The Vltava's bend in Prague

The river Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague (Praha), merging with the Elbe (Labe) at Mělník. It is very important to me for two reasons – I found my best friend ever, Eero, in Prague and I used to play bass in a band called [ v a l t a v a ]. I had met Eero before, he was my fellow student, but that was during this student excursion to Eastern Europe back in 1995 when I really found this wonderful guy. He showed us the old pubs, we followed him through the alleys, sweetly intoxicated listened to the street musicians along the Karlův most. By the way, valtava is Finnish and means something like “huge“.

me on bass

Now, Eero encouraged me to start my own blog. I’ll use him as well as Vltava as my inspiration. I’ll let the words come and flow like river, find new paths, new meanings and finally merge with the sea of minds. That has a resemblance with the music of my former band, Valtava. It wanders but always has a meaning and usually even comes to some conclusion. Try and listen to it! Sometimes I take small false steps in my life and kind of loose the meaning of it. That’s when you need friends. That’s when you need to see that even the brightest ones take them and have a constant struggle within.

Dragoş I in a 19th century rendition

What about the other meaning, the Republic of Moldova? It is the poorest country in Europe (not a member of EU) in the economic sense of the word. My grandgrandmother Elena Dragoş was born there, in a small village of Puhoi. I don’t mean the Puhoi in New Zealand (Puhoi is probably a Maori word which may be translated as “Slow water”…there you have it again…) but the Puhoi in Moldova, near Chişinău, the capital city of Moldova. I don’t know and probably never will how I’m related to the partly mythic figure in the history of this beautiful country. Dragoş (Drágfi of Béltek) was a Maramureş Voivode ruling over the lands of what was to become Moldavia (between 1351 and 1353). A Moldavian legend recounts Dragoş’ founding of Moldavia as the result of an aurochs (or wisent) hunt, during which Molda, a female hound of his, was mortally wounded. In its remembrance, Dragoş named the river Moldova – the name was to be extended to the country itself at a latter date.

Moldova River in September 2007

The word Dragoş has slavic origins. It stems from “drag”, with the basic meaning in all Slavic languages (as well as in Hungarian and Romanian, which borrowed it from the slavs): “the dear one” or “the one who is loved” (in Romanian “dragoste” means “love”).

Friends, huge rivers, music, drinking… May seem quite a coincidence, but I’m not so sure about that. After all, isn’t that what life’s all about? That’s something we all share. Bedřich Smetana, a Czech composer, is best known for his symphonic poem Vltava. God, I love солёные огурцы (the genuine Russian-type pickled gherkins) with smetana, honey and vodka!

vodka i ogurtsy