Sofia Rotaru - Early Life

Early Life

On August 7, 1947 Sofia Rotaru was born in Marshintsy, Chernivtsi Oblast to a family of brigadiers and wine-growers. She was the second child in a family of six children. A passport office employee accidentally wrote her passport birthdate as August 9 and as a result, Sofia Rotaru celebrates her birthday twice.

Sofia's father Mykhail Fedorovich spent the entire Second World War as a heavy machine gunner and traveled to Berlin. Injured, he returned home only in 1946, and was the first person to join the Communist Party in the village. Sofia's older sister, Zina (in full form, Zinaida), was born on October 11, 1942. As a child Zina endured severe illness and went blind. Zina possessed perfect pitch and easily memorized new songs so she taught Sofia many folk songs and became a second mother for her sister as well as teacher. Sofia Rotaru said: "We all learned from her - what a musical memory, what a soul!". Zina spent hours listening to the radio and learned numerous songs, as well as the Russian language, which she later taught to her brothers and sisters. At home, the Rotaru family spoke only Romanian. Sofia helped her mother and Zina with housekeeping, the education of her younger brothers and sisters, and in the mornings by going to the local market to sell home-grown products.

As a child, Rotaru participated in regional competitions of pentathlon and running.

Rotaru started singing from the first grade in the school choir, as well as in the church choir. However the latter was not acceptable to the school officials. Hence, she was threatened with an exclusion from the Young Pioneer organization. Rotaru was attracted by the theatre. She practiced in drama classes and sang popular folk songs in vocal classes. In the evenings, she used to take the only bayan at school and hide in the barn trying to find the proper melodies for her most loved Moldavian songs. Rotaru said:

"It is difficult to say, when and how did the music appear in my life. It seems that it has always lived in me. I grew up among music, it was playing everywhere: at a wedding table, at klatches, at girls' winter evening gatherings, on the dance floor..."

Her first teacher was her father who enjoyed singing as he was young, possessing a perfect musical pitch and a good voice. Rotaru learned at school to play bayan and domra, participated in amateur art activities,and performed in concerts in nearby villages. She was especially fond of house concerts. The six children of the Rotaru household made up a choir. Her father believed in the bright future of his daughter. He always said: "Sofia will become an artist". His belief gave Rotaru strength to overcome doubts about her vocation.