Unfortunately my travel schedule only allowed me to spend 24 hours in Bucharest, Romania. I admittedly spent almost all my time inside the rather ominous building you see pictured above, the Casa Presei Libere (Free Press Building).

That said, no reason I can’t share some Romanian music that I have lying around. Technically I’ve been there so according to the “new rules” I can still write about it. I put together a short mix-tape of my favourite Romanian sounds to date.

l’ll start off with a track by Johnny Răducanu, a noted jazz musician. I got this track off Sonar Kollectiv’s excellent Romanian jazz compilation.

From there we’ll ease into a little more double-bass, this time with a more modern spin, courtesy the Shukar Collective. You can get their stuff over at Calabash.

Next we’ll hear some nice, smooth hip-hop by Ombladon, one of the founders of the popular Romanian hiphop group, Paraziţii. Video here. The Romanian hiphop scene seems quite vibrant.. lots of good sounds, especially from the members of Paraziţii and their friends.

Next up a remix of a song by Timpuri Noi, a popular Romanian rock group. They’ve been around for a couple decades.. and while this remix doesn’t exactly represent their sound I thought it was good. You can buy this and other MP3s by Timpuri Noi at Amazon for 99 cents each.

I’ll end with a couple Romanian tunes that you might have heard on an earlier Benn loxo post.. but I love them, so we’ll give it another go. One of these days I’ll catch Fanfare Ciocărlia live.

If you’re Romanian or know more about good Romanian music than I do (that wouldn’t be hard), please pass on some tips.

Johnny Răducanu - Balada
Shukar Collective - The Wind
Ombladon - Confidential feat. Bitza
Timpuri Noi - Vecina Gojira & Kosak remix
Fanfare Ciocărlia - Duj Duj feat. Mitsou & Florentina Sandu
Clejani Express - Foaie Verde