Looking back, I realized I'd made a mistake the day before by entering the festival right as it opened. I was likely accustomed to Tomorrowland where there was no other choice. Saturday morning, August 3, it finally occurred to me that I didn't have to go in until I really felt like it, and that I could spend the morning and afternoon seeing what I could in Cluj.
A little history: Cluj (pronounced "kloozh") is the biggest city in Transylvania, which used to be a part of Hungary. The city's Hungarian name is Kolozsvár. Though even when it was part of Hungary most of the people living there were Romanian. Cluj, no matter what country it was a part of, has always been mostly Romanian with a Hungarian minority. This minority must be pretty small because I didn't see a whole lot of bilingual signs and I didn't overhear anyone speaking Hungarian.
Pictured: a relative rarity in Cluj.
Nevertheless, this city has played an important part in Hungarian history, as we will see.
This is a statue of Matthias Corvinus--known as Corvin Mátyás or Hunyadi Mátyás (his birth name) in Hungarian--who was king of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. The surname "Corvinus" comes from the Latin for "Raven," referring to the raven in his family coat-of-arms. He presided over something of a golden age, bringing the Italian Renaissance movements into Hungary. After his death, however, the kingdom quickly fell into decline under his weak successors. So what's his statue doing here? Kolozsvár (Cluj) was where he was born and raised almost 600 years ago.
So, where do I have to stop in every city I visit? An Irish pub, of course! Every city's got at least one, and the one I found in Cluj was called O'Peter's. I'd judge this place as...not bad. I think the best Irish pubs are the one with real Irish staff behind the bar, a selection of Irish beers, and bonus points if there's a bunch of Irish, English, and/or Scottish expats hanging around watching rugby or soccer. O'Peter's does not fit that description. The beer selection was pretty good though, even if only two were Irish: Kilkenny Irish Red, Guinness, Weihenstephaner, Kronenbourg, Carlsberg, and Bucur. I had a pint of Kilkenny. I also had an Irish Coffee, and they do know how to make a good one there.
So after more walking around--I also saw the impressive Dormition of Theotokos cathedral as well as Bánffy Palace--I eventually made it into the festival in mid-afternoon. Even though I spent much less time in the festival on this day than on the day before, it was more memorable and I caught a lot more music that I enjoyed.
Here's Soundopamine playing at the Time stage. I'd never heard of them before this moment, and that's understandable since they're not too well known outside of Romania. They make a perfect blend of turntablism with live instruments and vocals, and it's a very relaxing, chill sound. Since getting back home from this festival, I've been often listening to some of their other festival live sets that have found their way to YouTube. It is wonderful to have on in the background at work, among other settings.
I think I already saw ilan Bluestone when he played the Youphoria stage at Tomorrowland, but he was worth checking out again at Untold's Fortune stage. I think his set here was a cut above all the other trance I experienced that weekend.
And now here I am at the Galaxy stage, which was in a huge indoor arena (probably a basketball or hockey arena, but I don't really know). This is where I got to see one of the artists I was most looking forward to that weekend: Paul Kalkbrenner. I first found out about him through the German indie film "Berlin Calling," where he played a fictionalized version of himself, and got much more familiar with his music in the months leading to this festival. I'm not sure how I'd describe it...I think the best word would be "moody." Not really "dark," and "mysterious" doesn't cover it either...I'm going with moody. The whole set is up on YouTube right now.
Finally, I'm back at Fortune for another great trance set, this time from Richard Durand.
All in all, a great day at Untold, definitely better than the one before.
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