Zdob şi Zdub are a Moldavian musical group, based in Chişinău, whose work for the last several years combines elements of hip-hop (especially sampling) and hardcore punk with traditional Romanian music, especially Gypsy music. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat)

Table of contents
1 Band history
2 Current line-up
3 Discography
4 External Links

Band history

Band formed 1994. Various line-ups, initial sound rather hardcore and lyrics mostly in Russian, played at "10 Years After Chernobyl" Action in Chişinău, warmed up for Rage Against the Machine at the Learn to Swim II Festival in 1996; the recording of that festival includes their "В доме моем" ("V dome moiom", "In My House") in Russian, and "Hardcore Moldovenesc" in the Moldovan dialect of Romanian.

Around 1998, their sound began to change, embracing traditional Romanian and Moldovan music and with lyrics entirely in Romanian.

On August 14, 1999, Zdob şi Zdub played as part of the Russian MTV-Party, held on Red Square in Moscow, along with Russian bands "Gorky Park" and "IFK" and US band The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The band has toured extensively, mostly in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania, but also in Germany (1998) and the Netherlands (2000), and more recently in Serbia, Hungary, and Italy. On January 31, 2001, in Moscow, "Zdob şi Zdub" performed with the legendary musician and film director Emir Kusturica and his "No Smoking Orchestra".

The video of their song "Buna Dimineaţa!" ("Good Morning"), a tongue-in-cheek evocation of the the agro-romaniticism of the Stalinist-era Soviet Union and its satellites was awarded Romanian video clip of the year (2001) at the "Televest" Festival in Timişoara, Romania. The following year they won the equivalent MTV Romania Video Music Award for "Ţigan şi OZN" ("Gypsy and the UFO").

Current line-up

  • Roman Yagupov - vocals, flute, ocarina, iorgafon, and other ethnic instruments
  • Mihai Gîncu - bass-guitar
  • Sviatoslav Starus - guitar
  • Andrei Cebotari - drums
  • Victor Dandeş - trombone, accordion
  • Valeriu Mazilu - trumpet

Discography

  • "Tabăra Noastră" (Our camp)
  • "Hardcore Moldovenesc" (Moldavian Hardcore)
  • "Agroromantica"
  • "450 de oi" (450 Sheep)

External Links