The Golden Stag Festival In Ceausescu’s Romania (1968-1971)

After his appointment as leader of the Romanian Communist Party in 1965, Ceausescu was very interested in gathering popular support for his economic plans. It was in this context that Romanian television could contribute for a short while to a liberalization of Romanian mass culture by means of cultural and entertainment programmes. Between 1968 and 1972, Romanian television (TVR) organized the international pop music festival ‘Cerbul de Aur’ (the Golden Stag), which brought together some of the best European singers at the time.