For the past 20 years, the Balkan Trafik! Festival, held every April in Brussels, highlights cultures and music from across the Balkans through workshops, exhibitions, food and wine.
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00:00 Moldova, a former Soviet republic wedged between Ukraine and Romania. A territory on the edge
00:08 of Europe that includes the autonomous pro-Russian territories of Transnistria and Gagauzia.
00:18 When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a Russian street artist decided to repaint
00:23 an old abandoned Soviet hotel in the center of the Moldovan capital.
00:29 This country is pretty divided and we have a lot of different points of view. Somebody
00:34 is pro-European, pro-Romanian, somebody is for sovereignty and its own identity, somebody
00:41 is pro-Russian. This wall and this building is like a social dialogue between different
00:48 groups trying to express themselves and their ideas.
00:53 The group Kolai Seslere is one of the most famous and followed in Gagauzia.
01:01 The Balkan Trafik festival held every April in Brussels brings together all these groups
01:07 who are little known outside their own borders.
01:16 The Balkan Trafik is a way to bring together all these minorities and to bring them together
01:23 and to show them the diversity of the region.
01:30 Here we are talking about Gagauzia, a minority of Moldova.
01:35 The festival is also about discovering a region through its culture, its minorities and its diversity.
01:43 The group Kolai Seslere played for the Miss Gagauzia election.
01:48 They will also play in Brussels with dozens of other groups and artists for Balkan Trafik
01:53 from April 25 to April 27.
01:56 [ Applause ]