The Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the east. Historically part of Romania it was reunited with it in 1918, then it was annexed with force and war by the Communist Soviet Union in 1945 after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, during 1940-1941, 1945-1991 as the Moldavian SSR. It declared its independence from the USSR on 27 August 1991 and hopes to join EU in 2010.



Moldova is inhabited primarly by people of Romanian culture. Under Ceauşescu, Romania periodically made oblique claims to Moldova, which the Kremlin ignored. It had no intention of considering boundary changes with neighboring countries that had real or imagined claims on Soviet territory. Moldovan folk music is known for swift, complex rhythms (a characteristic shared with many Eastern European traditions), musical improvisation, syncopation and much melodic ornamentation. Moldova's folk music and dance companies, troupes and orchestras are well-known, especially Jok, an academic dance company; a jok is a celebration that includes dances, as well as the part of a town where the dancing takes place.

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