After almost two decades of activity in international music projects, the VIMA Global Judge recognition confirms a journey built between Europe and the international music world

Editorial | Weekend Magazine

There are careers that cannot be confined to a single country, a single musical genre or a single professional stage. Cristin Tomeci’s journey is one of these cases.

Born in Romania and settled in Western Europe for more than three decades, Tomeci has built an activity that has gone beyond the borders of a simple artistic career. Musician, producer, cultural curator and creator of music programmes, he has become involved in international projects across Europe, the United States and Asia.

A new chapter of this journey comes from Malaysia, from Kuala Lumpur.

🇲🇾 A second invitation to the VIMA international jury

In 2026, Cristin Tomeci was invited for the second time to join the international jury of the VIMA Music Awards, a music competition based in Kuala Lumpur.

For his contribution to evaluating the artists and tracks entered in the competition, VIMA Global awarded him, in August 2026, the “Certificate of Global Judging Excellence”, in his capacity as VIMA Global Judge – Music Assessment & Evaluation Panel 2026. The certificate mentions his contribution to the evaluation of songs, artists and nominees for the VIMA Music Awards 2026.

Recognition, however, has a meaning for Tomeci that goes beyond the actual diploma.

Kuala Lumpur is not just any place in his professional career.

🇲🇾 A connection with Kuala Lumpur that began 15 years ago

Around 15 years ago, Tomeci was already in Kuala Lumpur as International Director and later Vice President of Global Battle of the Bands (GBOB).

Starting in 2006, his work with GBOB involved organising and developing the competition in several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Romania and Hungary. Later, his international activity also expanded to the United Kingdom, where he participated in organising numerous concerts and tours with bands from different countries.

The key moment was the GBOB World Final in Kuala Lumpur in 2010, an event that brought together bands from several parts of the world.

A year later, the relationship with the Malaysian music scene would continue in another form: Tomeci was invited to be part of the Vima jury.

Today, after more than a decade, the invitation to return to the international jury Vima creates an almost circular connection between two important moments of his career.

🇧🇪 “Music of Europe” – a bridge built in Brussels

Alongside his international activity, one of his longest-running projects developed in Belgium: “Music of Europe”, a cultural and music programme produced for more than 12 years at Radio-TV Arthis in Brussels.

The program is dedicated to the promotion of artists and music in Europe and has become, over time, a meeting space between different cultures and music scenes.

The program also ended up being picked up and broadcast by Romanian television stations, including through cable networks from different regions.

For Tomeci, this activity now offers a new possibility: artists discovered through Vima can become, in turn, part of this European platform.

🎬 Discovering an Asian scene at a very high level

The Vima 2026 judging gave him the opportunity to listen and analyze a large number of Asian music productions.

His impression is clear: the artistic level he encountered was very high.

In particular, the music videos attracted his attention through the quality of the production, the attention given to the image, the interpretation and the professionalism of the artists.

Beyond the differences in language and culture, there is a common element: the seriousness with which many artists build their projects.

Malaysia and the countries of Southeast Asia, but also China and other Asian markets, prove that the contemporary music scene can no longer be viewed through the old boundaries between “Western markets” and “the rest of the world”.

In Tomeci’s opinion, the economic and technological evolution of Asia is also accompanied by a commensurate cultural and artistic development. And music, especially video production, is one of the most visible expressions of this transformation.

🎵 More space for artists discovered through Vima

One of the concrete consequences of the judging experience is already taking shape.

In future editions of “Music of Europe”, Tomeci intends to give more space to some artists he discovered through the VIMA Music Awards.

This is not only about the results of a competition, but about an editorial selection based on discovering artists whom a European audience may not have encountered before.

This could become one of the most interesting dimensions of the link between VIMA and “Music of Europe”: the circulation of artists between two cultural spaces that, until recently, were rarely connected directly.

🇷🇴 🇧🇪 🇲🇾 A journey that no longer fits within a single geography

Cristin Tomeci began his musical activity in Romania, where he spent the first 30 years of his life. Subsequently, more than three decades of life and activity in the West took his journey towards other cultural spaces.

An important part of his professional recognition came precisely from this international activity: Western Europe, the United States and, now again, Asia.

The VIMA recognition is therefore not an isolated point, but a new stage in a journey that began long ago.

And the fact that this new chapter unfolds again at Kuala Lumpur has a certain logic: it is the city where, in 2010, an important chapter of its international activity ended with the GBOB World Final and in which, shortly afterwards, it would begin a new relationship with Vima.

🌍 Next step: Europe and Asia

Today, Tomeci speaks of possible broader cooperation between his media projects in Europe and Asian organisations developing international music competitions.

The idea is not simply to revive formulas from the past, but to build new, independent platforms adapted to current realities that can facilitate the movement of artists between Europe and Asia.

Brussels could represent the European point of such an initiative, while Kuala Lumpur and other Asian centres could serve as links to one of the world’s most dynamic musical regions.

For now, this is only a direction in the discussion and planning phase.

But after the VIMA 2026 experience, there is already something concrete: artists discovered, music listened to, international contacts and a professional relationship that has continued for more than a decade.

And sometimes, the most interesting international projects start exactly like this: with an invitation, a meeting and some ideas worth developing.

🇪🇺 Brussels – 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur – 🇷🇴 Romania
Three geographical landmarks in a musical journey that continues to expand.