Romania - Bucharest

 After skirting around the capital on my last post, we are now heading straight into Bucharest and see what the city has to offer in terms of music.  I visited Bucharest for a couple of days back in 2014, here are a couple of photos from that trip:

View to the parliament building

The old town

One of my first encounters with the Gypsy music of Romania was the 1997 movie Gadjo Dilo (Crazy Stranger in the Romani language).  It's the story of a young, naïve and floppy-haired Frenchman, Stéphane, who travels to Romania looking for a Roma singer called Nora Luca, to whom his father used to listen to all the time before his death.  Armed with a tape recorder he ends up as a guest in a Gypsy village, not speaking any of the language and being viewed with suspicion by its inhabitants.  It then turns out that a young woman in the village called Sabina, played by actress, painter and musician Rona Hartner, speaks French, and after some initial hostility a love affair ensues.  The film deals with the continued prejudice against the Roma community, but also features a lot of Gypsy music performed by village musicians and enthusiastically supported by Rona Hartner.  If you haven't seen the movie I highly recommend it for an insight into Gypsy life and for the music.  Here is a scene from the movie of the song Tutti Frutti, the soundtrack has also been issued as a CD:

Rona Hartner was born in Bucharest in 1979, but sadly died recently after a battle with lung and brain cancer.  Apart from her acting and painting career she also recorded a lot of music, specialising in Gypsy music.  She lived the last couple of decades of her life in France.  Here is a live version of a song from her 2013 album Gypsy Therapy with DJ Tagada called Nationalité Vagabonde, a sentiment I can identify with:

RIP Rona Hartner.

The Shukar Collective are an Ursari Roma band that fuses traditional Gypsy music with electronica.  They produce sounds by tapping spoons and other domestic objects combined with an analogue synthesizer.  Here is a song from their 2005 album Urban Gypsy called Bar Boot:

The Mahala Rai Banda is a Roma brass band founded in 2004 in Bucharest by violinist and composer Aurel Ionita, who is related to several members of Taraf de Haidouks.  They blend traditional wedding music with Balkan Beats.  It makes for great party music.  Here is a song from their 2019 album Ghetto Blasters called Ding Deng Dong.  The album won the Songlines 2009 Best Album Award:

Bucharest band Balkan Taksim combine Balkan Psych with Subterranean bass and low-fi synth electronica, blending old with new and analog with digital.  Here's a song called Anadolka from their 2021 EP Žali Zare:

That wraps up our tour of Romania, next stop is Bulgaria.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual musical travels on my Tripline map.

Romania - Muntenia

 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.

Romania - Maramureş & Oltenia

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 Podari near 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.

Romania - West Moldova & Transylvania

 

I spent a few days in Romania about 10 years ago visiting a friend in Bucharest (see photo above), then driving across Transylvania (not stopping on account of the vampires...) to Cluj-Napoca and onwards to Hungary.  It's a beautiful country from what I have seen and there is plenty of good music to discover.  

Historically Romania is divided into 9 historical regions, of which we will explore a few starting in the east with West Moldova.  First stop there is the village of Zece Prăjini, home to gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia.  Sons of farmers this 12-piece (24-legged) brass band has single-handedly revived Balkan brass sounds in Romania and the wider region with their frenzied rhythms and infectious party sound.  What a great first encounter with the sounds of Romania!  Their song Asfalt Tango was their first international hit and features on their 2009 Best of album and also on this set for the NPR Tiny Desk series:

Fiddler Aurel Mandache was born in 1933 in the village of Răcăciuni and died in 2013 while hunting for mushrooms (not sure if he ate the wrong ones, fell off a cliff or died of unrelated causes).  He played his fiddle at weddings and events of the local Moldovan population as well as for Hungarian and Gypsy minorities.  Here's a tune from his 2003 album Fiddle Dance Music from Moldva, which is no longer available, called Serény Magyaros:

Next we are entering the region of Transylvania, home to Count Dracula or Vlad the Impaler, although I'm reliably informed that most vampires have now migrated to become politicians around the world...  As we mop the sweat off our brows from dancing along to Fanfare Ciocărlia, here comes something altogether calmer from singer/songwriter Lizabett Russo, who is originally from Braşov, but is now based in Scotland.  She combines gentle folk songs from her native country with contemporary jazz and avant-garde sounds.  She sings in both English and Romanian accompanied by gentle instrumentation.  Here is a short piece from her 2019 album While I Sit and Watch This Tree, Vol.1 called Valuri si Ganduri (Waves and Thoughts):

Next we are heading to the city of Târgu Mureș where singer/songwriter and actress Ada Milea was born in 1975. Much of her work has been written and performed for theatre productions and her performances certainly have a theatre vibe, albeit of the absurd and comical variety.  In fact I recommend that you just type in her name on YouTube and there's a wealth of really funny stuff, even if you don't understand any Romanian.  She plays an acoustic guitar, but is often accompanied by her 'band' that play toy instruments, fridge doors and anything else that comes to hand, while looking dead serious.  It's difficult to describe, so here are a couple of examples: 

 

I wish I could understand more Romanian, although she has also released one English language album in 2006 called Quixote, obviously to go with a play about the Spanish windmill battling hero.

Accordionist and Roma manele singer Nicolae Guţă was born in Aninoasa in 1967.  Manele is a genre of folk-pop music from Romania.  His first mainstream hit was a song called De când te iubesc pe tine (Since I've been loving you), and features on the 2008 The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies:

It is well known that Transylvania has a sizeable Hungarian minority, but what is less known is that historically there was also a large Armenian minority in the region working mostly as traders and entrepreneurs.  The latter group largely disappeared by the 20th century or got assimilated into the Hungarian population, but some of their culture has been kept alive.  I don't know much about Alex Száva, except that he is of Transylvanian-Armenian heritage and has released an album in 2007 entitled Armenian Folk Songs from Transylvania.  On it he plays various instruments himself, such as the accordion, mandolin, udon and flute.  Here's a song from the album called The World's Deceitfulness:

That's it for today from Romania, we'll continue our virtual journey next time.  In the meantime, as usual, you can track my trip on my Tripline map