Coldplay blunder in Romania, booed on stage with the invited manele singer

Did the organizers from Emagic suggest the moment to Coldplay? Babasha's first reaction.

By Romania Journal Last updated Jun 13, 2024

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The manele singer Babasha was invited on stage, on Wednesday evening, during the first Coldplay concert at the National Arena in Bucharest, when the audience started booing him. Babasha started getting booed by Coldplay fans as soon as he took the stage and started singing a song which is currently trending on YouTube.

Before inviting him on stage, the lead singer of the band Coldplay, Chris Martin, said that he chose him after hearing him perform these days on the street.

“I want to say something. When I landed yesterday, well, two days ago, I was wandering the streets and I heard this man singing, so beautifully, in the street. Then I looked at the music charts in Romania and I was impressed, because there are so many wonderful artists. Maybe you don’t understand what kind of people you have in Romania, it’s incredible,” said Chris Martin.

The British band posted a video on their Instagram account on Wednesday of one of Lipscani’s street performers singing “Caruso” by Lucio Dalla.

The moment in the middle of the concert quickly went viral, and sparked a lot of comments from disgruntled spectators, who paid from EUR 200 to 400 to see Coldplay performing in Romania.

After the first moments of bewilderment, the crowd started whistling and booing more like a football match. The music stopped, the lights went out, and the concert resumed only after a few minutes.

Babasha, real name Vlad Babașa, is originally from Bacău and is currently very popular on several audio streaming platforms.

“I could have lived without the manea. We have something more that represents us as Romanians and Romania. I’m sorry he got booed. He was not the one who was booed, but the tactics,” said a spectator for Digi24.

“I can’t say that the moment was appreciated by the world, but we tried to get over it. I don’t think it represents all of us, it wasn’t the right time”, said another one.

“Who wants to listen to a certain genre, go to that concert. I understand Coldplay’s attitude of integration, but it’s not to my taste. The public cannot be judged for acting honestly. They didn’t come for anything else, but for Coldplay,” some other person commented.

“Gorgeous, apart from the manele, it was extraordinary,” was another opinion.

“EMAGIC, you really made it the “concert of the year”! I don’t know who had the wonderful idea to bring such a valuable “Romanian” artist on the same stage as Coldplay, but save us another time! Maybe bring U2 and Leo from Rosiori with them,” reads another comment on Facebook.

“Dear EMAGIC, you should have told Chris Martin that it is not a good idea to have a maneleist sing on the same stage as Coldplay. Maybe Chris likes the way it sounds, maybe he thinks it’s exotic, but they had nothing to look for tonight. I have been to 4 Coldplay concerts in Europe, since 2008, and Chris Martin is one of the artists who is very attentive to the audience’s reactions, empathetic. His face fell when the whole stadium started booing and whistling. I think he has never experienced anything like this in his life. He didn’t understand anything and it took him about 3 songs to regroup. It is embarrassing for us, the Romanian public, and for Coldplay. Whatever the reason why the young man ended up on the same stage as Chris, this embarrassing, booing moment was not supposed to happen!“, said another person.

However, there were lots of voices that defended Babasha and his moment.

“I’m very disappointed since that boy sang, absolutely horrible, what did we manage to do as a nation, to boo a boy who just sang randomly, in the conditions that Coldplay is promoting, the idea that we should all love each other”, a man said, according to stirileprotv.ro.

Manele is a controversial genre in Romania. Some are huge fans, but many are challenging it, and not for the music itself nor for it is mostly sung by the Roma community members, but for promoting a wrong mentality and lifestyle.

Babasha performed his song, “Pai naa” during the Coldplay concert. The lyrics that resonated on the National Arena sounded something like this: “Ooo, ooo, I like your eyes too much/ Ooo, ooo, what am I going to do with them/ Ooo, ooo, I think I’m pawning it/ Let me go get you ticket, I’m taking you somewhere secret…”

Babasha’s first reaction: “Manea is only infamous because of racism, not because of the music itself”

In its first reaction online, Babasha thanked his audience, saying that manele are despised only based on racism, not because of the music itself.

“Although I’m not in a position to enter into discussions, precisely because I’m in the center of attention and don’t let people think I’m taking advantage of it now. I leave it to people to judge the situation as they should. What I mean is that, for those who don’t know, Coldplay wanted to do a moment with a Romanian artist for their concerts on the 12th and 13th, and they looked in the music charts and saw me me. They personally contacted my agents, I suddenly woke up and I don’t know how many of you would have turned down such an opportunity. Because we are talking about another level, a completely and completely different level and regardless of all the booing in the world, I would still have accepted because something like this is once in a lifetime. And for your knowledge, know that we had a sound check before, because that’s normal, with Chris Martin personally, and he liked me very much”, explained Babasha how he ended up performing at the National Arena, alongside by Coldplay.

“I expected it to be divided, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. I thank you and thank you to all those who defended me. I did not expect. There are people I never expected in my life to come to my defense on this subject and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and wish you all the best in the world. I’m just a 22 year old kid and I’m really working day and night for a dream. No matter that I sing the manele. For those who don’t understand this yet, maneau is only infamous because of racism, not because of the music itself, just for those who don’t really understand music. Because you forget, foreigners appreciate us, only Romanians don’t. Thank you with all my heart, we leave it to the people to judge the situation as it was and more than that I cannot speak. Thank you also for the presence, and for the boos, for any possible reaction. I also inform you that there will be another show tomorrow,” concluded the young man, in a two-minute video.

Coldplay is performing for the first time in Romania, with two gigs at National Arena, yesterday and today. The band’s entire world tour is dedicated to tolerance and marginalized communities and the idea of ecology helping the planet.

A similar “booing” moment took place during Madonna’s concert in Bucharest in 2009, when she mentioned about gypsies being discriminated in Eastern Europe, with spectators also booing her.

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1 Comment

MIHAI OLIMPIU says 4 months ago

The media thunders on the rasism that plagues Romania, I’m here to say they are in the wrong.
The Manele style has long been associated with inculture not necessarily with gypsies (or if you want to say Romani).
That’s why people protested, that’s why they booed…
We have big names in Romania that are from the gipsy minority, Connect-R, Alex Velea, different bands “Taraful de la..” fill in the blanks.
Cold Play fans simply booed the Promotion of Inculture (That’s how I see it).
Basically what Cold Play said with that act is: this is how we see Romanians, and, boy, that quickly went down hill from there.
What every Romanian should say now is stop!
No! It’s not rasism! YOU f* up!