Songs of the glass
Thursday, December 21st, 2006Raki glass most likely.
Two versions of the same song. World, world, sister world.
Romica Puceanu. The romanian queen of melismas:
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Lume, Lume
Lume Lume soro lumeLume
lume soro lume
Ca asa e lumea trecatoare
Unul naste si altul moare
Lume soro lume
Cel ce naste chifueste Cel ce moare petrezeste
Lume soro lume
Caci de mama si de tata
Nu te saturi nici o data
Lume soro lume
Si de frati si de surori
Nu te saturi pina mori
Lume soro lume
Fanfare Ciocarlia versiyonu:
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World, World
World, world – sister world
World, world – sister world
That is how our world is – transient.
One is born – the other dies.
World, sister world.
The one who is born – celebrates life.
The one who dies – turns to dust.
World, sister world.
World, world – sister world
World, world – sister world
You will never get tired of your mother and father.
World, world – sister world
And you will never be weary of your brothers and sisters
- until you die.
World, sister world
“…The Gore Brothers accompanied many different performers over the years with their band, but their favourite singer was Puceanu, because she sang one hundred per cent Lautari music and enjoyed improvising. Puceanu was a lively, funny woman, who never turned up at the studio without her teapot – filled with cognac. When one of the sound engineers noticed during a studio take that she was holding her words the wrong way up and mentioned this to her, Romica replied: “Would I ever have sung with these men (the Gore Brothers) if I could read?”. Yet the arrival of modern music in the long isolated Balkan state has seen to it that only a few young Romanians know such Puceanu classics as “Doi tovarasi am la drum” or “Balanus”. Romica Puceanu sang both of these songs on her debut record in 1964, using but few of the usual clichés of the ever-revelling Gypsy musician. The recordings with the Gore Brothers still represent the traditional “raw” withdrawn sound of the old taraf. The arrangements are clear and minimalist, creating space befitting Puceanu’s sparkling voice. Romica Puceanu meant to many Gypsies as much as the legendary chanson singer Maria Tanase meant to the Romanians. And it wasn’t only Bucharest intellectuals who saw in Romica Puceanu the “Billy Holliday of the East”.
But the Romanian music scene in the nineties was dominated by Balkan pop and there was hardly any room for the old generation of the Lautari. The Gore Brother’s Band disintegrated after the death of Aurel Gore, and the incomparable Romica Puceanu died following a serious car accident in 1996 on her way home from a wedding performance….”Grit Friedrich
The Romanian Doina
By Robert Garfias
The folk song type known as doina is widespread throughout most of Romania. It may be related to and may even have its origins in the cintec de leagan, or lullaby. In order to better comprehend the vast number of variants which exist in Romania under the general name, doina, I compiled a short taxonomy of all the recorded doine in my collection, including my original field tapes recorded there in 1977.This is therefore, neither a complete list of all known doinas nor even of all existing doina types. Since the collection is quite extensive, however, I am confident that this taxonomy gives a view of the great majority of Doina types.
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The Doina is always sung in free rhythm with varying degrees of embellishment and melisma.There are a number of tune types used for these semi-improvised performances of the doina. In this listing I have used the Romanian names for the type or sub type as given by the peformer, but at times I added my own observed description of the type based on similarity with others in the same category.The items in the list are each numbered according to the order of accession and thus the number is meaningless other than serving as a means of identifying each individual record. Many examples appear only with the type given as doina. Others have further descriptions based on origin, intent, tune type or function. For further clarification, I have added here, an unpublished article I wrote on the relationship of the Doine to Romanian urban popular music. Included in this listing are the locations of the recordings. The major cultural regions of Romania are Muntentia, Oltenia, Moldavia, Dobroghea, Banat and Transylvania. During the period of my research in Romania, it was not permitted to mention the names of these cultural and geographic regions, nor to describe their boundries. This was perhps out of fear of encroachment from Romania’s neighbors. The major traditional cultural regions are indicated in the map.The country was divided into smaller regions, like counties, and these were known as judet. The name of the judet as well as the town or city or origin are also given where ever known.
