Gabi Lunca

• Sounds From a Bygone Age: Vol. 5 [Asphalt Tango, 2008] A-

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Sounds From a Bygone Age: Vol. 5 [Asphalt Tango, 2008]
I have a rule against stealing adjectives, but annotator Girt Friedrich's "silvery" is just too perfect for this serious, light-voiced Gypsy queen of Bucharest's suburban weddings. The language barrier only brings her mellow soprano to the fore. Augmented by the acrobatic lautari who manned Romania's state-owned Electrecord studios through the '80s, her white witchcraft has a swiftness that holds up against the black magic of her great rival, Romica Puceanu. Goodness seems to be Lunca's calling. When Ceaucescu fell and sin became legal again, she retreated into the Pentecostal church, where she's still singing as she turns 70. A-