The anniversary of the Romania-USA Strategic Partnership gives our American friends a meeting in the “Free Zone”

The 25th anniversary of the launch of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America comes to an end, right in “The Free Zone”, the last project of a wide series of far-reaching cultural events, carried out throughout the year, by the Romanian Embassy in Washington together with the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York.

“The Free Zone” is a vinyl disc with a protocol purpose, made with the financial support of Banca Transilvania, created especially on the occasion of this important jubilee of Romanian-American relations.

“The Free Zone / Zona Liberă” is an album conceived by visual artist, curator, cultural promoter, and educator Mihai Zgondoiu (Zgondy) together with DJ Vasile, composer, performer, and radio host, one of the most important innovators in contemporary Romanian music.

The title refers both to a consequential civic movement for democratization in Romania of the early 1990s (“The Free Zone of Neocommunism”) and to a popular radio show, created by DJ Vasile together with DJ Matze, another influential musician.

At the same time, “The Free Zone” breathes new life into an important, yet partially forgotten, part of Romanian cultural memory. The original songs on which these renditions are based belong to the massive musical output of ELECTRECORD, Romania’s only producing company during communist dictatorship, which managed to become, for many composers and singers over several decades, a space of relatively free artistic expression in which American influences and ideas were ever present beyond censorship. As such,

“The Free Zone” alludes to a space of freedom and cultural exchange, which are core values of the Romanian-American transatlantic relation.

This record is produced by the Embassy of Romania to the United States of America and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, as part of the program to celebrate the 25th anniversary since the launch of the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between Romania and the United States of America, with the support of Banca Transilvania / Transylvania Bank from Romania.

The songs are available to listen online HERE