Biography
Romanian vocalist Sanda Weigl has spent her entire career interpreting traditional gypsy repertoire from her homeland, first on Romanian soil, later in Germany, and most recently across the United States, where she has settled. Born in Bucharest during the height of Eastern Europe’s communist dictatorships, she grew up in a Romania dominated by the brutal rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who was deposed and executed in 1989. Weigl departed the country well before that regime collapsed; she can still recall the 1950s, when, as a young girl, she absorbed classic songs from state-controlled national television broadcasts. Early influences included the famed recordings of Maria Tănase and the street musicians she encountered daily in Bucharest. Several of those pieces—“Ciuleandra,” “Butelcuta Mea,” “Cine Iubește Și Lasă,” “Bun E Vinul Ghiurghiuliu,” and “Trenule, Mașină Mică”—remain staples of her performances.
Political persecution compelled her family to flee when she was only thirteen, relocating to East Berlin while the city remained divided between Western capitalism and Soviet-style communism, separated by the Berlin Wall. Despite the repressive climate, the teenager immersed herself in the local music community of the 1960s, continuing to sing traditional Romanian and Balkan gypsy material while also joining the East Berlin rock group Team 4, noted for its single “Der Abend Ist Gekommen.” At seventeen she performed the Romanian gypsy song “Recruti” at the International Song Festival in Dresden.
Her outspoken politics soon drew official reprisal. In 1968 she publicly denounced East Germany’s role in the Soviet-led invasion of Prague; the protest led to her arrest and imprisonment, followed by a multi-year ban from East German stages. Eventually she reached democratic West Berlin, where she directed theater productions in addition to singing. In 1992 she relocated to New York, her current residence, and became a fixture on the Lower Manhattan scene. Jazz musicians such as pianist and organist Anthony Coleman took notice, and she began incorporating improvisers into her ensembles even though she does not perform jazz herself.
Knitting Factory Records, the adventurous label associated with the downtown club of the same name located roughly a mile north of the former World Trade Center site, signed her in the early 2000s. For that imprint she recorded Gypsy Killer, her debut American album, a set of traditional Romanian songs she has performed throughout her life; the label issued the recording in July 2002.
Political persecution compelled her family to flee when she was only thirteen, relocating to East Berlin while the city remained divided between Western capitalism and Soviet-style communism, separated by the Berlin Wall. Despite the repressive climate, the teenager immersed herself in the local music community of the 1960s, continuing to sing traditional Romanian and Balkan gypsy material while also joining the East Berlin rock group Team 4, noted for its single “Der Abend Ist Gekommen.” At seventeen she performed the Romanian gypsy song “Recruti” at the International Song Festival in Dresden.
Her outspoken politics soon drew official reprisal. In 1968 she publicly denounced East Germany’s role in the Soviet-led invasion of Prague; the protest led to her arrest and imprisonment, followed by a multi-year ban from East German stages. Eventually she reached democratic West Berlin, where she directed theater productions in addition to singing. In 1992 she relocated to New York, her current residence, and became a fixture on the Lower Manhattan scene. Jazz musicians such as pianist and organist Anthony Coleman took notice, and she began incorporating improvisers into her ensembles even though she does not perform jazz herself.
Knitting Factory Records, the adventurous label associated with the downtown club of the same name located roughly a mile north of the former World Trade Center site, signed her in the early 2000s. For that imprint she recorded Gypsy Killer, her debut American album, a set of traditional Romanian songs she has performed throughout her life; the label issued the recording in July 2002.
Albums