Cleopatra Stratan- Romanian Wonder

The Expressionist is always on the search for amazing talent; things that make you smile and feel good. We found it in this story for sure, brought to me by a friend in Egypt. She urged me to check this out and then sent me a video on YouTube. What I saw floored me; I have never seen anything quite like that before.  It gave new meaning to “great things come in small packages.”

What my friend sent me was a video of Cleopatra Stratan, an amazing singer who is not only cute but talented beyond her years. She hails from Romania and speaks three languages. This young talent has a bubbly personality that you will fall in love with, and she’s only four. That’s right, she isn’t even in kindergarten yet and she already has a music video out.  Stratan is one of the most demanded singers across the pond and sells out arenas for her concerts. Nobody can believe this little girl can sing the way she does; quite frankly, neither can I. Most four year olds can barely speak well in their native language; however, Stratan can speak three languages fluently. Most four year olds have no idea what a concert is, while Stratan sells them out.  In 2006, Stratan became the youngest musician to win commercial success with her album, “La vârsta de trei ani.”  She also holds records for being the youngest artist that performed live for two hours in front of a large audience, the highest paid young artist, the youngest artist to receive an MTV award and the youngest artist to score a #1 hit in a country.  Oh yeah, did I mention she even has her own doll! 

Stratan got her start from her father Pavel Stratan, who happens to be a professional singer. One day he was sitting around playing some music on his guitar, when his daughter started to sing with him. He couldn’t believe what he heard. He realized he couldn’t let her talent go to waste so he worked with his young daughter and helped her blossom into what she is today, a superstar.

He realized his little girl was going to go far, so he started taking her on tour with him.  Stratan’s charm and voice, mixed with her innocence, captured the hearts of the audience.  Word spread quickly, and Cleopatra Stratan became a household name over night.

Today, many people applaud Stratan and adore her, but they do question the father. Many have accused him of trying to profit off his daughter. Some people have even criticized him for the choice of adult content songs that this young superstar sings. Since her songs are mostly in Romanian, I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. I did find an English translation and then, I understood.

Her hit “Ghita,” is a cover song about a woman who waits around for her lover. Sure, it’s a mature theme, but would adults come to listen to Stratan sing nursery rhymes? I seriously doubt they would, so I wouldn’t change a thing. I also don’t believe that Stratan’s father is trying to live off of her success. Her father realized she has an enormous talent and thought it would be a shame not to let the world enjoy it. As a musician himself, I’m sure he knows the limits and takes into consideration his daughter’s age. Plus, he adores his little superstar and wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize her.

Stratan has never come to America as far as I know, even though she speaks English. For us Americans, we can only enjoy her music through YouTube. We may not understand what she’s actually saying because it’s in Romanian, but if she sang in English and took away the romantic Romanian language her songs are typically sung in, it just wouldn’t have the same effect. I don’t care that I can’t understand the story; the language is beautiful and it’s what makes the song. 

Once you see this cute and amazing young lady, you will see why she’s sweeping Europe by storm. You’ll probably have to watch her video, “Ghita” a few times before it sinks in to what you just saw. You’ll swear she is older than she is by the way she conducts herself in the video and how she performs. Stratan’s so good, you won’t be able to get the song out of your head and you’ll probably sing it out loud when you least expect it. This talented child star will make a fan out of you in the first few seconds of her priceless video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLXjXxj3J8[/youtube]