Folk music is an oral collective creation and art by
excellence. According to the performing manner it can be divided into three
categories: vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental. They can be interpreted
by individuals or by groups. The music folklore knows three genres: lyrical,
epic and dramatic. The lyrical genre includes doina, lament, lullabies,
burial songs, disenchantment, wedding songs. The dramatic genre: the puppeteers,
the evening sittings of the village women, the rainmakers.
The folklore of the winter season, occasioned by Christmas
and the New Year, is represented by carols, wish making and mask games.
The carol is one of the ancestral musical genres, partly practiced by the
church, with a rich profane content. Through the carol, wishes of thriving
and happiness are addressed especially by groups of children or young people
sometimes accompanied by instruments.
The mask games hold a strong magic substratum, lost in
the long run, preserved only as a musical ritual. Călușarii is a dance
with magic load. It is performed by young men and its related to fecundity
and to the initiation in the ancient cult of the Sun.
The folklore genres related to no special occasion are
the ballad and the doina. The ballad also called the old-age song is sung
on the occasion of gatherings, before an audience. It has a wide theme
range and over 300 themes are known. The masterpiece of the genre is the
pastoral ballad "Miorița" (Little Ewe Lamb). Doina is so widely spread
that it is often mistaken for the folk song proper. Doina features a musical
style of a lyrical nature, which conveys feelings of sadness, longing,
and nostalgia. |