Translated by Horia Diaconescu

Mircea Florian is one of the most peculiar Romanian musicians. His artistic ideas go beyond common borders of music, subscribing to performance art, happening or other avantgarde forms of communication. While he started his career as a folk-singer, with several calm and usual songs, Florian slowly began to get distance from standard means of expression. Changes occured first in his lyrics, later gradually in his entire musical output, while he obviously broke up in the end with everything that could be labeled as "conventional". Very much interested in experimental music and nonconformism, M.F. suceeds in presenting his vision only in his late project named Florian Din Transilvania (he prepared however his evolution in groups such as Curtea Veche or Ceata Melopoica).

Tainicul vartej is a musical creation that belongs to electronic music, a segment little explored in Romania. This kind of progressive, mainly crafted with experimental means reminds Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Popol Vuh. Together with Mircea Florian – voice, guitar, synthesizers, cobza (Romanian traditional instrument), the line-up that participated in this LP consists of : Valentin Andronescu – keyboards; Dan Cimpoieru – guitar; Doru Caplescu – synthesizer; Jolt Kerestly – electronic drums; Doru Istudor – drums; Mircea Baniciu – additional voice; Mihaela Hoaja – violin.

The live performances that Florian Din Transilvania did in the middle 80’s brought to the local scene a form of show unknown to the Romanian public. I remember the artist used to wear a military chemical protection costume during his concerts. Together with the particular coregraphy and the strange music, everything draw attention towards one of the weirdest characters of Romanian music. On a deeper level of perception, his lyrics reveal the intentional structure of creation, while analysing the meta-language we discover a fully aknowledged conceptual act. It remains to be discussed to which degree Florian managed to communicate with his audience (definitely an underground one and relatively small), but we can clearly state it’s an artistic manifestation. I recommend the (re)audition of certain releases from Third Ear Band in relation with this subject. I could also draw a parallel with the band Coil, one of the strangest experimental "events" in late years.

The political censorship of the period played a negative role in the case of Mircea Florian up to the point where his most important composition "Madama Butterfly" has been refused to be included on his only LP. It is possible that "Intoarcere in cerc" (8) and "Nunta lui Harap Alb" (9) - otherwise excellent songs, but different from the rest of the album - have been introduced because others have been rejected. But this is a minor issue in the analysis I propose which deals with the LP as it is (and not as it should have been – which is something else). These songs remind me of anterior creations, such as those from the single Fantana. The metaphysical side, present throughout the entire creation of Florian, is prevalent there. While the general tone of Tainicul vartej is the shock element.

"Ma simt minunat" (1), "Fiul zburatorului cu farfuria" (3), "Iubirea, tainicul vartej" (6) induce a hallucinating state with perfectly coherent means. The "astral" and scientological side is just a pretext and a solid background for Florian’s metaphors. "La cafeneaua intalnirilor" (7), "Cum va fi mereu" (2), "Buna pace, domnule Marte" (4), "Paralele intersectate" (5) – lyrics, music and arangements – Mircea Florian.