of them for the next day.

MS: You distribute them?

Yes! I feel a little bad because I don’t respond immediately to messages, but I really need their words and the positive energy behind it for another day. The universe for sure forgives me!

MS: Do you think your audience is mostly made up of women? You know … we are more sensitive than men and react more deeply and quickly to emotion, implicitly to this type of music?

Maybe …

I started creating lyrics and music with a theme of longing when I really missed someone. It came naturally. And when I left Fălticeni I began to realize how beautiful is at home, how rich is our history, and what beautiful and sincere people I left home. Basically, I become aware of my roots and I felt the feeling of longing. Because it is not only missing in the context of love, but it can exist in a multitude of other contexts, managing either to get you close enough or to take you away from what you long for. I really believe that longing is a process that makes you grow–up.

MS: How does the music industry in Romania looks like?

I don’t think I have to give my opinion here, but it seems somewhat divided and so it is probably healthy. I like the fact that more and more young people have begun to make experimental music, that they start small projects where they blend their music with dance, that they already have some places where they go and sing from their hearts. I think more and more people want to create good music and I can only enjoy that.

MS: You and Bogdana Dima, how will you measure the success of your project, Cată-ţi, dorule, alt loc?

Bogdana graduated in 2012 the National Music University of Bucharest, Faculty of Composition Musicology and Musical Pedagogy. Over the years, she has performed as a pianist, accordionist, percussionist and contemporary conductor in many concerts, being part of the PFA Orchestra since 2012. This group is described as “para-academic and applied-independent music research and development”, through citation. She always supports me and tells me that I do not have to constrain myself, that spontaneity and improvisation are good for an artist.

And, yes, there are performance factors such as the number of fans, views, longevity of the artists in industry, but now we want to sing in as many places as possible. So, for us, success would be direct proportional to the amount of good music given to the public. We think of organizing small concerts at first, until we feel that we have sufficiently strengthened our style and eventually our identity as a team. For us, improvisation is important, and through it we have discovered how well we fit together, myself and Bogdana. We are amazed at how quickly and how well we can synchronize our rhythm of music without any discussion in advance. We are in a process of definition towards the end, but we want people to come and come back to our concerts. That’s what we’re following.

MS: What would you choose to do if music was not an option?

History, I would probably be a professor of history, and it would be a delight to teach the history of the Romanians. I had a teacher in this high school that I admired very much. I think she was the first person I met and who was talking with a real pleasure about history and about the events in the books. I saw in her eyes how happy she was to tell the children about the past and the consequences.

MS: But why do you like that number 7?

The seventh is the month in which I was born and during my life I have met many times with this figure. And I think nothing is accidental. So, somehow, I’ve come to feel that something connects me more with it. It seems like it has a fairy magic.

MS: How do you see an artist?

For me an artist has to love people and he has to be able to be himself in what he does, no matter what he does.

MS: What do you have now in the playlist?

It’s a lot of reggae because it seems to me that it transmits some kind of happy vibe, but recently I listened to a lot of Romanian music and music specific for the fiddlers. I have recently discovered George Enescu’s instrumental opera and it was exactly just as I didn’t expect it to be. It has all sorts of musical ornaments. And I have a pick up and I made a passion for vinyls; I’m looking for them through different fairs and I carefully analyze them.

MS: If D.O.R (dor = longing) is an abbreviation …?

Hmmm … Doar o Rădăcină (Only One Root)

Root! I repeat in my head: Root … And I see clearly, like pressing a button, how the links created during the interview are no longer hidden and reveal the network of knots. Only now I can say that I realized what she feels and sings. I think Mădălina understood, on a more or less conscious level, that after all we have all the same history, a collective past, and that we must accept it with everything it has, bad or good. That’s what brings us together as a nation. This is why the romanians cannot remain insensitive to such a music: because the roots call us. We find ourselves in doină, we return home from wherever our wandered body or mind was.

Mădălina succede to bring all of us through singing at the roots of the same old tree – The Past.

More about Mădălina Pavăl ’s activities and projects you can find on her Facebook page, Instagram or on her Youtube channel.