DONA DUMITRU SIMINICA
SOUNDS FROM A BYGONE AGE VOL 3 ( Asphalt Tango ATR1106)

The third volume of this handsomely packaged Gypsy reissue series comes from Romania. At first I didn't equate the dapper bald chap on the cover with the singer's high-pitched female voice, imagining a portly matron with her hands clasped under her bosom primly facing a microphone. But now I realize the voice is emanating from this geezer and the melismatic sad suburban ballads he sang were all the rage in cafe society in in Bucharest in the cold Communist era. The whole album is tinged with sadness and longing. There is a sustained plinkety cymbalom, sporty accordion fills and a stately bass thomp, but mainly you are here for the high androgynous falsetto voice shivering up and down the bluesy ballads. You can't imagine this voice doing up-tempo numbers so here you are awash in pathetic consolation for the lonely and warnings that prepare the newly-infatuated with the inevitable doom of their love. Siminica grew up next door to the Gore brothers (see volume 2) so was immersed in the gypsy musical tradition from an early age; his father was also a violinist. Siminica learned violin but it was his voice that drew fans to him and soon he was part of the team of artists visiting Electrecord, the state recording studio, along with his pal accordion-player Costica Serban. Sometimes they would show up at the studio without a band and pop into the nearest bar and ask for a bass player. After the session they'd be back in the bar celebrating and drinking up their wages. Because of his popularity, Siminica was one of only two artists able to record songs in the gypsy language. Despite his massive popularity in the 60s, when he died in the 80s there was no notice in the Romanian press and though little is now known about him, this record is a testament to his greatness.