National Brand- Romania

 Every nation begins to define its population and culture according to the nation’s value, history, and national vision. However, for Romania, developing this sense of national brand has been harder to develop, because of their complicated history. This inability to solidify what Romania’s national vision is, and to take pride in that unified brand, is visible in their inconsistent performance, which increasingly reflects British, and Western European cultures, instead of featuring distinctly Romanian culture as the TV program progresses. This not only reflects the lack of strength in Romania’s National Identity but also their changing culture which places greater emphasis on Westernization within the national brand.

Defining National Identity

According to Oxford dictionary, National Identity is a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language. What this means, in practice, is that defining the national identity is a process of determining what elements make that nation different, and what features unify the people of that nation. This has also been called the development of a national brand, which focuses on what elements a nation wants the outside world to use to define them.

The development of a national brand is significant because it ensures that there is one identity in the nation, to which all citizens can feel like they belong (Ashmore, Jussim, & Wilder, 2001). This allows citizens to see their country in a positive light, and to engage in the sense of patriotism related to their country. This is, in part, created through shared experiences. As such, Romania’s particular national identity can be considered as it relates to their local history.

Romania’s National Identity

    It is first important to consider the development of Romania’s national identity, and why Romania has struggled to create a cohesive vision of what defines their national culture. Romania was not established as a nation until 1881, and a large part of its identity is still in the process of developing because they were colonized by Russia for so long. To truly understand the national identity of Romania, we must look at the historical period from 1944 to 1989, during the Soviet occupation. They see this period of communism as a humiliation in their history and have tried to minimize its impact on the national brand.

In my opinion, Romania’s identity can be described according to two critical features. First, it can be viewed as a country with a very limited national identity. This identity is very tied to the traditions of Romanian life, including old-fashioned clothing style and speaking the native Romanian language. This takes pride in the nation’s pre-communist history and focuses on the Romani cultures and artistic styles.

In contrast, however, there is a growing national identity that is based on the globalization and Westernization of the culture, as Romania works to separate itself from the Russian construct of communism and align itself with the more mainstream European cultures of France and England.

The blend of these two positions has to do with how Romanians and the others see the country and its culture. According to a scholarly article from Selous Foundation called” Globalization and National Identity: The case of Romania,” the author stated that “In the end, Romania needs to see itself for what is, a blending of East and West, a traditional Christian Orthodox society, which has a strong national identity and a rich, beautiful history” (Constantin 2016). These two features, the honoring of a very traditional culture, and the Westernization of the national brand as a whole are the transition between the two, as presented by the Selous Foundation, which is moving Romanism toward Westernization and the globalization of their national brand.

Romania’s Eurovision Performances

    The Eurovision Song Contest is an international TV competition, that is designed to inspire the European development of original music from a variety of genres. Competing nations from among the associate nations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) enter original songs, into a live contest. The public then casts votes to select the winning nation.

Romania has taken part in the Eurovision Song Context seventeen times. Romania first competed in 1994 and had placed in the competition’s Top Ten a total of five times, out of 17 entries (Romania Country Profile 1). Among these Top Ten showings, it placed third in both 2010, and 2005, and fourth in 2006.  In these performances, Romania was distinguished by the literary, visual, and musical devices used to display the nation’s talents, and general viewpoints. More specifically, the performances suggest that the nation has a high level of tolerance for diversity, and embraces a variety of talents, and cultures, in its artistic scene.

Identities that Represent Romania: The Eurovision Performances in Relation to National Brand

    These performances can be closely analyzed to say a lot about Romania’s identity based on the literary elements of the songs performed. More specifically, the first song that was used to represent the country in the composition was a love ballad, by “Dicolo de Nori,” or Beyond the Clouds, was written in Romanian, and uses a combination of metaphors like “a ray of love” and very direct language like “I am not asking for forgiveness” (Bittman 1). This is significant first because it demonstrates the pride that Romanian’s have for their country and their native language. Additionally, it shows how the Romanian language can be used descriptively, and poetically to describe complex actions and emotions. This same theme was seen in the 1998 performance of “Eu Cred,” which was also a love ballad performed in Romanian (Romcescu 1). This shows that not only the pride that the nation has in its native language but also the clear national appreciation, or popularity of love ballads.

    Further, visual performance of Beyond the Cloud similarly demonstrates a dedication to Romanian culture. The first performance, from 1994 largely lacks visual appeal (Bittman 0:10). The main singer is dressed in a fairly traditionally Romanian fashion in a blousy white shirt and vest. However the backdrop has a generic city scape and spotlighting. This shows pride in the local flavor but in a very low-key way. While this certainly prevented the song from ostracizing the greater European market, it also did not attract or engage listeners.

In contrast, the performance of “Eu Cred,” on the other hand, has nothing on stage put a lovely woman singing, in a very non-descript gold dress (Romcescu, :21). This is interesting because there is nothing specific to the Romanian culture on the stage. The performance is instead attractively and generically European, allowing it to visually appeal to a wider market. This demonstrates the shift in Romania’s national vision that is moving it away from a pre-communism Romanian style, and toward a more contemporary and globalized national identity.

    This trend continues to be seen in a close analysis of the 2000 performance, when Taxi was nominated to represent Romania with the song “The Moon” which contrasted with previous entries because it was performed in English, rather than Romanian (Train 1:21). This was significant because it showed the influence of other nations, or cultures, on the Romanian music scene. This created a gateway by which music, in English, could find popularity in the Romanian music scene, leading to the 2002 competition, in which Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel performed “Tell Me Why” in English (1). This was significant because it was the first of the Romanian entries to be recorded only in English. The fact that the song was not recorded in Romanian is significant because it demonstrates a growing globalism, or embracing of English, as a shared language, within the Romanian culture. This international impact on Romanian culture, and music, and their willingness to embrace diversity was again reflected in the song selected and performed in 2007, "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" The song was performed in six different languages, moving through English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French and Romanian, with one line of the song performed in each language (Mister M 1). At the end of each verse, however, the new country was explicitly stated in the lyrics of the song, which may have been a poor choice, in terms of literary decisions, because it detracted from the meaning, and demonstrated not so much the diversity of the Romanian nation, but rather the diversity within the competition, and the increased Westernization of the Romanian cultural identity, as a whole.  

From a cultural perspective, this demonstrates that Romania is working to embrace the growing, English-speaking version of multiculturalism, and redefining their national brand to be internationally competitive, or an embrace of a more global society. However, it is equally apparent that this embrace of an intercultural concept, or language, is recent, and so not yet developed.

Conclusion

Overall, there is clear evidence that while Romania has struggled to create a unified national vision for some time, that it is moving toward a more consistent national brand that is based on two main features. First, respect for national heritage, and pre-communist culture, including traditional Romani cultural elements, and the native Romanian language, and second, a growing integration of the Western world. This has resulted in confusion, at certain times, but is getting more consistent every year. This evolution can be most clearly seen in the changing song selection presented by the Romanian competitors at the Eurovision contest, which represents not only Romania’s struggle to protect its traditions but also its focus on becoming more Westernized, and part of an orthodox and global society.

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