Seven of the concerts at this year’s edition of UNTOLD, a festival starting on August 8, will be translated into sign language for the first time for hearing-impaired fans. Lavinia Chițu, sign language translator, will translate the concerts of stars such as Lenny Kravitz, Sam Smith or Vama.
Lavinia Chițu with the famous Jessie J PHOTO personal archive
Lavinia Chiţu grew up with deaf parents, so from childhood she assumed the mission of making life easier for those with hearing impairments. She worked very hard and succeeded: she became a translator and interpreter of music in Romanian sign language.
Originally from Pitesti, Lavinia Chițu has extensive experience as a sign language translator, and in June she translated into sign language, standing next to the stage, the two concerts in Bucharest by the band Coldplay. And the organizers of UNTOLD were impressed by Lavinia and contacted her after seeing her.
“The organizers of UNTOLD called me shortly after I translated the Coldplay concerts into sign language, they told me which concerts I would have to translate into sign language. It will be a big challenge for me to translate seven UNTOLD concerts into sign language. I’m glad that the organizers of UNTOLD decided that for the first time the concerts will be translated for the hearing impaired”said Lavinia Chițu for “Adevărul”.
Lavinia Chițu will translate into sign language seven top UNTOLD concerts: Irina Rimes, Tom Greennan, Louis Tomlinson, Vama, Lenny Kravitz, Sam Smith and Milky Chance.
For almost two months, since she found out that she will be on stage at UNTOLD to translate the concerts into sign language, Lavinia has been preparing for several hours every day.
“The easiest thing for me was to prepare for Lenny Kravitz, I know most of his songs and I love “I belong to you”. It was more difficult with Louis Tomlinson from One Direction, where I only knew 2-3 songs of the band”says Lavinia.
At UNTOLD, Lavinia will be seconded in translations by Alexandru Sturz, a young deaf person who loves music.
He impressed the famous Jessie J
Last year, Lavinia Chițu translated in Timișoara in sign language and the concert of the famous Jessie J. And the star was so impressed by Lavinia that she came next to her and sang.
It must be said that over the years Lavinia Chiţu has translated concerts for numerous stars and top bands such as Cargo, byron, Vama, Inna, Pepe, The Motans, Carla’s Dreams, The Monojacks, Robin and the Backstabbers, Subcarpathia, Les Elephants Bizarres or the Alternosphere.
Jessie J and Lavinia Chițu after a concert PHOTO personal archive
Lavinia says that the hardest songs to translate are rock songs. He also had hard-to-translate songs in Subcarpathia, Macanache and Alternosfera.
Lavinia Chiţu has translated dozens of concerts, a Romanian theater show, as well as music videos in Romania, Turkey and Armenia, into mime-gestural language. She has been certified in Romanian sign language since 2016, and in 2019 she also obtained a certificate as an authorized interpreter in Turkish sign language.
She learned sign language as a child
Lavinia does not have any hearing impairment, but she learned sign language since childhood because both parents are deaf.
“I had to learn sign language as a child to be able to communicate with my parents, who are completely deaf. I can say that my parents are the ones who helped me enormously in this direction, because I learned the most from my parents. Ever since I was little I realized that it is a rather poor language and I wanted to be able to do something for them. When I grew up, I got involved in organizing competitions to encourage people with hearing impairments to develop. In parallel, I started to improve myself”says Lavinia Chițu.
Lavinia and Dan Byron PHOTO personal archive
The miming part of the instruments for the hearing impaired is a very complex and difficult one. “First of all I mime the instruments for the deaf during every concert. When it comes to a rock concert, it is clear that we have quite strong guitar with bass and drums and you will see that the music and the instruments are very loud. Now it depends on the song, there are moments when the organ comes in and some moments when the acoustic guitar comes in and then I imitate the guitar as easily as possible in lower tones. In the end you have to feel the music, like it and understand it so you can pass it on to your audience”explains Lavinia Chiţu.
A graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Pitesti, Lavinia has a master’s degree at the Faculty of Theology, Letters, History and Arts at the University of Pitesti, Mimic-Gestural Language section, specializing in American Mimic-Gestural Language.
