Muntenia, also known as greater Wallachia, is Romania's most populous region, situated in the south of the country, and includes the capital Bucharest.
We begin our journey in the town of Găești, where pan flute player Gheorghe Zamfir was born 1941. The pan flute is known as the nai in Romania and it historically was used in Romanian folk music, but had somehow fallen into obscurity until Zamfir was 'discovered' by a Swiss ethnomusicologist in the 1960's. Zamfir started off playing traditional folk with his own Taraf band, but later went further and further down the commercial route, playing easy-listening type of music, often together with the German big band leader James Last. Much of his music was used in film and TV advertisements and he managed some international success. Here is something a bit more traditional from a performance on Romanian TV:
Now I mentioned the word Taraf up there. A Taraf is the Romanian term for a small folk ensemble consisting of 3-8 lăutari or Romani folk musicians. The most famous Taraf in Romania is Taraf
de Haïdouks, who have been going since at least the 1980's in the village of Clejani, 40km from Bucharest. Their original name was Taraful Haiducilor, but their French name stuck due to the same Swiss ethnomusicologist and a Belgian record producer who first signed them. The Gypsy band has gone on to some considerable international success, long before they became known in their home country, recording and giving concerts in Switzerland and France still during the Communist era. They have since collaborated with many other Balkan bands, most notably with North Macedonia's Koçani Orkestar. Here is an energetic set from the Tiny Desk meets globalFest 2023 with tunes included on their albums Band of Gypsies and Band of Gypsies 2:
Ion Miu, known as the Godfather of the Cimbalom, was born in the town of Titu in 1955. He came from a musical family, his father also playing the cimbalom, and married into another musical family. Unsurprisingly at least 2 of his off-spring also took up the cimbalom. Here he plays with his son George a tune called Cu Damigeana, which also features on the 2008 compilation album The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies:
Roma violinist and singer Dona
Dimitru Siminică was born in the town of Târgoviște in 1926 and died in Bucharest in 1979. He learned the violin from his father and supplemented his income from working as a builder with his music. He only released one album during his lifetime shortly before he died of a heart attack, but one of his songs called La
Şalul ce negru is immortalised on the above mentioned compilation album:
Also featuring on the same album is Roma accordionist Marcel
Budală, who was born in the town of Câmpina in 1926 and died in 1989. Here's his song Hora rudărenilor:
Roma singer Gabi Luncă also features on the same album. She was born in the town of Vărbilău in 1938 and died in 2021. Apparently she was a favourite of former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife. Here's a song called Pe drumul de la Buzău:
Another artist appearing on this great album is Roma singer Cornelia
Catangă, who was born in the town of Zeletin in 1958 and died in 2021 due to Covid. During her career she toured widely and was often accompanied by her husband. Here is a song called Doamne, dă-mi putere (God, give me strength):
And finally another artist on the album is Accordionist Ionel Tudorache, who was born in Buzău in 1953 in the town of Buzău and like the previous musicians recorded for the state label of Electrecord. Here's a live version of his song Pe ulita armeneasca:
That's it from Muntenia for now, next stop is the capital Bucharest. In the meantime, as usual you can follow my virtual musical journey on my Tripline Map.
Maramureş is a valley in Northern Romania on the border with Ukraine. We'll stop here in the small city of Sighetu Marmaţiei, where singer/songwriter Ducu Bertzi was born in 1955. He started out with the fiddle at the age of 8, but went on to play the guitar in various rock bands. He went on to swap his electrical guitar for an acoustic one, singing folk songs, mostly his own compositions and intonations of poems by various writers. Here is one of his more famous songs called M-am îndrǎgostit numai de ea (I fell in love with her only) from his 2013 album Dor de Duca:
Multi-instrumentalist, multi-media artist and computer scientist Mircea Florian, also known as Florian din Transilvania, was born in the city of Satu Mare in 1949. Starting off in folk rock he was an early adopter of hippy culture and a experimenter and pioneer of electronic music in the late 1960's. His music became a blend of Romanian folk with Indian influences and psych rock. During his career he became increasingly critical of the Ceaucescu regime in Romania and much of his music was censored by the authorities. In 1986 he defected to West Germany, where he still resides. Here is an early song of his from his 1971 album Pădure de voie bună called Pădure linistitoare:
Next we are heading to the commune of Podarinear Craiova in the Oltenia region of southern Romania. This is where musician, actor and poet Tudor Gheorghe was born in 1945. During the Communist times he repeatedly got himself into trouble over his political stance, even getting kicked out of school and later his music being banned by the authorities. He recorded most of his music live and only accompanied on his guitar or lute. Later he collaborated with orchestras to give his music a fuller sound. Here is a short song of his called Doamne la duşmanii mei:
Roma violinist Florea
Ciocă (1916-1979) was born in the township of Segarcea in Dolj County of the Oltenia region. He was in high demand at weddings in his local area and later rose to national and international prominence and his style is still seen as a benchmark for Gypsy fiddling. Here is a track which featured on the 2008 compilation The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies called Mierlita cand e bolnava:
That's it for today, next we are exploring the most populous region of Romania, Muntenia. In the meantime you can follow my virtual musical journey on my Tripline map.
