This girl, Cleopatra Stratan, is pretty amazing. She is three- THREE- years old! She already has a full-length, double platinum album, music videos, and has sung live concerts. This song, "Ghita" (ghee-tuh) is about a girl asking questions of a friend that has left her in search of opportunity (presumably in the city, or a new land).
It is not difficult to see why this particular song is so popular, especially in Romania. Besides being amazingly cute, the fact that a little girl is singing the song makes us remember those who are 'left behind'- and those who are left behind empathize greatly with the girl's situation. In the words of my mother, "our relatives in Romania cannot get closer to the Otopeni airport than this little girl". Their loved ones have left the country, and the ones left behind are not always able to follow them. Considering the decades of closed borders and communist regimes, low incomes, and the thought of going into a world of unknown languages, technologies, and mentalities, it seems as impossible for any adult to leave the 'old country' as it would be for this three-year-old girl. And yet, she misses her love, and is sad and helpless.
The video will pull at the hearts of all those who are in Romania who have experienced anyone close to them leaving the country. It rings true to anyone who lives in a country that many are immigrating away from.
The topic of immigration and subsequently, identity, is a very interesting one to me. With the opening of borders to goods and to people, we are less tied to our land and country. We can go wherever we wish to go- not with the intention of leaving one land and becoming established in a new land- but for the sake of opportunity, jobs, or convenience. In Europe, the Schengen accord allows most Europeans to travel to and fro as they wish, without a visa, and even to settle and work wherever they wish, without much paperwork. The economic, monetary, and increasingly political union in Europe, the EU, makes this moving about that much easier. We have created a 'free-market' of domiciles, and in making it easy to migrate, we have failed to place importance on the changes in identity that should take place when one immigrates to a new land. We see ethnic ghettos formed as immigrants who moved to the so-called 'land of opportunity' of the West cling to their former identity- one which they never intended to depart from when they departed their land. How can there be effective democracies when people are so segregated and uninterested in being actively involved in the life of the country they reside in? How can we be civilized humans with healthy societal relations when the biggest motivator for many to be where they are is money? The whole classic sense of a state and cultural identity is being re-defined to exclude land and place; to what extent can and will this actually occur? What are the implications? This is a fascianting socio-political issue to me.
Anyway, here are the roughly translated lyrics for the song in the video:
My jacket's hanging on the hook Outside there's no sun There is nothing good in the field I'm thinking of Ghita (the boy's name) I was asking around But it seems that you've left To search for some food (ie, sustenance) It's hard for me, so very hard It's hard but I don't know what I want I know that you like me too Ghita tell me what you're up to
Either come to me Or say yes or no I beg you don't make me mad Ghita what's going on with your life?
Refrain: Ghita I'm waiting for you at the little gate Next to the school's gate Come Only not the way you usually came Empty-handed Who Would wait for you the way I do The whole night only for you Ghita Show me a girl That would love you as much as I do
posted by Mira-cle @ 12:31 AM 3 comments Saturday, December 16, 2006
Cleopatra Stratan (born October 6, 2002 in Chisinau, Moldova), daughter of Moldovan-Romanian singer, Pavel Stratan, is one of the youngest people ever to score commercial success as a singer, with her 2006 album La vârsta de trei ani (”At the age of 3″.
Pavel Stratan, father of Cleopatra, was in a studio recording a song with 3 years old Cleopatra hanging around. Impulsively, she grabbed a microphone and started singing along with Pavel. Everybody was stunned so they ended up recording the song with Cleopatra performing the lead vocals rather than Pavel. The song was “Mama” (mother). After that, Cleopatra recorded several other songs, basically a full album, and eventually performed some concerts. Some suggest that as she is younger than Shirley Temple, she should be included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest talent ever to perform on stage and record her own album. In Romania, Moldova, and
around the world, there seems to be a growing fan base. Some of her songs have already been translated into English and Spanish. La vârsta de trei ani (”At the age of 3″ was a double platinum disk in the summer of 2006 for selling more than 150,000 albums in Romania. In December 2006, her father announced that until the next album (possibly in one or two years), she will no longer sing publicly. As of 2006, Cleopatra’s biggest hit is the song
Lyrics for this song:
The coat is inside out, There is no sun above Nothing is going good, Since I think of Ghita. But Ghita’s not in town, I asked why he’s not around It seems to me he’s gone, He’s gone abroad
Hard, I think it’s very hard Want, I don’t know what I want I know that you like me too Ghita, what is up with you? Young, come on in or go Young, tell me yes or no Ghita, please dont´t anger me Tell me how your life will be
Ghita, tonight I’m waiting at the wicket Me at the station I bought a ticket Come to, but don’t come as you did before As usually with empty hands… Who else, will wait and sing for you as I do Entire evening just getting there Ghita, show me a girl who’s found of you That loves you more as much as I do…
Ghita, te-astept diseara la portita Langa portita de la scoala Vino da numa nu vini cum vii tu De obicei cu mana goala Cine te mai asteapta ca si mine O seara intreaga numai pe tine. Ghita, arata-mi tu o fata care Sa te iubeasca asa de tare!
Ladies and gentlemen, enter Cleopatra Stratan. Though she and her father, Romanian rock legend Pavel Stratan, no longer live in the country, at the age of three years old, Cleopatra is still considered Moldova's brightest and youngest cultural export.
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