This track/thing/piece opens a conversation with the 1946 famine in Moldova—a catastrophe often remembered in fragmented, contradictory ways. Some recall it as a famine caused by drought, others as a deliberate act of ethnic cleansing by the USSR. The narrative shifts depending on who you ask, but what remains is the silencing, distortion, absurdity of memory and the chaotic ways it performs.
The track incorporates audio samples from a discussion in Chișinău about the archival work of Larisa Turea, who gathered testimonies of those who lived through the famine. Her voice, central to this piece, carries the weight of remembrance. Yet, even within memory, the cracks of disinformation are visible. The story told here is of a child who survived because her grandfather was a kolkhoz guard, secretly taking milk from the cows at night. But the child, now grown, insists that the cows were “imported” by the USSR—when, in reality, they had been stolen from her very neighbors.
“De unde s-au luat vacile?” (ro. Where did the cows come from?) she is asked.
“Наверное из-за границы” (ru. Probably from abroad.)
This also speaks to the dangerous nostalgia surrounding the USSR, the myth that “a fost mai bine” (ro. it used to be better – referring to the USSR). Against this, I juxtapose samples from a 1962 Moldova-Film documentary, which paints Moldova (the soviet republic then) as a land of abundance, a place where “viile absorb cu lăcomie căldura soarelui” (ro. the vineyards greedily absorb the sun’s warmth) and people have copious access to food. The absurdity of this imagery—glorifying productivity and prosperity while erasing the famine—is a reminder of how history has been rewritten, how voices have been muted, how suffering has been reframed as progress shortly after this collective trauma.
This piece is not just about the past but about the present, about resisting the false and perverse memory still propagated through Russian disinformation today. The act of remembering, of unearthing silenced stories, is an act of healing.
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Mădălina Ciocanu, un/commonly known as BORȘ (/bôrSH/), is a Moldovan sound artist, DJ, and researcher. Her practice explores Bessarabian relational animism, oral memory, and decolonial ontologies through folklore. She’s released both dance tracks (I’m Going to Chișinău) and sonic testimonies like vers pervers (on the 1946 famine) and Leagăn (with folklorist Natalia Țurcan). She leads the collective listening workshops Ciulește Urechile and co-hosts AICI Chișinău, a micro daytime dance party. Sometimes these explorations become conceptual installations (Simultan Festival, Au Gust Fest), other times — collective workshops (Porocity, Timișoara).
Concept, composition and production by Mădălina Ciocanu
Mixing and mastering: Alexe Pupăzan
Recording of Larisa Turea, live group discussion on her book Cartea Foametei (The Book of Famine) by Mădălina Ciocanu, November 9, 2024
Video excerpt: [TeleFilm Chișinău]. (2023, November 13). ANTInostalgia. Foametea din anii 1946–1947 din RSS Moldovenească. (ANTInostalgia. The famine of 1946-1947 in Moldavian RSS) [Video]
Production of the subtitled film: ORIZONT SONOR
