Category Archives: Romania

Nadara Festival

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Nadara Festival

A mini-festival called “Roma Roots and Routes” features Roma culture and tradition, with a singing and dancing workshop, a performance by the Nadara band from Trasylvania, and a mini-market with goods and food “in the spirit of Roma traditions” whatever this may mean …

Dumitru Miclescu

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Dumitru Miclescu

The statement from the Coalition on Roma Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Recognition on the passing of Dumitru Miclescu, a Romanian survivor of the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust.

Dumitru Miclescu

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Dumitru Miclescu

On May 15th, Dumitru Miclescu passed away at the age of 92.

He was born on March 8th, 1934, and was one of the last Roma Holocaust survivors from Romania who carried within him the living memory of deportation to Transnistria and the suffering endured by Roma families during the genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust.
In 2025, he adressed the world from the the podium of the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Dumitru Miclescu stood there not only for himself, but for all those who never had the chance to speak. In his testimony, he spoke about the suffering of deportation to Transnistria, to the camps of Vapniarka, Tiraspol, Coronica, and Odessa, and about the way death accompanied Roma families from the very beginning of deportation.
May he rest in peace.

Te avel o drom angla leste puterdo i te avel i phuv lokhi!

Roma Slavery

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Roma Slavery

An article stating that Romania is intending to include an optional module in teaching history about the slavey of Roma in the country. Well, it will be optional, and they downplay it as “forced labour”.

Recently the Romanian church denied its involvement in the slavery, even though the church held Roma slaves.

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Lolita Cercel, the AI Romani Singer, managed to make it to the French press. So dit the Council of Europe. The rest is unfrotunately the usual, with Roma having been evicted near Nates in Western France, have nowhere to go. And in another place, Roma are being threatened with eviction.

Lolita Cercel

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Lolita Cercel

Lolita Cercel, created virtually with the help of artificial intelligence, is a star in Romania and beyond. Her genre, “Balkan trip-hop”, combines traditional Roma melodies with modern pop, dance and electronic rhythms and has long since become part of the mainstream music scene. But, in addition to fame, she is also the target of critics. “The instrumentalization of Roma culture”, someone called her. According to critics, while real Roma artists are often underestimated, a “virtual, racially charged and dehumanized Roma identity” is suddenly gaining ground.

Romania, Music, and AI

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Romania, Music, and AI

A singer with artificial intelligence was created in Romania. She is called Lolita and already has thousands of fans and millions of views on social networks, local media reported in their reports on the subject.

The creator of Lolita is a young man from Bacău, who calls himself Tom. He is a visual designer by profession with over ten years of experience in editing photos and videos.

“Lolita sings in Romanian. She is a project that connects the old with the new. A specific violin sound, traditional music performed by Roma orchestras, is mixed with modern instrumental accents. Several styles are intertwined,” explains Tom, who writes the lyrics of the songs.

Witches?

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Witches?

An article full of stereotypes and folklore… A few excerpts:

In the village of Săpânța, near the Ukrainian border, two women recall: “If a boy was jealous of another, his mother would cast a spell on the girl to make her feel bad and prevent the marriage from taking place.” Next to her, her friend adds: “When my niece left home, we had a falling out. A woman at the market offered to cast a spell on her to bring her back, by the heavens. I refused, of course.”

Tasja Award

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Tasja Award

The Tajsa Prize, which is awarded annually by the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) to outstanding Roma cultural figures, was awarded in Bucharest. This year’s award went to visual artist Selma Selman. The ceremony took place in the representative building of the Romanian Athenaeum, attended by distinguished guests, including the first ever Roma Romanian government minister, Petre-Florin Manole.

Germany: Reportage

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Germany: Reportage

or 18 years, Jenny Rasche from the Harz Mountains has been dedicated to helping Roma children in Romania, where she now lives. Through her efforts, a slum on the outskirts of Sibiu has been completely transformed; Roma children without prospects have grown into young adults with a future. For her work, this dynamic woman was honored with the Kindernothilfe (Children in Need) Honorary Award on November 14, 2025. Reporter Antje Schneider also closely documented this work for years in the MDR series “Jenny and the Roma Children,” which can be viewed in the ARD Mediathek (ARD Media Library).

Elvis, Roma, and Romania

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Elvis, Roma, and Romania

Tudor Lakatos is fighting discrimination against Roma, one Elvis Presley song at a time. He says: “I never wanted to get on stage, I didn’t think about it,” Lakatos, 58, said after a recent gig at a restaurant in the capital, Bucharest. “I only wanted one thing — to make friends with Romanians, to stop being called a Gypsy,″ he added, using an often derided term for Roma.

Roma in Europe

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Roma in Europe

The dialogue between the Roma Foundation for Europe network and the newly elected President of Romania, Mr. Nicușor Dan, marked a historic moment, one in which the Roma community is not seen as an object of aid, but as an equal partner in building a European future. The delegation of Roma representatives was led by Željko Jovanović, Director of the Roma Foundation for Europe, a leader whose work has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible for decades when it comes to rights, security and dignity.

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