Romanian Folk Music
Doinas
“Doina” is a melancholy Romanian
folk song that is not organically connected with any given custom, rite
or ceremonial. The ancient “doina” is particularly worthy of mention and
is performed whenever the mood of the folk singer or instrumentalist urges
him to express his thoughts and feelings through its voice.
Originally, it seems, the
word "doina" was a technical term applied by the folk to a particular kind
of song. But since the time of the 19th century poet Vasile Alecsandri,
the word has acquired a general currency to mean "vaguely and poetically"
any song of free extended rhythm and melancholy character. Unlike the vocal
doinas, the instrumental ones are more richly ornamented according to the
increased possibilities of the respective instruments.
The literary themes of the
doinas are particularly rich. Their specific melody has carried poems of
grief, of sorrow, of trouble, and of estrangement, sprung up from the former
hard life of the working people, darkened by torment and burdened with
all kinds of deprivation. The essence of such songs is not their "pessimism"
as bourgeois writers have sought to maintain. To the folk song creator,
the social injustice was obvious. Hence the accents of revolt and sometimes
of blind fury that have penetrated into the verses of the doinas.
Cristiana Ignat
"Duiliu Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
Romanian Ballads
The "songs of olden times"
as the folk call them, the "ballads" as we have been accustomed to call
them since the days of the poet Vasile Alecsandri, 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 chiselled and 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. In the course
of the centuries, the dragons and monsters are replaced by Turkish or other
invaders, by the tyrant prince and his boyars, and finally by grasping
landlords. They reflect the historic past of the people filtered through
its mentally according to unwritten laws of artistic generalisation. The
events and heroes of the ballads represent pre-eminently typical circumstances
and widely known facts. The concrete historic reality is processed, changed
and interpreted by means of the art of words and sounds.
In Transylvania and Northern
Moldavia the ballads have become scarcer nowadays. There, epic texts are
sung to the melodies of doinas or of songs-proper. On the other hand, in
southern Moldavia, Dobrogea, Wallachia, Oltenia and the Banat one finds
specific melodies consecrated exclusively to the narrative ballad type.
If epic ballads have almost completely disappeared in the Banat, they are
still vigorously alive in the other provinces just named, notably in Wallachia
and southern Oltenia. Directed at a receptive audience, they are, in those
parts of the country, mainly found in the repertoire of the “l?utari”,
the professional folk musicians.
Mainly played at the peasant
wedding festive dinner, the ballads are sometimes preceded by a "taxim",
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. Every now and then instrumental interludes
break in, allowing the bard to rest his voice and to marshal his thoughts.
He tries to enlist the effective participation of the audience, by mimicry
and other dramatic effects with which he stresses certain moments of the
action and dialogue.
“The Sun and the Moon”, probably
one of the oldest ballads, belongs to the category of those with mythological
and fantastic content, similar to fairy-tales.
The ballad of "Mesterul Manole"
(“Manole” the master mason) who does not hesitate to immure his wife alive
in the foundation of the Arges Monastery he was building, also takes its
origin from ancient myths and beliefs. It is the localisation of a theme
widely infused in south - Eastern Europe: the animation of a building by
the sacrifice of a beloved one (motive: sacrifice for building).
The more recent epic creations,
beginning with those of the last century, abandon the epic recitative.
They are more and more sung to doina or song - proper melodies. This is
the case with "The song of the 1907 peasant rebellion", a versified account
of the incidents witnessed by the performer. To the tune of a song - proper,
the bard narrates the happenings, mentioning the name of the local "leaders
of the rebellion " and describing in thrilling words the barbarous repression.
Maria Cuconoiu
"D. Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
Romanian Pastoral Music
In the Romanian folk music
heritage, the repertory of shepherds' occupational music has an important
place.
Pastoral life is reflected
in many Romanian folk creations, and many carols, doinas, songs and dances
relate to shepherds and shepherding. It is known for instance that the
alpenhorns can only give a more or less ample series of harmonic sounds,
according to the construction of the particular instrument and to the skill
of the player using it.
The shepherd's repertory,
created in direct connection with their everyday life, contains certain
melodies whose ancient magic meaning has been lost in the course of time:
"When milking the sheep", "At measuring".
The simple subject matter
is known to all, and the performance consists of developing a sequence
of contrasted melodies, a song of sorrow alternating with lively (dance)
tune. The "programme" is as follows: shepherd is looking for his lost flock.
A sad song describes his feelings. Suddenly it seems to him that he sees
his sheep in the distance. The song of woe turns into a lively song, usually
into a dance tune. Sometimes the musical story is considerably amplified
by the interpolation of certain episodes, illustrated by music.
Laura Nedelcu
"D. Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
The Music of Romanian
Folk Customs
Romanian carols are not simple
songs with religious origin, but wide windows through which we are allowed,
once in a year, to go by the immaculate snow-towards the evergreen Heaven
and to eye-touch God. At least for an instant, in order to give us the
power to surpass the live' s obstacles. Carols put people in the mood for
a perfect communion with the simple and healing greatness of Jesus' Birth.
The carol singers bring announcing sounds in every house and they give,
to everybody they sing for the ability to feel much closer to God.
Romanian carols have a special
metaphysical dimension, which distinguish them from all other peoples'
Christmas songs.
In the course of centuries,
the Romanian people have created for themselves a rich stock of artistic
and cultural possessions, ornaments of their existence.
Their artistic creations
are, to this day, the object of a common preoccupation: at every stage,
from the cradle to the grave, they are bound to the life of the people
whose thoughts, feelings and aspirations they embody.
Closely linked to social
life in its manifold aspects, they have crystallised into a number of types
and repertories with clearly defined aims, answering to special circumstances.
With the gentle crooning of lullabies the mother lulls her baby to sleep.
The child itself creates its own world of sonorous toys, of songs and dances.
The yearly feasts are adorned and cheered by special songs and dances;
the shepherd accompanies his daily work with special melodies, and certain
songs and dances have been conceived in direct connection with the work
of the field. Weddings have their characteristic songs and dances, and
death has given rise to the creation of certain heartrending songs. In
their ballads the people sing of the feasts of their heroes and tell of
happenings of long ago. The "doinas" and the songs praise the beauty of
nature and sing of love, longing, yearning, sorrow, grief; the dances express
the exuberant love of life and the new creations reflect the deep changes
being achieved under our eyes in the soaring rhythm of the construction
of new life.
Madalin
Chiricuta
"D. Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
The genres of folklore being
historic categories with a social function and content and having their
own means of artistic realisation, continuously change their aspect in
time and space according to the evolution of the people's conception of
life. Those, which do not correspond disappear within a day, the others
undergo transformations according to the new social consciousness. Their
function, their content and even their manner of performance change. Relieved,
of their magical significance as well as their old train of superstitions,
a series of ritual creations have been transformed or are in course of
transformation into festive, ceremonial or independent artistic creations,
in which the spectacular prevails. Called to answer new purposes, they
are meant to enrich and beautify life. These facts, essential for the knowledge
of the process of development of folklore, deal a powerful blow to the
"traditional" conceptions according to which the genres of traditional
folklore and especially of ritual folklore are considered to be petrified
in immutable forms, their variants being nothing but the result of all
kinds of combinations of certain fixed of formulas.
Monica Dima
"D. Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
As vital of the life it describes,
folklore is in continuos transformation. Folk customs, ritual and ceremonial
in their essence, are a vestige of the past. Their origin, lost in the
mists of past ages, lies in the continuous aspiration of man to understand
life and all that is happening around him and to master surrounding nature,
to make it actively his slave. Many such artistic creations, which are
closely related to the ancient beliefs of men concerning the world, are
considered among the first endeavours to conquer nature. Though originating
in former epochs, the artistic ritual and ceremonial creations are still
alive but have lost their Initial meaning and content. Their study illuminates
the life and culture of people in the past, how they imagined the world.
Furthermore, not infrequently such artistic creations rise to great heights,
generally when their realistic character is evident. The knowledge of these
creations is particularly useful to those who for the development of a
national art at the service of the people.
Elena Prescornitoiu
"D. Zamfirescu" School,
Focsani, Romania
Teacher: Petru Dumitru <petrudumitru@netscape.net>
