straight outta chisinau: zdob si zdub's in town

by Sergey Chernov

Published: March 23, 2001 (Issue # 655)

For The St. Petersburg Times Zdob Si Zdub: took cue from Kusturica.

Zdob Si Zdub, the Moldovan folk-punk band which rose to massive popularity on the strength of a Kino cover last year, is coming to play their biggest show so far in St. Petersburg.

Victor Tsoi's gloomily romantic song "Videli Noch" (Saw the Night), recorded by the then-underground band Kino in 1985, was given an unlikely treatment - Zdob Si Zdub turned it into a frenetic folk-dance tune, with Moldovan folk instruments and gypsy backing vocals.

The track, which seems to be always on the radio, is either fun or irritating, depending on the listener, but at least bears no resemblance to Kino.

Released on "Kinoproby," a Kino tribute album - which along with the "Brat 2 Soundtrack" was among the most commercially successful projects so far by Real Records, the record company co-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. - it gave Zdob Si Zdub more attention than it has ever had since the band was formed in 1994.

"We didn't choose the song - we were given it," said the band's mainstay Roman Iagupov by telephone from Chisinau, Moldova, on Tuesday. "Real offered it - so we did it."

Zdob Si Zdub is currently preparing for a big breakthrough. Now in the middle of recording a new album, the band bought out the contract from FeeLee Records, Russia's first surviving independent label, which released its recording debut "Hardcore Moldovenesc" in 1997.

However, Iagupov denied any rumors the band was signing to Real. "We haven't had anything to do with Real yet, we are working on our own," he said. "There are several candidates to put out our new album, but I don't know who it will be. It's not a question for me to answer - we're artists."

Though Zdob Si Zdub started out by playing U.S.-style hardcore punk, it changed its music to Moldovan folk-punk with the second album, "Tabara Noastra," released in 1999, which is seen as "transitional."

"It happened because Moldovan folk is very colorful," said Iagupov. "It contains very many harmonies, very interesting rhythms and it's very deep - so we decided it would be original to combine rock with folk elements."

However, the most obvious impact that made the band change its course was Emir Kusturica's films with their soundtracks composed by Goran Bregovic.

"It influenced us a lot, because Bregovic has arranged Yugoslav folk in a very contemporary way," said Iagupov. "We heard it as we started doing our second album, so it influenced us drastically."

Zdob Si Zdub supported Kusturica's No Smoking Band in Moscow in January, but Iagupov doesn't seem very impressed by the popular director's musical ability.

"I got the impression that Kusturica is a great director, while this is just his hobby," he said.

"It looked as if he had taken a band from a wedding and came to play some clubs, though they are professional musicians and showmen."

Based in Chisinau, Zdob Si Zdub is a frequent sight in Moscow, where the band records and often performs. "Chisinau is greener, cozier, and smaller than Moscow and St. Petersburg," said Iagupov. "It has a different vibe, different sun, different air."

Singing mostly in Moldovan, which is a dialect of Romanian, the band features four Moldova natives and two Russians. With Iagupov singing and playing a variety of folk instruments, the band recently added a trombone to its line-up of guitar, bass, drums and trumpet.

"We'll basically play the same stuff we played in St. Petersburg last time - only with the addition of a new member, the arrangements have changed a little. And there will be new songs," said Iagupov.

Zdob Si Zdub in concert at LDM at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 23. See Gigs for location details. Support comes from the Armenian folk-rock band Deti Picasso. For more information check out www.zdobsizdub.com.