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Local Custom- Project Team, Students of Duiliu Zamfirescu School, Focsani, Romania
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Ballads

The "songs of olden times" as the folk call them the "ballads" represent the most important part of the epic genre of Romanian folk music. Their origin is lost in the mists of time. The Ballads have been enriched by new themes in the course of the centuries. They flourished especially from the 16-th to the 18-th century, and have continued to exist to this day.

Being improved in the course of time, the ballads contain stratification of all the centuries through which they have passed. They represent in artistic images the common people's conception of the world, their struggle for a better life. By turns, the folk heroes defy the fantastic wilderness of darkness, they fight the invaders of the ancestral land and the class enemy.

Mainly played at the peasant wedding festive dinner, the ballads are sometimes preceded by an instrumental prelude designed to create an atmosphere propitious to narration. Imperceptibly, the musician borrowed from the musical content of the ballad he is to perform. The performer has several typical formulas, with which he may address his audience in order to arouse their interest and to ensure attentive listening, after which the thread of the narrative continues its natural course.
Cătălina Stoica