Rock Monsters Romania

Text and photos by Ionela Pleșan

On Wednesday, September 27, I landed at Expirat for the final concert of the 2023 Light Session. Coming from another event, I hurried to the bathroom in my heels, changed into sneakers, and started walking around the venue while waiting for the concert to begin. Expirat feels like a second home to me. It’s a safe place where I know I can always find myself. It’s the place that has made me feel safe in Bucharest, for which I’ll always be grateful. I ran into friends and people I know, as well as familiar faces I see at every concert. Before Delta Pe Obraz took the stage, I had a quick chat with Irina Marinescu. By the way, you should read what she writes for Rock FM.

I arrived at Expirat to once again listen live to the Moldovan band Delta Pe Obraz. To my embarrassment, I only discovered them this year, but when I talked to my Moldovan friends, they told me that Delta Pe Obraz is quite well-known in the Republic of Moldova. Delta Pe Obraz started as a band initially influenced by poetry rock and poetry folk but later evolved toward a musical direction that includes elements of indie rock, alternative rock, and pop rock. The band is composed of Gheorghe Gușan on vocals, Gelu Argint on electric guitar, Andrei Glavan on guitar, Ilia Ostapciuc on bass, and Seva Peev on drums.

They started their performance with my favorite song, “Fluturi.”

Why is it my favorite song? The instrumental is perfect for reflecting on the past, on things you’ve done wrong, what you can do better, what you didn’t do better, plus it has very powerful lyrics like:

“Fluturii dansează sub sunete de groază
Ce ies ca din fântână în care disperat moare un copil
Și-mprumutat uitării
Copilul-și strigă mama moartă
Și doar iluzia scăpării i se citește pe fața speriată
Și totuși mama vine și vine și-al său tată
Ei se înalță-ntr-un balon cu aer cald
Doar că spre ei zboară o săgeată.”

If you don’t like poetry or metaphors, Delta Pe Obraz may not be for you. But if you value words and engage in a lot of overthinking, Delta Pe Obraz will become your favorite band. My favorite lyrics from the song “Fluturi” are a few from the chorus:

“Dă-mi voie să te uit
Ia-ți fluturii cu tine
Doar știi că sunt prea frumoși
Să îmbătrânească lângă mine.”

The love of the other person is much more important, much more beautiful than everything you’ve had before, so you wish it would disappear.

The audience was moved, people closed their eyes and lived the moment. I enjoyed all the energy that filled Expirat; there was a pure emotion in the air. They had a well-balanced setlist of 13 songs plus an encore, including “Amanta,” “Obuze,” “După Război,” “Nu mă ating,” and even “Copacul.”

Delta Pe Obraz is poetry with music. With powerful vocals and well-pronounced bass and guitars. We also enjoyed keyboards at this concert, thanks to Tania Cerga. The fall outside was the perfect backdrop for a Delta Pe Obraz concert.

At one point, Gheorghe told us, “The sense of responsibility is very important. Transmit it to others. Love, care for your loved ones, I think that’s what matters.” Of course, after these words, tears came from me. It’s fascinating how music can make you feel so much in such a short time. It’s as if the task of music is to make you emotional, to find your sensitive spots, and it has a limited time to do so, and in a few minutes, it has already solved you, the task is complete. During the song “Obuze,” a song that unfortunately is still very relatable, at the swearing part, even though it’s not in my nature to talk like that, I shouted the loudest, “Domnu’ Putin, du-te-n pizda mă-tii.”

Delta Pe Obraz is about understanding through metaphors; it doesn’t serve you dilemmas or answers on a silver platter. You have to ponder or listen carefully to catch all the references. The audience is, once again, a very important element for the entire concert. Everyone seemed to be in another world, each lost in their own thoughts, with their own processes of consciousness. Delta Pe Obraz ended the concert amid a thunderous applause.

In conclusion, go to Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, go wherever you like, but listen to Delta Pe Obraz. Follow them on social media, and let’s meet at future Delta Pe Obraz concerts and sing together about “Fluturi.”