Teen Art Out 40 - In My Mind by Simona Mihalca

40 In my mind

Interview: Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) Sami Hinkka (Ensiferum) Jan Rechberger (Amorphis) Is it enough to have some good?-Michela Sereni In My Mind -Rareș Zaharia-Lefter 1

ISSN 2284 – 6549 ISSN–L = 2284 – 6549

Teen Art Out Nr 40.

Our editorial team Editor-in-Chief: Simona Mihalca Editors: Lilianna C. Michela Sereni Rareș Zaharia-Lefter Nina Moskowitz Alexandra Șerbănescu Carlos Funes Delia Cocoș Kovács Anna Sára Andrei Radu Turcu Cover design: Alexandra Iosif Design: Alexandra Iosif We reserve the right to select the submissions received before publishing. Contact: www. teen.artout.ro teen@artout.ro

Content 1.Letter from the editor- Editor-in-Chief , Simona Mihalca

2. Interview: Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) Sami Hinkka (Ensiferum) Jan Rechberger (Amorphis)

8. 13. 19.

3.In my mind: My chocolate mind...- By: Rareș Zaharia-Lefter To the afflicted - By: Alexandra Serbanescu Neatness in chaos - By: Nina Moskowitz It is enough to have some love? - By: Michela Sereni Ramblings of the anxious teen - By: Lilianna C.

28. 30. 33. 34. 36.

4. Storytime Unrealized potential - By: Andrei Radu Turcu

38.

5.Social watch The woman question in East Asia - by :Kovács Anna Sára

6.Spotlight Dirty shirt - By: Rareș Zaharia-Lefter

45.

7.Science Tropical rainforests - By: Delia Cocoș & Simona Mihalca

47.

Letter from the editor

IN MY MIND

I have always been partial to themes about

sanity and insanity, about what is real and not, and, most importantly about trying to remove the stigma associated with this topic. Millennia have passed and we are still not able to fully explain what is (in) our mind. The brain is a marvelous thing, a machine capable of thought, reason, all while making sure to keep us alive. The right mixture of chemicals gives us feelings, emotions, yearnings and dreams. The main idea behind Amanda Palmer’s song In My Mind is that maybe all the plans and dreams we set up for ourselves are not something we actually want. It’s a beautiful song that explores all the things we want to achieve and how we think they are so extremely important, making us forget to want to be who we are and to appreciate it. We always have these personas we want to be, these figures we would have wished to be by now, being left deceived by our own plans. It’s easy to disregard what we actually do and who we are because that does not correspond to the perfect image we have in our mind. We are busy with everything and we forget to enjoy what we thought we would have enjoyed. Our chaotic lives don’t give us enough time to be composed, to be “the picture of discipline”. But what we have to learn is that there is nothing wrong with that. We have to learn to see that we are not exactly the person we wanted to be, but we are someone who matters, who was beliefs, thoughts and emotions, who exists and makes the world around better.

Simona Mihalca, Editor-in-Chief

And in my mind I imagine so many things Things that aren't really happening And when they put me in the ground I'll start pounding the lid Saying I haven't finished yet I still have a tattoo to get That says I'm living in the moment And it's funny how I imagined That I could win this, win this fight But maybe it isn't all that funny That I've been fighting all my life But maybe I have to think it's funny If I wanna live before I die And maybe it's funniest of all To think I'll die before I actually see That I am exactly the person that I want to be Fuck yes I am exactly the person that I want to be (Amanda Palmer – In My Mind) Now that we’ve settled that, I hope I’ve captured your interest, whether you want to find out who we are, who we want to be, to read our two cents about the magnificently complex processes that go on in our mind. We have really prepared something good. And for all of you music-lovers, we have 3 great interviews: Marcela Bovio (still of Stream of Passion, Mayan, The Gentle Storm), Sami Hinkka (Ensiferum) and Jan Rechberger (Amorphis).

Interv 6

Interview: Marcela Bovio By: Simona Mihalca

You might know Marcela Bovio as the charismatic face of Stream of Passion. You might recognize her from her red curls or participation in Mayan, The Gentle Storm or The Human Equation. If not, surely you’ve got to known her #caturday from social media. The Mexican-born singer started studying music when she was just 5 years old. She has become not only a singer, but a flute, bass, and violin player. Her big break came when Arjen Lucassen was looking for a singer for the Ayreon album, The Human Equation. The following year, he and Marcela created Stream of Passion, a symphonic metal band which has released four full length albums and live one, toured the world and gathered thousands of fans. However, as all good things must come to an end, we were struck by the sudden announcement that Stream of Passion had decided to part ways after the few shows they had left. According to Marcela, the decision was made a couple of months ago and they waited with the announcement to plan a few gigs before saying goodbye, including a final show, where they would record a live DVD. 11 years later and the band is close its final day. What remains is the music and the … passion. Marcela says she will miss the live shows like crazy, as they have had a great time on stage. It’s fair to say we will be missing their live shows just as much. The good news is that she is sure she is not giving up music, that

Photo credits:Gema Pérez being something she could never do. But if it came to be, she thinks she would devote herself fulltime to software development. With tens of thousands of people following her on social media and just as many fans going to see her shows, she has become a household name in the genre, a genre which definitely has one of the most loyal fans.

As we’ve said before, she was not only involved in Stream of Passion and The Human,Equation, but has had guest appearances, both live and studio, on acts such as Epica, Mayan, Revamp, The Gentle Storm and Subsignal. After all this time, it’s time for us to see her first solo album, called Unprecedented. Talking about this new endeavor, she says “It will be a fresh start, but I think I’m fortunate enough that quite a few Stream of Passion fans are interested in this new stage of my career. So it won’t be starting from scratch!” The album is being released through a crowdfunding campaign, which you can find here: https://igg.me/at/marcelabovio “I had been thinking of making a solo album for quite some time already, but I never actually got to. Around a year ago I met with Joost van den Broek, who produced the album, and we talked about different ideas for me to make an album. We came up with making an album for voice and string quartet, and the idea got me very excited; I started writing right away and in no time I had already written quite a few songs. “ The initial results were more than outstanding, reaching 300% in 9 days. Talking about her expectations and plans, she said: “I had no idea what to expect! The music is so different to all I’ve done before that I assumed very few people would be interested. But I’m so inspired and touched by the huge response I’ve received, I’m so thankful to my contributors! It’s going so fast that I can’t even stop and think what could be next; but I am already making plans for the release, making sure I have everything ready.”

We haven’t really told you what the album is about, being an unique one, with just a string quartet and vocals. Why so? “I grew around classical music, and I’ve always loved the sound of a string quartet; it can say so many different things: be very sweet, but also very menacing and confronting. I also really wanted to do something very organic: no samples, no click tracks; the songs were recorded with the five of us live in the studio. This organic feel is something I missed in the symphonic metal scene.” With so many people around her, balancing creating art for herself and a community is something we think of, but she says that “I always start with what moves me. I am a sucker for beautiful melodies, I think this keeps my music accessible. “ Speaking of art, it can be intertwined with entertainment. According to her, “Lots of things can entertain us, but art touches you in a different way; entertainment just keeps your brain occupied, while art forces you to think a bit deeper. True art has a bit of mystery, it poses questions that we need to answer in order to understand it; and when we do, we feel a beautiful connection with the artist. That’s how I see it anyway!”. She has definitely studied music and art, saying her favourite art work is “baroque music, bit Bach fan here!”. Obviously, not everything is great in the art world and what she dislikes the most is that “It’s elitist and not available for everyone. That’s a shame.”

Photo credits:Gema PĂŠrez11

As an artist, she says that “My life is the fuel that feeds the music I write.”, with her favourite place to hang out being “My living room! With my hubby and/or friends and/or my cat ”. Such a serene lifestyle has to be interrupted sometimes by getting in some trouble. “I was denied entrance to the UK once for a few concerts. I’m Mexican, and I guess border control somehow got the idea that I was planning to stay as an illegal alien. They kept me and my two fellow Mexican band members locked up for around three hours. The officers were really respectful and kind, but I still had to panic about the idea of being locked somewhere against my will.” Finally, she says that if she could raid anyone’s closet, it would be “Anne Hathaway’s, she’s such an elegant lady.” and that if she could choose anyone to live next door to her, it would be “An animal shelter, so I could go pet their puppies and kittens every day!” We hope that with the little bit of Marcela we have shown you, you’ll be interested to find out more and support her future solo album and other amazing projects here: https://igg.me/at/marcelabovio

Interview: Ensiferum By Carlos Funes & Simona Mihalca

Photo credits: Carlos Funes An Ensiferum concert in Bucharest is something many people awaited eagerly. The Finnish folk metal band came with their One Man Army Tour and we did not miss their electric show. We caught up with Sami Hinkka to find out more about their past and future plans. T.A.O: Can you start by you telling us a little bit about yourself? Sami: Of course. Hi, I’m Sami from Ensiferum, I’m the bass player, I also sing clean vocals and write lyrics. We write the songs together but for some reason I ended up writing the lyrics. It’s not that I want to do it but it’s about the others kind of trusting me. T.A.O: This year (In August) Ensiferum will be celebrating 15 years since the release of their very first studio album “Ensiferum”. How do you now remember that first release?

Sami: Actually, we haven’t even thought about it. We are still in the touring cycle of One Man Army and after this we will go to the rehearsal room and write some songs. In the autumn we have some plans to do some stuff, but we cannot say a lot about it. It would have been nice to do the whole album, but maybe next year. Or not next year because next year we’re releasing the new album. It’s always been like this. We’ve been preparing the new DVD for 6 years now. We started recording for it in 2010 and we still haven’t been able to do it. You need to have a lot of time for it and to have a good DVD show. We have a lot of material and I really want to release a DVD. I guess we would do one massive show and documentary because we have hundreds of hours of materials. Markus even has the first show of Ensiferum, which is 15 years old.

Photo credits: Carlos Funes

He has that kind of material in his basement. We’d have to watch everything, from all the tours, the interviews, the ex-members. Maybe we’ll get it out when Ensiferum turns 25 or something.

things started escalating. But for us it’s been real good. Of course, there have been issues, but nothing we have not been able to solve. We now have Netta, but other than that the line-up has been the same for almost 10 years so we grew up together. We understand each T.A.O: In 2004-2005, 3 band members were other at a total different level. replaced. Did that ever discourage you or did it motivate even more to go forward? T.A.O: What would you say were the biggest Sami: Until then, Ensiferum was just do- ups and downs in these 15 years? Or 11 years ing few shows in Finland and there comes a in your case. point when you get offered tours and some Sami: We were once doing an American tour members want to do tours and really take the and Hypocrisy was meant to be there with us band to the next level and really give 110% to and the drummer and the bass player were the band and not just be seen in the rehears- already with us but Peter didn’t get his visa al room and making 2-3 songs in Finland. and they had to go home. That really sucked. There is nothing wrong with that. Markus is But in a way, we pulled it through. It was still the founder of the band and the main song- a good tour. But that kinds of things irritates writer and Ensiferum is his baby and pas- you because there is nothing you can do. As sion. At that point every member had to for highlights, there are too many. We’ve had make a decision whether he could give 110% such great shows, to have best moments for to this band. There’s no bad blood, we’re re- the entire life. Being able to be a full-time mually good friends with the ex-members. Like, sician is such a huge privilege. As a tip for oththe ex-bass player, Jukka-Pekka Miettinen, er bands: the more you get, the more humble is one of my best friends. Jari and Meiju are you should be and always be grateful to your good friends still and Oliver, the drummer, fans because they are the ones who get you to is still around. I don’t think Markus ever lost the level where you are. So, thank you! the faith in the band. But the people who got involved in the band had to, of course, like T.A.O: Let’s talk about the 6 Ensiferum albums. the music, but they had to be committed to What can you tell us about each of them now? be full-time musicians. At least that would be Sami: the goal. Also, being in the band and being on The first album: I like that you can hear the tour is not just about playing music together, arrangements and that the guys are really you really have to live together and under- young and they have so much energy. Even stand each other. I think that for Ensiferum if I know that Markus and Jari have always things just got better year after year and I am been perfectionists and that is a cornerstone really happy about it because I know many of Ensiferum music. You could hear on the bands started to get on each other’s nerves, first album that they really liked to show off. which is totally understandable. If you have It’s cute in a way. It’s a very cool album, with a bus with 2 bands and crew, with 20 people old-school recording with actual tapes. You in a bus for weeks, it’s understandable that can hear mistakes, not that you should have sometimes, especially when you’re drunk, mistakes in an album, but the fact that you you might say something stupid and can hear them being human is something.

I like this album and there are many great songs. Guardians of Fate is still in our setlist and it’s one of my favourite songs, a great live song. Iron has a really good sound and a lot of good songs. Metallica was one of the references when the guys were in the studio. It’s more professional and mature. Dragonheads, the EP was a really good test for the new line-up. There were so many songs that did not fit on the first to albums. It was a lot of fun to do that Victory Songs was similar to the first one because maybe the new album wanted to show off something. It’s the dynamic when you want to make an album, and not just put out songs. We just released yesterday, as I was talking to Janne, the drummer, next year is going to be 10 years from Victory was released. You meet with the band, with the manager and label, you record an album and tour and suddenly you have plans for the next 3 years. Time just flies so fast. I think the biggest difference on this album was the orchestration.

Photo credits: Carlos Funes

We’ve been working with Tero Kinnunen, who’s been working with Nightwish. For me Nightwish is a really important band. From Afar we decided to try something new and have keyboards. We got string and keyboards and we went a bit over the top with the orchestration because we did not know how fucking awesome it would be. I kind of regret how over the top we went, which is stupid, because there are parts where there are 1000 tracks, which is just stupid for a band with 5 members. There are many great arrangements and guitar arrangements which you cannot hear any more behind this big wall of sound and drums. We learned a lot from that experience. For Unsung Heroes we cut down to about 100 tracks, which sounds a lot but you have 15-20 tracks for drums only. If you have choirs, it’s easily 50 tracks just for that. I am so close to the music. Someone who would just hear the music might think it’s the same and there is no difference, but for us this was a different album.

Photo credits: Carlos Funes

I am really proud of Ensiferum that if something sounds good to us, we release it, not thinking whether people will like. It’s crucial to remember that inner boy when you do songs, that kind of crazy passions you can hear on the first album. That’s why people started liking your music, because you created something, but if you keep repeating yourself you might fall into monotony. You can look at AC/ DC who have been doing the same song for 40 years, and it kicks ass. But for us, we want to explore music as widely as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I doubt there will be reggae parts or R&B. Our cornerstones are metal and folk music but we like to break the barriers as much as possible. We have had really progressive stuff on our last 2 albums. Unsung Heroes had really great reviews and it reflects so much about that time in everyone’s life. One Man Army is a fresh start, as we changed label to Metal Blade, the producer and the artwork artist. The change of label went really smoothly. We felt we had to move forward. We were really good friends with Spinefarm people and we didn’t change because something was wrong, we just needed change. As for the producer, Pete has worked with him. Maybe the gap from Ensiferum album and Ensiferum live has been too big. We are a live band and we want to interact with people and the energy goes back and forth and that is the best thing about playing live. That was crucial on One Man Army. We had a long discussion about what we wanted and we wanted to keep the organic Unsung Heroes sound but cut the track and make it sound real, like a real album. Usually when you record, you only record for a few seconds and then correct it and so on. But Anssi wanted to record a whole song at once and he really kicked our ass. It was crazy but really fun. He has a lot of passion for music. The album sometimes just has drums, bass, two guitars and it works, at least for me.

T.A.O: In October 2010, Ensiferum embarked on their first ever South African tour. This tour consisted of four shows in two cities. What are your memories from this South African tour? Sami: Not much sleep. There you have to fly every day, unlike Europe and the States where you can go by bus. Flying is great if you have a day off but we went country to country, leave our stuff at the hotel, go to the venue, soundcheck, food, show, wrap stuff and airport. And the next morning the next country. We probably slept 2 hours in the plane. But the shows were incredible. They have a reputation to be loud and crazy and they are. It’s somehow the same in Europe as one guy from Fintroll told me, the more south they are, the crazier they are. T.A.O: Can you shed some light on the last 4 four songs from One Man Army? Neito Pohjolan, Rawhide, Warmetal and Bonus Song? : ))) Sami: It just felt really good. At some point we played the album and everything was kind of ok but something was missing. Someone said that there should be female vocals on the songs and we knew Netta, after having first toured with her in 2008. We knew she was a great singer. She was also recording accordion and coming to the studio and we asked her if she wanted to sing a song. We recorded a demo. We had an acoustic show and it was really cool to play Neito Pohjolan. Rawhide was something I had in my mind for years. I think it was already from a far session when I suggested that as a cover, but we had other songs ready and did not have time to arrange it. Warmetal was just funny because it’s a Barathrum cover and Janne used to play in Barathrum and it started from an inside joke, because our genre is called Battlemetal.

Interview: Amorphis By Carlos Funes & Rares-Zaharia Lefter

And where you can go from where? Warmetal. The Bonus Song was interesting because it sucks when you record an album that you need extra material for digipack, Japanese version, Amazon, iTunes and so on. We said that the bands are more interesting in the real songs and souls and using these recording hours for real instead of fooling around. We just had to come up with one more song and we were like what the fuck are we going to do. We usually had covers that sounded like Ensiferum but we thought to make a new song. It was 15 minutes and Bonus Song was ready. What you hear on the album is the first take. It was something that we never do, because it takes years for us to make songs. On Unsung Heroes there’s a song called Pohjula. The album came out in 2012 but the first demo of the song was in 2005, so it took us 7 years to record the song. That’s how it works, it takes years. But making a songs in 15 minutes is wow. But the fans understood the idea and the joke that it’s a bonus song called Bonus Song.

T.A.O: What are 5 things that are sure to always put you in a better mood? Sami: Of course, few drinks with good friends. I think that’s international. I also do yoga. This must sound really Finnish, but sometimes solitude puts me in a good mood. I just go off for a walk in the forest. The moment when you are in rehearsal and you have that YES feeling. And, of course, family time. I also like a little astronomy. Finland doesn’t have so much light pollution and you can see Northern Lights and so on. T.A.O: Lastly, what is something you think most people don’t understand or don’t know about you? Sami: One of the shocking things might be that I’m a kindergarten teacher. Yes. Educating the next generation, that’s why we are here.

Amorphis is a band the Romanian public has been lucky to see quite a number of times. Their sound is interesting and unique and it draws in a crowd. We had to find out more so we talked to Jan Rechberger. Teen Art Out: Under the Red Cloud, how did you decide to choose this title and what does it mean for you? Jan: Well, it’s the story of the album, it’s about nature’s influence on man and also about the times we live in right now; they’re kind of unaware and unpredictable times, so Under the Red Cloud kind of represents that. There’s a story about an Indian chief who was called “The Red Cloud” and there are also some references to that, but it’s mostly about dangerous times and the instability of the environment and the human species. But it’s also a story about man’s search for the connection with the nature and the higher spirits. T.A.O: There is a large variety of musical instruments that the listener has definitely identified so far. Was this mix being taken into account at the very beginning when the music was composed or the ideas for that came later? Jan: Well we had some ideas for percussion and guitar and stuff like that, and then obviously we made a couple of tracks, like “Death of a King”, which are really oriental. And we also have a tambora, which is an Indian instrument. There were some flute parts, as well, in “The Tree of Ages” (there are a lot of tracks). For example, for “The Tree of Ages”, the keyboard player already had some ideas with the flute sounds from the synthesizer. It sounded pretty nice so then we decided that we should have a real flute. Some at the ideas come that way – we first have a sample or a synthesizer sound, and we set up some demo tracks, which have these elements.

Actually, “Death of a King” was in demo stage, with some percussion added already – it usually comes from the composer or the producer, but really it can be anyone who might have some ideas and we just make it happen. We just record it and mix it in and see if it works, because many times it ends up being muted. T.A.O: Is there any particular historical figure or fictional character that inspired “Death of a King”? Jan: No, it wasn’t anyone in particular, especially not someone real. T.A.O: “The Four Wise Ones” features Aleah from TREES OF ETERNITY. Who came up with the idea of this collaboration? Jan: It was Bogrenis’ idea, it was something we did pre-production, when we did rehearsal plays. A couple of weeks before production, he came to Finland and saw all the material and he had an idea for this middle part that we should have some voice. At that point we didn’t know whether it was gonna be a female voice, but it ended up being really good. We kind of knew her and Jens was also doing something with her on “Trees of Eternity”, and she actually lives near Jens’ studio in Sweden, so Jens arranged for her to come over one day and we did the recording together. I didn’t even know how it was going to be until I heard the final mix. (The interview was taken before we heard of the tragic and untimely departure of Aleah. Our thoughts are with her family and friends)

T.A.O: How do you manage to keep the balance between your life, your relationships with your friends and your fans? How do you decide where does your public persona start and where does it end? Jan: Well, we don’t tour that much, we do 100 shows per year at most, and it’s not every year, just, for example, the year when the album comes out and we have a massive tour. I think with this tour we will have more than 100 shows, because we already did a tour with Nightwish and we still have plans, so there will be even more, but it’s our job, we do it professionally and we have to support our families. Obviously it’s difficult for me to go on tour because I have children and many of us do have a family so it’s a bit sad every time I have to leave, but this is what we do and we have to cope with it. But our families are really supportive and I’m supporting my family by doing this, so it goes both ways. The recording is really easy, this time we did it with Jens, but usually we do a rehearsal in Helsinki, which is our home-town and it’s 5 kilometers away from the house so it’s really easy. Everybody has to also practice by their own so I usually do it when my kids are at school, then I pick them up and then we rehearse in the evening, so that also takes some time away from the family. But we try to group the activity in periods, so in some periods we do more and then we take some time off. It’s pretty well-balanced I would say and I would like to keep it that way – I don’t see us doing 200 shows per year. T.A.O: What are 5 things that are sure to always put you in a better mood?

Jan: Well, good music, nature, sunny days, holidays, my family, of course, and financial security, maybe. It’s pretty simple things in general – I’m not looking to catch the moon from the sky. There’s also health as well, actually it’s the most important thing. As long as my family and my friends and the band stay healthy and they’re doing well, everything’s good. T.A.O: What does the band honestly feels about “Thousand Lakes” anniversary shows? Jan: It was a great experience. It was a pretty exciting experience, because there were a couple of tracks that we never played live, at least with this line-up. Obviously, we had to rehearse a lot. We did some festival shows and a tour and it was really nice to go back to the roots. There was a lot of good feedback from the audience. T.A.O: Why does Amorphis now prefer to have Peerkka writing the lyrics? How did you reach the conclusion to give up the composing entirely to someone outside the band? Jan: Peerkka lives in the same town with Tommy, our singer. It was already announced when Tommy joined that he will not write lyrics, that he is a singer and a multi-instrumentalist. And Pekka is really into Finnish mythology and Kalevala and all these things that we’ve been using in songs over the years, and he’s really good at that. First we used Paavo Haavikko on Eclipse, who is a really old famous Finnish writer, and he wrote this story that we used for Eclipse, but ever since we used Pekka’s lyrics,

Photo credits: Carlos Funes

which were mostly about Kalavala, until the T.A.O: How much pressure do you feel when “Circle” album. From “Circle” on it’s Pekka’s composing and recording new material? Did it own story get easier or harder with time? T.A.O: Did you guys come up with a request Jan: It’s difficult for me to say because I don’t for him to write your lyrics, or how did the col- write the material or compose a lot, but we laboration start? put the thing together and we rehearse and perform together, but I don’t think we have Jan: Well, we did some demos, and Pekka ac- so much pressure because we have a lot of tually writes in Finnish, so we have to trans- composers in the band, we all do something, late our songs – it’s a huge process. right now I’m writing something, so we have We first do some demos, and then we send a lot of material. It’s like a common agreethem to Pekka, which listens to them and gets ment and also the producers’ agreement is rethe inspiration, and then we have to trans- ally important. For example, when you have late and arrange the lyrics on the music and 14 tracks composed and you can only put 10 with the translation we sometimes have to cut on the album, it is difficult, not everyone gets some parts, other times add some, it’s a lot of to put their favorite track in there. This time work. It’s not as easy as it sounds – usually the we let Jens decide, but we don’t think very lyricist writes something and the band just go much that we have to put more heavy songs ahead and sing it, but this time that’s not the or more soft songs – we just write the mateway it goes actually. And usually we can’t use rial and we have to trust our gut feeling. We the lyrics when making the track. “Under the usually have like 20-30 songs and we have to Red Cloud” is the first album where we had trust our luck and our ears. the translation ready when we started preproduction and we could work with Jens al- We don’t have a lot of pressure, we can’t work ready and check to see how everything comes like that, you just have to keep doing the together. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it – the thing that you do and hope it’s going to turn lyrics are really good. out well and have a really good producer. T.A.O: Many people ask themselves why you T.A.O: How were the experiences/differences decided to get a lyricist and not write your lyr- between your previous producers, Peter, Marics yourselves. co and now Jens? Jan: Well, we are city people; we don’t have that much of a connection with nature and with the spirit of the world. In Finland , everybody has houses in the countryside so we know what it’s like to be connected with the nature, but Pekka is an expert in that – he’s like a shaman. I find it really fascinating and interesting to use the lyrics of a person who is a professional in that. He’s like a seven member of the band, he’s actually a really important guy for us.

Jan: The first two are musicians themselves and have their bands, while Jens Bogrenis is solely a producer and sound engineer. With Marco, we kind of produced the album ourselves, he took care of the vocals, helping Tomi with harmonies and vocalizing and he came up with ideas for arranging the lyrics, so we kind of did the producing together. We also had the same line-up of sound engineers and mixing engineers and all that until

“Eclipse” since the beginning of time, but we kind of felt that we had to do something different and then we hired Peter. Peter is an old friend of ours; we’ve known him since ’95 or so. “Circle” was our first production with him and we had had some talks with him like: “Yeah, we should do something together!”, but he was always on tour or in the studio with Hypocrisy on “Pain” and he was also a really busy producer, but then we sort of matched and “Circle” came out really good. But we were also huge fans of Jens’ albums and he was usually really busy, but when we started working with him he was free and he was an excellent choice. He is completely different from Marco; he is a workaholic maniac, he puts us to work. Sometimes we have to work up at 6 in the morning and he tells us we have to do 4 songs in a day, and he makes us go to sleep without drinking or smoking anything. I’m not used to playing drums at 6 o’clock in the morning – I need to drink some coffee and eat a sandwich and then see what I can do, but it’s ok, I understand that we need to have a time frame and also it’s a psychologically proved fact that people work best in the morning. And he made us play the tracks in pre-production like a hundred times each and modify some things in them, which was cool, because afterwards, in the studio, we didn’t have to do that and we had all the time in the world, we already knew what we had to do, all the arrangements had already been done, we didn’t have to cut or add anything or waste any time with editing. It was really good, but he almost drives us mad sometimes. It is the first time we have been under such pressure – Peter was an old friend of ours and he was more easygoing, he knows how difficult it is, but

Jens is more like a producer, straight to the point, and he has an incredible ear with things like tuning and stuff. It’s like you didn’t do anything and he’s like: “Did you do something with the snare drums?” “No I didn’t do anything!” “But it sounds different!” “No, I didn’t do anything!” “Then do something!” and you’re like “Oh, ok!”. And then I tweak it, and it’s the same with the guitar and keyboard, and he’s nuts with the tuning, really precise with everything. He has golden ears, this guy, and that’s why we hired him. It’s true that, when we hired him, we didn’t know what he was going to be like. It’s like you start working with the new guy, so you don’t necessarily know what methods he uses, but after the first day it became pretty clear to us that he’s really straightforward, but it’s good. The results are good and I hope that we will be able to work with him on our next record as well. T.A.O: How would you summarize the last tour with Arch Enemy and Nightwish? A tour that also arrived in Bucharest last December. Jan: It was excellent. We had never play for so many people – the tour had about 150.000 fans, so that’s a lot and our set was a bit short, because we had to cover 12 albums in 40 minutes, which was impossible so we tried to focus more on the new album to gain more fans. But we have known Nightwish for years, they’re friends of ours and they treated us really well, Marco was also with us at a couple of shows. So the atmosphere backstage, the venues, everything was perfect. Arch Enemy were really nice as well and we got along with them and also did some shows with them only. In a nutshell, it was an amazing experience.

T.A.O: Can you name a favorite song from “Under the Red Cloud”? Jan: If I had to choose only one, I’d go with “Bad Blood”. It’s a very energetic song, it has a different tempo than the one we used in the rest of album – it’s fast but heavy as well. You could say it’s slow at fast at the same time. It’s set with a fast tempo, but played half-tempo so it’s kind of groovy. T.A.O: When was the last time you attended a concert as fan, which band? Jan: Not that long ago, I went to the Opeth concert, actually. I think it was last fall, in Finland in this nice old venue and it was really fun, because I had only seen them at festivals. They’re friends of ours so we met them and hung out with them and stuff. They played for three hours with some new tracks from their new album so it was really cool. I also saw Mastodon in Helsinki. I try to go see my favorite bands every once in a while. It’s also pretty easy to just get in car, drive, see the show and go back home to your normal life. And it’s also important to see other bands play. It’s part of the job. T.A.O: Your biggest musical or non-musical passion at the moment? Jan: Well, playing drums of course, but I’m also into recording – I have a little studio and I did some recording for the latest album and also some additional stuff. Also, on “Circle” I did a lot of recording. I recorded all the flutes, the instruments, the acoustic guitar, the percussion – we recorded in our studio back then. I also did some record production and some sound design. I also like electronic music and I record electronic stuff and some mixing for other bands and radio commercials. I try to keep it a hobby; I don’t want to do it too much. I want it to be fun, because if I start doing it daily it will be like a job. T.A.O: What’s the place that you haven’t played yet and that you would like to visit? Jan: Africa. We will go to South-Africa next September and then we will finally have all the continents. After that we only have Antarctica left, but that’s probably not going to happen. But you never know. Maybe we could even play in Northern Africa – a lot of bands have shows in Egypt and Morocco and Tunis, but it’s probably a bit risky nowadays. We had some invitations actually in Tunis, but then there came this Arab Spring and things started to get really bad and we had to cancel. We’re also going to play some other countries for the first time; Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica. Before we go, we like to ask some friends from these countries; “How is it there?” and in some places it’s actually pretty dangerous. We played a lot of times in Mexico and Russia and there are some pretty dangerous things that could happen. But then again, not even America is safe. You have to use your common sense and usually go with the local people; do as the locals do, because they can show you the best places and the safest ones as well. As long as we did that it was always good, I never actually had any problems.

T.A.O: You have been quite a few times to Romania, so for our last question we’d like to ask you about your thoughts on our country? Jan: We played in Romania quite many times actually. The audience is always crazy, it’s always nice to come here, and it’s actually one of the best places for us to play, audience-wise. We played in Bucharest and in Sibiu, at Art-Mania, a huge show with 30.000 people, so that was nice and it was also a really nice town. And in Bucharest we played, I don’t even know how many times, like 5 times. There were many memorable shows in Romania.

In my mind Rareș Zaharia-Lefter

My chocolate mind... My mind is like a box of chocolates. You never know what flavor you’re gonna get out of it. Today I picked coffee, it’s bitter and energetic. It’s alive and sad, depressed and angry. It doesn’t keep me happy. Why did I pick coffee today? Because yesterday I picked cherry liquor. It was sweet, and I had a lot of chocolates. They got me fat, but they kept me happy, ecstatic even. And they left me with a hangover. That’s why my mind is unpredictable, and changes from day to day. I don’t know what flavor of chocolate I will eat tomorrow. I live my life by these flavors, hoping, day by day, that tomorrow will bring a milk chocolate. Sweet, childish and innocent, careless, that gets me fat, without me even caring. But then again, who says I prefer milk chocolate? Even though it houses all these ideas I had about my future, about how I’d look and about how much money I’d have, it’s not necessary. My mind imposes it, yet my mind doesn’t want it. “In my mind, I don’t wanna be the person that I want to be.” Because, one day, I might get a liking for dark chocolate. It will keep me thin, and it will keep me happy. So what if it’s bitter. So what if it makes me feel like gazing into the starlight, wondering what types of chocolate aliens eat. I just have to get myself together to throw the rest of the box away, and start only buying dark chocolate.

Because I’m bound to someday meet a person who is addicted to white bubbly chocolate. Who has given up on diets and enjoys the overwhelming sweetness that comes with each bite and is addicted to excitement of surprise upon feeling the bubbles pop against their tongue. And I’ll fall in love with her and she’ll fall in love with me, and we’ll forget that we’re opposites. Because in our minds, we’re exactly what we want to be. Because we didn’t stop to think what works and what doesn’t and now we’re happy. Who cares what’s in my mind, truly, as long as I have what’s in my heart? Who cares that everybody’s tired of tragedy and fights and make up sex and being young and careless and hurt and leaving and always coming back and struggling between a school or a job and a family life? Who cares there’s no such thing as dark white chocolate. We are humans, we are beautiful, and we can create it. We did create it. It’s bittersweet and it’s lovely. It’s happy pain and sad joy. It’s the life out there, and the love in here. And the most important of all, it’s not just in my mind anymore.

In my mind

TO THE AFFLICTED Alexandra Serbanescu

The message of “In My Mind” immediately makes me think about mental health. Mental health is a broad issue that should be discussed in all of its facets but I do not want this to be a cold piece of scientific analysis that labels and classifies symptoms and reduces all of the emotion that comes with it to diagnoses that you might read about in a psychiatric journal. We need to talk about struggles, dreams and the insecurities that come along and wash over our chests. I am on the anxious - phobic spectrum, as diagnosed by my psychiatrist, and I have struggled with depression from an early age. Trying to conceal my anxiety and my grim subjectivity was not an easy task and the struggle to reconcile two different people in a single body marked my everyday life. What was I to aspire to? How was I going to amount to anything trapped within four walls? The human mind is a wondrous thing, a complex organic material that contains billions of neurons and exerts centralized control over our bodies; a powerful organ that can be subdued by something as simple as chemistry. How could we possibly beat serotonin back into shape? The mind and the soul form a dichotomy that was left to us by Descartes and we still go by this notion today, even inadvertently. Who can claim primacy? Can we control our thoughts and rework our mental issues into healthy attitudes? Should we rely on Xanax and Prozac? Finding your own identity and matching the person you think you are in your head with the person you really are is an old-age issue that is still as relevant. You want to look in the mirror and recognize yourself,a recognition that transcends your freckles, your scars, your blemishes, a recogni-tion that clicks inside your brain and you go “ah, yes, this is who I am. This is who I am.”

30 30

In my mind Sometimes it looks like that recognition

might never come. You feel breathless, suspended in a cosmic, hazy darkness and you cannot fall asleep, the bed sheets are tousled and the insects call you from the night. They make more sense than the bustling of thoughts inside your skull. You close your eyes but no answer comes from beyond. Erratic neural pathways seem to traverse your brain. You think, think, think. There is still a stigma in society about mental health, either they do not know how to cope with someone who is having issues or they ignore it completely and neither side can benefit from this. It is sometimes difficult to get out of bed in order to meet certain requirements in your daily life and play upon the image you need to project instead of going out as yourself. It takes great effort to try to integrate within a group and interact naturally when your mind refuses to move your body. Otherwise, how acceptable is the excuse of having a mental breakdown when you don’t want to go out one night? I don’t want to make this an inspirational ad. I am completely certain that you have heard enough platitudes for one lifetime. But if you ever found yourself biting your nails raw, dragging behind a group of people because you did not feel adequate, feeling like giving up on your dreams because you did not consider yourself good enough, not speaking up because fear, terrible, crippling fear of failure, I promise: I know. I understand. And I love you. You are brave.

“I GET NERVOUS ABOUT EVERYTHING, SOMETIMES I LITERALLY DON’T WHY I’M ANXIOUS, I JUST AM AND NO-ONE SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND THAT”

N E AT NE S S Nina Moskowitz

CHAOS

It is an anvil. It is a feather.

It is sandpaper. It is sandy beaches. It is everything. It is nothing. A hole this sits inside my chest that sometimes I define, but mostly defines me. When people hear “mental illness”, they think in small circles. A few tears. To dress in all black. Healing by way of a hug, or a kiss. What they don’t understand is that mental illness is not something you can fit in small circles. By definition, the idea of mental illness doesn’t fit. Mental illness is not something that can be put away for later. People with mental illness cannot be put away for later. When I hear “mental illness”, I think of the Black Sea. The one in my mind, that is. The one that rolls and flips and drowns you when you push too hard. It is a weight that crushes the airway, and makes you feel like breathing is a luxury you have not been bestowed. It is awkward, clunky, and makes conversation difficult, makes life in essence, difficult. There are moments. When the sky clears. The sea parts. Your airway is relieved. You can see. You can breathe. You wonder if today is the day that everything gets better. Yet you feel it there. In the back of your mind. It is the calm before another part of the neverending storm. But this “illness” makes me, me. My brain finds neatness in chaos, a picture within the mess of lines and scribbles. I choose not to be crushed under the weight of this, I choose to use it to my advantage, as the weight that anchors me steady instead of the burden that pulls me under. “Mental illness.” It is a part of me, a part of each of us who have been gifted this beautiful mess. And I can use whatever words and pictures I want to try and explain it. But it is not something to be understood. It is to be felt and breathed and lived.

It is my own.

In my mind

Is It Enough To Have Some Love? Michela Sereni

The

perception of oneself is the starting ground in the building of the whole person: to create a sane and safe image of ourselves is everyone’s goal, but it’s usually very hard. Mentally ill people with certain diagnosis attached to their name may find it even more so. In fact, it’s not a secret that the 21st century has witnessed a growing rate of depression and related issues: they often cripple the sense of identity and destroy self esteem. These dangerous effects have made awfully necessary the awakening of the importance of self care. But that is essential for anyone: “The Center for Disease Prevention and Control reports that stressful work environments actually contribute to increased absenteeism, tardiness and overall negative attitudes from employees. Given the prevalence of stressful work environments , it’s particularly important to establish some kind of self-care routine“

What is that? “Self-care is an approach to living that incorporates behaviors that refresh you, replenish your personal motivation, and help you grow as a person. Creating time for yourself each day is vital in maintaining energy, concentration, and overall wellness” [7]. Taking care of oneself requires nothing but time off: there are no rules and no boundaries. The idea that only a finite set of hobbies are healthy is limiting and could cause even more stress; besides, the final beneficiary of it all is supposed to be you. Which is why you get to set the rules: if walking, doing yoga or watching a movie don’t do it for you, it’s okay. Sleeping, painting nails, cooking literally anything can turn into fun times. The only requirement is that you listen to yourself, and do exactly what you feel like doing, as small or as big as it may be. “The interesting thing is that self-care is the fun stuff. My definition of self-care is letting yourself do whatever you want to do” The whole idea that stands behind this could enter in conflict with the sick thoughts, and fighting or opposing resistance are not uncommon, “I tell them they need that 60 second break here and there.

First they resist, but when they try it, they are wowed by it. Allowing yourself these moments also gives you a sense of freedom, which produces a better emotional and mental state”. That is, indeed, one of the possible characteristic traits of he disease: “Depression and anxiety are notorious for their ability to activate resistance and hinder progress towards goals”. These reactions can be reinforced or produced by all the kinds of mental ‘should be doing’s that we impose ourselves. “When you start noticing there are shoulds involved in your self-care or you start noticing resistance coming up in you, one thing you can do is to make meeting that resistance your self-care practice. Actually being with that resistance and noticing where you are feeling it in your body and spending time with it can be an incredibly valuable self-care practice in and of itself.My point is more that meeting resistance can be a process in and of itself that leads to ever deeper and deeper self-knowing, self-understanding, and eventually to transformation and self-healing” . Another technique suggested in order to overcome the self-made walls, is to negotiate with ourselves little steps into our plans, to propose baby steps that will eventually lead to the final project: “A variation on this strategy is to negotiate with yourself to start an activity and continue it to a limited degree. You then promise yourself that if it’s as difficult at that point as you anticipated, you will allow yourself to stop” or even, “Furthermore, if I choose to leave I will not consider it a failure” ].

A fine place to start looking for ideas or patters is the Net: Internet communities have been developing peculiar and specific ways of taking healthy ‘me-time’. For instance, many graphic artists on Tumblr draw motivating and inspirational doodles to get through the everyday (such as Emm Roy , playlists with feel-good songs are easily found, and text posts that try to boost up positive thoughts in just a few sentences are hugely popular. Not to mention endless lists of tips (that are in no way mandatory and that do not ever offer up the whole range, because everyone’s different!). Whatever floats your boat will work: taking time for yourself does not make you selfish or rude, it’s a simple and brave act of survival. Simple, messy, chaotic, muddy human experience. That’s all we all are: people. And we should just let us be. One another, and ourselves, as well.

Ramblings of the Anxious Teen

In my mind

Lilianna C.

In death I am dust.

Even this may die. Faded pain, hazy memory, passing forgotten in history. But maybe, maybe in the minor key, in musky rose falling gently through one nostril where he will resurrect me. But not yet. Let me leave such a thing, unique, to stand a storm. To conquer time, takes time. May I survive the plane, the car, the day? To continue to lay foundation to build. Why should it take so long to remain?

STORYTIME

Andrei Radu Turcu 37

Storytime

Unrealized Potential Mom and I had arranged to meet Dad at the town museum. The special exhibit, “Unrealized Potential,” only showed once each year from midnight until six AM on the summer solstice. The season’s young heat hung in the humid air after the warm June day, and the first bold insects interrogated the darkness around the tired wooden building with their tentative rasping calls. It was only eleven thirty, but locals of all ages had already begun to gather. For many of them, attending on even such a mild night was not a trivial undertaking. They rolled up in wheelchairs, teetered on prosthetic legs, tapped redtipped canes, or were limply carried by parents and determined friends. Others doggedly towed along their own life support mechanisms--tenuous tangles of wet tubes and wires precariously perched on squeaking wheels. There were also a disconcerting number of individuals from nowhere in particular. Their faces were pockmarked by the restless fingernails of drug addiction or scarred by lives gone wrong in other sordid ways; and they dressed in rags whose foul odors stubbornly resisted dissipation by the soft breeze. Most incongruous were their expressions so many genuine and excited smiles from such haggard visitors.

At last, the nearby clock tower chimed twelveo’clock, the front gates opened, and the strange crowd made its slow, faltering way up the steps and ramps into the entrance hall. The makeshift stalls bordering the anteroom were promptly filled, coat-check style, with wheelchairs, canes, walkers, unstrapped limbs, oxygen tanks, and all the rest of the undesired but compulsory paraphernalia as the crowd moved with newfound poise and independence into the main exhibit hall. “There he is!” exclaimed Mom when Dad appeared. We hurried over to him, eager not to waste a single moment. Six hours was such a short time after an entire year. Together, we milled and churned with the others, sipping cool sweet wine and nibbling bits of cakes, meats, and freshly-sliced fruits. The oldest guests strutted about, flaunting restored libidos and discussing long-forgotten plans with lucid certainty. The blind browsed the artworks on display with eyes now clear and wide, commenting on the rich colors, forms, and textures of each sculpted medium and canvas. Some took up brushes of their own and painted alongside steady-handed Parkinson’s patients at the crafting tables set up for everyone to use.

Where the tables ended, the floor had been cleared and the deaf danced to baroque chamber music played by a dexterous string quartet of Thalidomide casualties. Most enchanting of all, however, were the children. Grinning parents set down crippled sons and daughters on stable young legs to run and frisk among themselves, shouting, jumping, and laughing. The street people, now smoothskinned and smelling as fresh as the breeze itself, joined in their fun. They played strong but gentle scoundrels in games of “pig-pile on the grownup” with raucous youngsters and read fairy-tales (with all the right voices) to the quieter ones. Mom, Dad, and I watched, drinking in the joyful spectacle, talking about our days, weeks, and the previous year. We had all aged--time does not succumb to potential--but Dad looked good. Mom and I had missed him so much--more than we had realized. Was it really better to have this opportunity to know what had never unfolded in our lives? Or was it a morbid self-indulgence? A screeching stampede of four-to-eleven-year-olds snapped me back into the revelry. Of course this was better. These children’s smiles and unbridled silliness were the undeniable proof. We three continued with our own humble version, joking about our modest adventures,

commenting about work and home projects, what books we had read, and which routine errands were the most or least fun to do. We filled each other’s glasses again and again; the wine made us warm and happy, but would not make us drunk. Finally, inevitably, the lights flashed three times to signal that it was five forty-five and the exhibit would be closing soon. Smiles became misty, hands were clutched more tightly, and the laughter grew subdued. Mom held Dad close and long before giving him one last kiss on the cheek. Then it was my turn. I took his right hand in mine and wrapped my left arm around his shoulders. I blinked back the tears but could not contain the silent shudder that came when I hugged him. This brief evening paled so much in comparison with all of the times that we never had and would never have, big and small, grand and mundane--holidays and vacations, dinners on weekends, camping, baseball games, fishing-even just yard work or talking on the phone. And maybe grandchildren. Our own unrealized potential together. As the clock struck six, my father, widowed as a young man by the profound tragedy that took his pregnant wife and unborn son, descended the museum’s front steps. Alone.

THE END

Being a voice in a silenced crowd

The Woman Question in East Asia By Kovács Anna Sára

Have you ever heard of the women’s rights

argument in China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan? A month ago, I would have said, me neither. Until a very fortunate accident, when I found a book which briefly mentioned this topic , I had literally no idea that such thing existed, although I have been interested in Korean language and culture for a while. Based on what I already knew about these countries, I thought that since patriarchal and despotical traditions and values are remarkably dominant in East Asia, and women are mostly considered inferior to men, the issue of women’s rights is generally viewed as something strange, unnatural and overall a threat for the moral stability and the structure of society, or something that may work out in the western civilization, but is completely unfit for the Far East. I was not entirely wrong, since this attitude is actually present and quite common in the region, but I indeed made a major mistake assuming that all women in these countries were satisfied with their situation – thinking that historical traditions would have been enough for them to justify the inequalities. Because for some women (businesswomen, scientists, activists and some politicians), they are not enough - and the reason why is actually pretty understandable, as we will see. In the 80s and early 90s, there was a period of democratization, and after that, a conservative backlash. The result is that while in theory, the equality of sexes is enforced by law, there are many other areas of life where the differences are actually growing lately, such as economy or politics or the standards and norms of society.

In other words, women’s lives are significantly getting harder there. Although, thanks to the feminist activists of the former more liberal era, women can acquire more financial stability than before, and there are organizations to protect female workers’ rights, men still own the vast majority of property. Women who choose to have a serious academic or professional career instead of motherhood face a lot of judgment and are usually paid less than their male colleagues. This means that, in reality, East Asian women have little to no opportunities to lead a comfortable lifestyle by themselves. In politics, similar to business, women very rarely get in leading positions, and if they do, and they campaign for women’s rights, they often get ridiculed. Also, society’s expectations put a big pressure on girls from a young age.

Being a voice in a silenced crowd

The western-type beauty ideals go to measures that can be called almost exreme – no wonder the cosmetic surgery industry is so prestigious and profitable there. In Seoul, the world’s cosmetic surgery capital, approximately 500 000 surgeries are performed each year. Also, and this can be clearly seen in the cheesy South Korean TV shows I watch sometimes (it is my guilty pleasure) or the Kpop scene that has gained a considerable popularity recently, young girls are generally thought to only become normal, functioning humans who can take care of themselves, after they get married; until then, they are either sweet, innocent flowers or sassy, brash wildcats. This way of thinking leads to several big problems: some high schools do not provide proper sex education, and they often ban dating among students, choosing to not even consider the chances of teenagers being sexually active. Naturally, this results in thousands of unwanted pregnancies every year, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction in the urban areas.The women’s rights movement’s current situation is different in each country.

In China, there is a big, relatively influential organization (All China Women’s Organization) that represents women’s interests from different social backgrounds and protects them the government and the big corporations. In Taiwan, there was a time when the liberal feminist agenda was an important actor on the political scene, but that is not the case anymore – such as in South Korea and Japan, there are a few smaller, politically weaker organizations who rarely gain the focused attention of the public – but fortunately this seems to change again since in the past 2 years there were several mass protests against domestic abuse and sexual harassment, both in Seoul and Tokyo. Some people think, these kinds of arguments in the Far East should not be discussed because of the different social and cultural norms, but this problem is a lot more difficult - there are actual people who suffer in the current system, and this does not only apply to the issue of women’s rights. There are other problems, like workers’ rights, children’s righs and so forth, which are yet to be solved – and there are a lot of East Asian activists and young social scientists who are determined and passionate to find some of the solutions.

lig

By: RareČ&#x2122; Zaharia - Lefter

Spotlight

Dirty Shirt After a brief break of one issue, we’re back with some more musical goodies. This Spotlight brings to your attention a Romanian metalfolk band, founded 21 years ago in a small town in Transylvania, Seini. You will finds in this band’s discography songs for any rocker’s liking, as they have a much diversified style, singing in multiple languages, such as Romanian, English, or even French, in genres ranging from industrial and hardcore to metal and folk or progressive. Initially, the project ran for only five years, from 1995 to 2000, and it produced one studio album, entitled “Very Dirty”. Unfortunately, shortly after that, in the middle of their ascension, the band had to cease its activity for a few years. More exactly, four, as in 2004 the new Dirty Shirt resumed their musical process, still appreciated and supported by the public. After 2 demos and a new period of rising in the industry, they release their album “Same Shirt Different Day” in 2010. This is an album which somehow sticks to their metal and hard rock background, the band not yet daring to explore the folk very much. However, with the song “UB”, they give a stunning performance by adapting a traditional Romanian song, introducing electro elements into their style. Other head banging titles include “Pitbull” and “Luna”, songs not for the faint-hearted. Perhaps the biggest step forward was the album “Freak Show”, released in 2013. Highly acclaimed by both the public and the media, it attracted numerous partnerships and prizes for the Romanian band. The very song that gives the title of the album was featured in a video game. With a very catchy quick rhythm and powerful vocals as well as instrumentals, it doesn’t disappoint the most hardcore rockers.

The track “Ride” brought a partnership with the very well-known mountain biking mark Commencal. Moreover, the band doesn’t fail to show its now mastery of the folk elements, with two inspiring songs from the much loved south-eastern European culture: “Bad Apples” and “Saraca Inima Me”. Two years later, the bands proves again that it will never let its fans down, with what could be one of the most awaited underground metal materials, the album “Dirtylicious”. This time, the record is predominantly influenced by Romanian folk, being packed with adaptations of traditional songs, now well-known to the world due to the band’s activity. These include “Maramu” and “Dulce-i Vinu”, songs that express the most exciting and beautiful side of the Romanian tradition. Moreover, the band makes strong statements about art and money in the tracks “Moneyocracy” and “My Art”. All in all, Dirty Shirt is an incredible band, certainly not one to miss for metal fans…or folk fans…or rock fans, really. Give it a listen and I guarantee you will find several songs (if not all) of your liking. For many, it will be very tough not giving in to the urge to headbang or sing, caused by strong, just enough distorted instrumentals and harsh, powerful voices. And surely, the eastern European influences will delight your ears and raise your spirit with the works one of the most complete metal bands one can listen to nowadays.

By : Delia C

ocoș & Sim ona Miha lca

Tropical rainforests

Whenever you hear the words “tropical rainforest”, there’s a high chance that tall trees and tropical climate will firstly cross your mind, but there are more interesting things to know about it, rather than just its climate and its trees. The tropical rainforest is a forest of towering trees in a region where there is no dry season. Imagine just rain and rain, with sun and heat. It would be perfect, were you a plant. Tropical rainforests are warm and luscious all year long because temperatures do not even change much between day and night. The temperature in a rainforest rarely drops below 20C and hardly gets higher than 34C. Doesn’t sound that bad, now, does it? But this is not your regular city temperature. It’s such a wet heat you would not believe, with the standard humidity is between 77 and 88 %.

Does this sound enticing enough for you to consider a visit to a rainforest? Then book your ticket now, while we still have some left on the planet. Whether you want to see Central America, The Amazon Jungle, Australia, Southern Asia, Central or South Africa, you can find a rainforest of your choosing. Why do we make such a big deal about rainforests? (Something else than how big they are) Even though tropical rainforests now consist of 6% of Earth’s land surface, they produce almost 40% of Earth’s oxygen. Imagine that. You know, it’s only that gas we breathe and need to stay alive. Maybe we should have more of these forests. A tropical rainforest has more types of trees than any other place in the world. Seventy percent of the plants in the rainforest are trees. Around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are endemic to the rainforests.

Science A hectare in the Appalachians have up to 30 species of trees and La Selva, a site in Costa Rica, has over 1,600 species of plants in 1,500 hectares. So far we like rainforests because they let us breathe their oxygen and they have such a great biodiversity. Plus, the weird but interesting weather. Here’s another fun fact for you: the number of frogs that have been collected from a single site in the rainforest is equal to the number of frogs in all of North America. Croak, croak! With these many plants and this generous a climate for their growth, we have even more reasons to appreciate rainforests. About ¼ of all the medicines people use come from the rainforest plants. Quinine is use to treat malaria and comes from cinchona tree. There is believed that 1,400 varieties of tropical plants are possible cures for cancer. And that’s just off the top of my head. Enormous research is being done in the field, but we know for sure how vital rainforest species can be for our health. Maybe we should do something to keep these rainforests, just saying. We’ve talked about them together, but as we’ve mentioned, diversity is key.

While they have a lot of similar characteristics, we should learn some of the differences. Rainforests are divided into four different layers, each layer being a unique biotic community containing different plants and animals. The first layer is called the Forest Floor and it receives only 2 percent of the sunlight. I cannot even imagine what 2% of the sunlight could mean, but that doesn’t sound too friendly. The top soil in this area is very thin and of poor quality and there are numerous species of reptiles, amphibians and insects. There are also many forms of fungi growing there, as they help decay the animal and plant waste. Another layer is the Understory Layer. This layer lies between the canopy and the forest floor and it consists of 60 foot trees, being home to numerous birds, reptiles, insects, predators and small mammals. Only about 5 percent of sunlight gets to this layer, causing plants to grow to 10 feet, which is about 3 meters. The third layer is the Emergent layer, which contains trees up to 100 to 240 (30-70 meters) feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest. Those trees have to go through drying winds, causing them to have small, pointed leaves. The last layer is the Canopy Layer, which is the primary layer of the forest and which consists of 60 to 130 foot trees.

Most of the rainforest’s animals live here, being so much food available that there is no need for the animals to go down to the forest floor. The fauna is very much alike to the one found in the emergent layer, but more diverse. It is believed that the total arthropod species of this layer might be as high as 20 million. Now that we’ve got you through all the facts, we hope you’ll remember just how important rainforests are to our world, how they are home and shelter to so many plants and animals, how they create breathtakingly diverse and rich sceneries, all while providing us with 40% of the total oxygen we breathe, not to mention their medicinal use. To us it sounds like something we should keep or even have more of, but not everyone thinks the same way. Deforestation is a sad truth around the world, but it affects rainforests like nothing else. Corporate greed, the need for the wood, the need to create settlements, farms or resorts are all factors that don’t take into the consideration the actual need we have for the rainforests.

As the wood is cut or burned for timber, ranchers move quickly grow cattle into the newly deforested area. In Brazil there are more cows then people, with millions of them occupying the Amazon region. Since 1970 it’s been estimated that a whopping 19% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared. Maybe it’s time to worry. The damage has been done, but we can still stop it. Read more about the issue and be informed. If you’re into movies, I would highly recommend you the breath-taking movie called “Tropical Rainforest” (1992). Take action! Demand from your representatives that something is done. Support organisations that support the conservation of rainforests, because in their doing so you are able to live a better, healthier life!

Heaven’s a Lie

Nr. 41