Meeting in Bulgaria: 26.03.2012-30.03.2021

Traditional Musical instruments

PIPES

Fluier (Flute) - long or short 6 hole pipeCaval - long pipe with 5 finger holesNai - the Romanian panpipeOther pipes - Bucium (Alphorn), Ocarina, Flaute, Fifa

STRINGS

Cobza - short necked lute of Moldavia and WallachiaViolin

REEDS

Cimpoi - the Romanian bagpipeClarinet - developed in the 1700'sSaxophone - invented around 1840 by Adolphe SaxTaragot - invented by J Schunda, 1865

OTHERAccordionBrass and "fanfare"

FLUIER (Flute) The common fluier is the equivalent to our tin whistle, but made out of

wood with the lower aperture of reduced diameter. The fluier come in various sizes with the largest known as

the fluier mare or caval and the smallest known as thefluieras or trisca.

Common fluier musician, Dolj

Bistriţa Arges

CAVAL In Romanian the caval most often refers to the long flute with five finger

holes in groups of two and three with a simple block mouthpiece. It is found in Oltenia, Muntenia and south Moldavia. An old style of

playing where the player growls whilst playing continues in remote areas and amongst the Hungarian Csango minorities in Moldavia.

NAI (PANPIPE) His most famous pupil being musicians Gheorghe Zamfir. The nai can now

be found widely in gypsytarafs through Moldavia and Wallachia and most folk orchestras.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoM2tSpyhmY&feature=related

Flaute and piculine Around the river Olt there are transverse flutes, like the concert flute or

fife, with six or seven holes for the larger flaute and six holes for the smaller piculine.

BUCIUM (Alpenhorn) Is a big tube, opened at both ends and composed of long staves of fir,

ash, lime or nut tree wood, very well dry. These stoves are tightened with wooden or metal circles.

In the Apuseni Mountain the alpenhorn is called �tulnic .� In some regions it is played on the funerals. In the past the alpenhorn was used for signaling the Turkish invasions.

TARAGOT The taragot was used in the Royal Hungarian Army, but is rarely found in

Hungary now. A Banat musician, Luţa Ioviţă, who had played it in the army during World War I, returned to Banat (Romania) and introduced it there in the 1920s for dance music. This created a sensation, and eventually gave rise to a specific regional style.

Dumitru Farcaş, native to Maramureş, has made the taragot popular throughout Transylvania, and is probably the best known taragot player.

COBZA The cobza has a soft tone, most often tuned to D-A-D-G. It is generally

used to accompany violins or pipes. Playing melodies is rare due to the short neck construction. Once widespread through Moldavia, Oltenia and Muntenia cobza have become rare in village music, but can be seen in many "folk orchestras". The cobza can also be found in the Csango minority villages of Moldavia.

We have the musician known as lăutar meaning lute player where lute is derived from the middle eastern oud but generally refers to a fretted and often long necked lute.

Tudor Gheorghe - musician

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBsk8OM3bUQ&feature=related

VIOARA (Violin) The modern violin arrived in Romania in the 18th century and is know by a

variety of names; cetera - Transylvania, scripcar - Moldavia, lăuta  - Banat & Hunedoara. In Oltenia and Muntenia many different tuning systems were originally used for certain dance tunes, but these have mostly now been abandoned.

In a few areas of west Transylvania a second standard violin is used rhythmic harmonic accompaniment. This is though of as the "old style" compared with the developments in central Transylvania.

The second violin in the Transylvanian counties of Mureş, Bistriţa, and Cluj has only three strings.

Known as contră or braci this was found by Bela Bartok (1914) and included in his written works in 1934. It is most probable that this development came about through the gypsy musicians of the central Transylvania taraf

Oaş musicians

taraf, Mureş, Transylvania

Contră, Transylvania

taraf, Mihesu de Campie, Transylvania

ȚAMBAL (the tsambaly) Records show the existence of the ţambal in 16th century in

Romania, but it did not become popular until much later when it was taken up by the lăutari (gypsy musicians).

The gypsy instrument, which can be played hung from the shoulders by straps, spread into the villages by the 20th century.

The accompaniment formulae are relatively few and are generally rhythmical in Wallachia and Muntenia, and harmonic (arpeggios etc.) in Transylvania and Banat.

Accordion The accordion is dominating as the harmony accompaniment in most

regions' village music, replacing the the cobza, cimbalom and contra, being preferred due to its strong sound.

The majority of melody playing use of the accordion for dance music is in Muntenia. The best known accordionists recorded by Electrecord such as Fărâmiţa Lambru, Marcel Budală, and Ilie Udilă have a very smooth, but crisp style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVE9iQkeCNk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umFaQCvGFMU&feature=email

TRADITIONAL SONGSDOINA

The doina  is a free form lyrical song made up of a sequence of melodic elements ornamented and lengthened by the performer in a manner typical of the area. The doina is only found with the Romanians, throughout the whole of Romania, in vocal and instrumental versions, but is becoming rarer in Transylvania and Moldavia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPD9MBNsvM&feature=related

STRIGĂTURI (Rhythmic shouts in verses) Rhythmic shouts in verses are an integral part of Romanian folk dances. They take various forms depending on the locality of their origin but the

act of shouting or crying out interjections in the form of rhyming couplets whilst dancing is a phenomenon unique to Romania.

These shouts are spontaneous and the actual words used are frequently adapted to suit the ‘mood of the day’ generally making comment on life in the village or more recently in the stage performance group, or on characters in the village or the love lives of the participants or spectators.

Strigături play a number of different roles in Romanian folk dances. They provide animation for the dance by adding to the atmosphere and entertainment value of the performance.

They provide a rhythmic link between the accent of the verses and the rhythm of the dance steps, as the cadence of the strigături is the same as the cadence of the steps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ge7dzOM_Y&feature=related