Distinguished writer and editor, Alan Ogden, launches two travel books on Romania written 75 years apart... A live concert by charismatic Balkan music band Mukka will follow.
Alan Ogden's latest book Moons and Aurochs takes the reader on an eccentric and out-of-the-way tour of Romania. The effect is to view Romania through a constantly rotating kaleidoscope where colourful historical figures mutate into equally colourful contemporary characters. Alan Ogden has published several books on Romania. He is a founder member of Pro Patrimonio, an accredited lecturer for Martin Randall Travel and an occasional speaker at the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies. Alan Ogden is kindly donating part of the proceeds from the evening events to Fundatia ADEPT Transylvania, a Romanian charity which is helping small-scale farming communities to survive, by creating economic incentives to maintain the traditional land management on which the area's remarkable biodiversity depends.
First published 75 years ago and currently reprinted by Bene Factum, Donald Hall's Romanian Furrow, is an enchanting and evocative chronicle of a journey made by a young Englishman to Romania in search of a rural lifestyle that was rapidly disappearing in Western Europe. Hall set out not only to observe but to actively participate in peasant life and in this quest he brilliantly succeeded in touching the soul of Romanian country life. The friendships he made along the way are most moving.
The backdrop for these Romanian journeys will be the sounds of charismatic band Mukka and their repertoire of Transylvanian ballads and high speed instrumentals.
When: 27 September 2007, 6.30-9 pm;
Where: Romanian Cultural Institute, London
Admission: by invitation.