Taxi (band)

Taxi are a Romanian pop-rock band. Their sound is an eclectic mix of rock and contemporary pop, occasionally introducing other influences such as hot Nashville-style guitar licks.

The band was founded March 13, 1999 in Bucharest. Dan Teodorescu, songwriter, lead vocalist and the band's leader, first recruited Adrian Bortun (with whom he had previously played in "Altceva" ("Something Else"). Bortun recruited his former bandmate Andrei Bărbulescu from "Sarmalele Reci" ("The Cold Sarmale"; sarmale are meat rolls with cabbage); Dan recruited Georgică Pătrănoiu with whom he had also played before.

Their first Romanian hit was "Criogenia salvează România" ("Cryogenia saves Romania") which gained them fans even among the members of the Romanian Parliament with its ironical political lyrics.

Hai să ne băgam cu toţii-n nişte frigidere mari

Să ne congelăm pentru vreo sută de ani

Şi să-i aşteptăm liniştiţi pe-americani

Poa' să vină japonezii, poa' să vină şi nemţii

Să ne facă reformă că noi nu avem pretenţii

Doar atât le vom cere: să nu ne uite-n frigidere

- Dan Teodorescu - "Criogenia Salveaza România"

Let's put ourselves all in some huge refrigerators

To freeze for about 100 years

And let the Americans come and solve our problems.

Even The Japanese and the Germans may come

To reform our economy;

We will not complain, but we have a small thing to ask:

"Please, do not forget us in the fridge!..."

It was followed by an EP "Jumătate de album" ("Half an album"), after which drummer Andrei Bărbulescu left and was replaced by Lucian Cioargă. Shortly after their song "Luna" ("The Moon") became the Romanian nominee to the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest. They came in seventeenth, a higher rank than any other Romanian band ever had, but disappointing nonetheless. A few months after the Festival in Stockholm, they debuted an English-language song called "E.B.U - European Broadcasting Union": "We played poker by their rules... But in the end, they told us that four jacks are stronger than four aces." The song continues on, using an obscene expletive to express their disregard for the contest.

Taxi welcomed the millennium with a song "Doi zero zero zero" ("Two zero zero zero"). "Jumatate de album" was expanded in July 2000 to a full album "Trag un Claxon" ("Honk a Horn"). A succession of Romanian hist included "Comunitaru'" ("Stray Dog"), which addresses Bucharest's plan of spaying and euthanizing ownerless dogs from the point of view of one of the dogs. The song describes, ironically, the state of the Romanian economy and society, then goes on to a chorus:

Castraţi-mă, castraţi-mă,

Sau, dacă vreţi, eutanasiaţi-mă,

Pentru că singura voastră problemă

Sunt eu, câinele comunitar'.

- Dan Teodorescu, "Comunitaru'"

(Castrate me, castrate me,

Or, if you like, euthanize me,

Because your only problem

Is me, the stray dog.)

This appeared on their 2001 album "Americanofonia", the title track of which is a song about the flood of English-language expressions entering Romanian:

Business, meeting, briefing, trading,

Casting, shopping, fashion, trend,

Dealer, broker, leader, joker,

Manager, advertising, P.R., brand,

Lobby, hobby, weekend, party,

Timeout, fifty-fifty, supermarket, copyright,

Discount, cash, card, net, mail, chat, standby,

D.J., V.J., L.P., C.D., bye-bye!

Oops, yeah...

Suntem anglofoni, americanofoni,

Suntem bu-bu, bu-bu, bu-bufoni.

- Dan Teodorescu, "Americanofonia"

(We're English-speakers, American-speakers,

We're foo-foo foo-foo foo-fools.)

Band members

• Dan Teodorescu
• Adrian Bortun
• George (a.k.a Georgică or GXG) Pătrănoiu
• Andrei Bărbulescu, drums, March-November 1999, February 2003-
• Lucian Cioargă, drums, December 1999-February 2003

Albums

• "Jumătate de album" (November 1999)
• "Trag un Claxon" (July 2000: "Jumătate de album" plus seven more songs)
• "Americanofonia" (summer 2001)
• "C" (June 2003)

External links

• Taxi, official page (http://www.trupataxi.com) includes extensive free downloads of the band's songs, including at least six in English.