Here comes the abstract (cf. Balkan Studies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of Peter Mario Kreuter (Regensburg): Slightly Nonsense. Or: Is there an Impact of (more or less) Scientific Balkan Studies in the Public (non-academic) Sphere?

"In Albania it is forbidden to listen to Manele; doing otherwise may be punished by imprisonment, fines, and whipping." This is what one can read when visiting the German Wikipedia in order to find some information about the Romanian musical style manele which also exists in Albania, but under a completely different name (tallava).

The "A. Philippide" Institute of Romanian Philology - the Iasi Branch of the Romanian Academy and the "A. Philippide" Cultural Association, Iasi, Romania, invite for their 8th international symposium The Romanian Cultural Diaspora - Linguistic, Literary and Ethno-folkloric Paradigms to be held on 5-7 November 2009. Deadline for submissions: March 22, 2009.