Album Notes

Born in Chisinau in 1981, Moldova, Sergiu Popa is a member of a well-known Roma (Gypsy) musical dynasty in his country. He, like several generations before him, is a virtuoso accordionist who plays not only traditional folk and Gypsy music of Eastern Europe, but is classically trained as well. he emigrated to Canada in 2002 to pursue his dream of an international career in music.

In Canada, during the short time he has been here, he has been distinguishing himself as a unique, versatile and highly talented artist. He has continued to perform traditional Eastern European music with other distinguished musicians such as Sergei Trofanov, Carmen Piculeata (violinists), Romeo Vaduva (pan flutist), Vladimir Sidorov and Marin Nasturica (accordionists), while expanding his repertoire with renowned jazz singer Jeri Brown.

Jeri Brown has written the following about her experience of working with Sergiu: “Mr. Popa is an exciting addition to my artistic project. He is blessed with immeasurable talent and is invaluable to the musical and cultural community of Montreal.” – March, 2004

During the summer of 2005, he led a full ensemble of musicians and dancers for an outdoor public performance at the Place des Arts concert series, ‘Les Midis du Monde’. Sergiu was featured at the 1st edition of the Romani Yag Gypsy Festival in Montreal; he was also featured as a solo performer in the 2005 edition of Printemps des Bretelles, an accordion festival in Montreal. So far, in 2006, he has appeared at the Music and People festival, where he was nominated for the Radio-Canada Galaxie Rising Star award.

He has recorded on Sergei Trofanov’s 2003 CD release, ‘…tout à la manière Tzigane’, the most recent albums by Klezmer band Shtreiml and the Gitans de Sarajevo, as well as three Quebec film soundtracks: ‘La Peau Blanche’ (directed by Daniel Roby), ‘Zéro Tolérance’ and 'Orlando', both National Film Board documentaries. His own independently produced début solo CD, 'Obsession Accordéon', has now been released.

Sergiu is only 25 years old, at the beginning of his career, and there's no telling where we'll be seeing him in the future. Finally free of the restrictions of his home country, he is busily making up for lost time in terms of absorbing musical influences of all kinds and finding opportunities to collaborate and exchange with other musicians. These influences are slowly being absorbed into his own playing style and arrangements, and are noticeable on the album. He believes that traditional music has its place in the future, and that young people will embrace it as long as it continues to evolve and reflect the spirit of a living culture.