Romani (Gypsy) Music-Making at Weddings in Post-Communist Romania: Political Transitions and Cultural Adaptations

Abstract

Anyone attending a traditional wedding in Romania during the communist period, such as in the 1970s or '80s, and returning to such a celebration during the 1990s or early 2000s would immediately notice that, although structurally the wedding ritual proceeds more or less the same now as before, the non-ritual music and dance that currently form part of the festivities are significantly different. Amplified instruments in many cases have replaced acoustic ones, and electronic instruments have joined and often supplanted traditional ones.Moreover, the songs now widely heard are more frequently "Balkan pop" and "Gypsy" music rather than Romanian traditional repertoire, and "Gypsy" as opposed to Romanian dance forms dominate. This article examines how and why these changes have taken place, and provides a description of a typical contemporary village wedding. Brief introductory remarks on politics in twentieth-century Romania, Romani musicians, traditional weddings, and communist-period repertoire precede my main discussion of post-communist wedding music and dance genres, including a detailed treatment of two principal forms (the "manea" and "lăutar horă"). I also include a summary ethnographic account of a village wedding that I attended in 2002 that illustrates, in particular, post-communist celebratory music and dance.

Música y relaciones interétnicas. El fenómeno sonoro como herramienta de demarcación identitaria en un contexto post-socialista

“…Cintarea Romaniei 15 , el estado seleccionó, construyó y diseminó esos símbolos que estaban destinados a construir una imagen idílica y romantizada del país(Oancea, 2007;Cosma, Sirli, Radulescu, Giurchescu, 2010;Beissinger, 2005). Otro ejemplo es el caso de las danzas del cåluşerul 16 .De todo este proceso centrado en la reinvención de la nación rumana, una de las principales consecuencias fue la del destierro total de cualquier manifestación musical que pudiera contradecir los supuestos orígenes puros de la "música rumana", como es el caso de la música gitana o muzică orientală y la de otras minorías étnicas como los Csangos o los Szekely.…”