DJ's decision to play controversial pop folk song at big Romanian music festival sparks scandal

The organizers of Electric Castle, one of the biggest music festivals in Romania, decided to end their collaboration with Estonian DJ Tommy Cash after the artist played a popular but controversial manea(a genre of pop folk music in Romania) at the festival. While some agreed with the organizers’ decision, others believed they went too far, and the whole story sparked a big scandal in the country, especially in the online.

Tommy Cash performed at Electric Castle on Friday night and decided to also add a manea to his mix, choosing one of the most popular such songs in Romania – Asa sunt zilele mele by Adrian Minune. The crowd seemed to enjoy the moment, singing the lyrics of the song and applauding.

But the organizers were disappointed by the artist’s choice and decided to end the collaboration with him. They posted on the festival’s Facebook page the message: “Thank you, Tommy Cash! For your last ever performance at Electric Castle.”

In an interview with Vice, the Estonian DJ said he received the song from a friend and it seemed like any other “funny song of the past.” “All the countries, especially Eastern Europe, have their bad pop music from the 90's. I come from such a country and that really means something to me,” he explained, adding that he would not return to Electric Castle.

Electric Castle is the second big festival in Romania where Adrian Minune’s song was played this year. A Swedish DJ also included Asa sunt zilele mele in his mix at Neversea, the biggest electronic music festival at the Romanian seaside, and this caused a controversy as well.

Asa sunt zilele mele was a major hit back in the early 2000s in Romania, a time when manele singer Adrian Minune was very popular. However, this music genre – manele - has always been controversial. While some are big fans of the genre others refuse to listen to such music as they say it promotes lack of education and lack of culture. Most manele have been criticized for their bad lyrics, especially their bad grammar and repetitive and simplistic rhymes.

(Photo source: Facebook/Electric Castle)