Manele in RomaniaExaropea: Ethnomusicologies and Modernities Series Editors: Philip V. Bohlman and Martin Stokes “Phe new millennium halle nomusicologists, dedicated to studying the music of the world, to examine anew the Western musics they have treated as “tra- “Gitional,” and to forge new approaches to world musics that ate often overlooked trecause of their deceptive familiarity. As the modem discipline of ethnomusicol- ogy expanded during the second half of the 1. influenced signifi- Cantly by ethnographic methods in the social sciences, ethnomusicology’s “field” ely shifted to the exoticized Other, The comparative methodologies pre- jst scholars to study and privilege Western musics viously generated by Europe: awere deliberately discarded. Europe as a cultural area was banished ro historical miusicology. and European vernacular musics became the spoils left co folk-musie and, later, popular-music studies. Furopea challenges ethnomasicology to return to Europe and to encounter its Aisciplinary pastafresh, and the presen isa timely moment to do so, European unity nervously but insistently asserts itself through the political and culrural agendas of the European Union, causing Europeans to reflect on a bitterly and violencly frag- mented past and its ongoing repercussions in the present, and to confront new chal- Lenges and opportunities for integea tellectual moment (0 be seized as Europeans reformulate the history of the present, an opportunity to move 11 and atomism the later twentieth century has bequeathed and to enter into broader social, cul mn, There is also an Dreyond the fragmen Europea is not simply a reflection of and on the current state of res ww directions and experiment with diverse ap- that can engage scholars, musicians, and S ther intetlocutors in debates and discussions crucial to understanding the present hi dialogue. ity will be animated by reflexive attention to the specific social configurations of cnowledge of and scholarshi of Europe. Such knowledge and its ‘circulation as ethnomusicological scholarship are by no means dependent on profes- nteractions the volumes proaches. The series establishes a foru corical juncture. TI ounded in ethnomusicology’s interdisciplinar- on the mus ional academics, but rather are conditioned, as elsewhere, by complex: Trenwcen universities, museums, amateur organizations, state agencies, and markers. Both the broader view to which ethnomusicology aspires and the critical edge nec- essary to understanding the present moment are served by broadening the base on ‘which “academic” d “Europe” will emerge from the volumes as a space for critical dialogue, embrac- ing competing and often antagonistic voices from across the continent, across the ‘Atlantic, actos the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and across a world altered rneluctably by European colonialism and globalization. The diverse subjects and j nerdisciplinary approaches in individual volumes capture something of-—and, in a Simall way, become part of —the jangling polyphony through which the “New Eu- trope” has explosively taken musical shape in public discourse, in expressive culture cussion proceeds. ina, increasingly, in political form, Europea: Ethnomusicologies and Modernitiesaims to provide a critical framework necessary to capture someth dynamics of test and mediate the senses of ide 1g of the turbulera © gaging the forces that inform and deform, corm — y, selfhood, belonging, and progress that shapr<: sie performance, “European” musical experience in Europe and across the world. M4, 15, 16, 18, 19. 20. 21 Celtic Modern: Music at the Global Fringe, edited by Martin Stokes and Philil p> V. BohIman, 2003. Albanian Urban Lyric Song in the 19308, by Eno Kogo, 2004. The Mediterranean in Music: Critical Perspectives, Common Concerns, Cultureas Differences, edited by David Cooper and Kevin Dawe, 2005, On a Rock in the Middle of the Ocean: Songs and Singers in Tory Island, Ireland, by Lillis © Laoire, 2005. Transported by Song: Corsican Voices from Oral Tradition to World Stage, by Care - line Bithell, 2007. Balkan Popular Culture and the Ottoman Ecumene: Music, Image, and Regionex. Political Discourse, edited by Donna A. Buchanan, 2007. Music and Musicians in Crete: Performance and Ethnography in a Mediterranece 7. Island Society, by Kevin Dawe, 2007. The New (Ethno)musicologies, edited by Henty Stobart, 2008. Balkan Refrain: Form and Tradition in European Folk Song, by Dimitri ©. Golemovie, 2010. Music and Displacement: Diasporas, Mobilities, and Dislocations in Europe arze: Beyond, edited by Erik Levi and Florian Scheding, 2010. Balkan Epic: Song, History, Modernity, edited by Philip V. Bohlman and Nach = Petkovié, 2012. What Makes Music European: Looking beyond Sound, by Marcello Sorce Keller 2012. The Past Is Always Present: The Revival of the Byzantine Musical Tradition ae Mount Athos, Tore Tvarne Lind, 2012. Becoming an Ethnomusicologist: A Miscellany of Influences, by Bruno Neu, 201 3 Empire of Song: Europe and Nation in the Eurovision Song Contest, by Date ‘Tragaki, 2013. Revival and Reconciliation: Sacred Music in the Making of European Modernieye by Philip V. Bohman, 2013. Simi Musical Performance and the Politics of Indigencity in Northern Europe, > ‘Thomas R. Hilder, 2014. This Thing Called Music: Evays in Honor of Bruno Nett, edited by Vietoria Lined say Levine and Philip V. Bohlman, 2015. Musical Exodus: Al-Andalus and its Jewish Diasporas, edited by Ruth Davis, 201 Neapolitan Pestcards: The Canzone Napolesana as Transnational Subject, edited ty Golfredo Plastino and Joseph Sciorra, 2016 Manele in Romania: Cultural Expression and Social Meaning in Balkan Pop ze lar Music, edited by Margaret Beissinger, Speranga Radulescu, and Anca Gi urcheseu, 2016.Manele in Romania Cultural Expression and Social Meaning in Balkan Popular Music Edited by Margaret Beissinger Speranta Radulescu Anca Giurchescu ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham * Boulder + New York + Londonsua blished by Rowman & Littlefield “atolly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Gi S01 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 esw.cowman.com p. Ine ERSTE Stiftung this project was made posible chrough generous fundit we by ERSTE Stiftung, _Jnit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London $ 11 4AB manele has considered its music, es, and the performance {paces in which they live and breathe. Ir will no longer do to cite a few lyrics to point ‘€> manea’ Kitsch qualities or its complicity with transition gangsterism. This volume sears froma different and significantly more conversational place. The conversation ‘5x question involves performers and waiters, Romanians and non-Romanians. Like ary such conversation, it produces more questions than it answers. Bur it keeps the sreanea file open. and one open, moreover, to non-Romanian readers. From the point > £ view of Europea’s editorship, this is definitely something to be happy about. ‘The “sadness” at the heart of manele will, no doubt, remain untouched by our aminations. Its, after all, where the core pleasures of manele li, and within such Structures of feeling, ongoing possibilities for self-reflection and social transforma- ion, Sadness may indeed be manipulative, bur few things have been more manipu- jon-states’ efforts co engineer human happiness. We can for a while longer. Leative than the modern surely afford co live with manele’ “sad story.” if i really is on Martin Stokes Philip V. BohimanAcknowledgments ‘The contributing cocditors express their deep gratitude to the institutions and peo— ple who have made the creation and publication of this volume possible. We would. like to thank, first of all, che Erste Stifiung Austrian Foundation, which, through the PATTERNS Lectures Program and project “Manele in Romania: Cultural Ex- pression and Social Meaning in Balkan Popular Music,” has supported the authors” research and production of the volume. Erste Stiftung joined the National University- of Music in Bucharest, represented by Dan Dediu Sandu (rector) and Smaranda Murgan (dean of the Composition, Musicology, and Music Pedagogy faculty), who- together resisted the virulent oppo colleagues by supporting = series of six public lectures titled “The Manea as Phenomenon, the Manea as Object of Public Debate” delivered by several of the authors of this volume. They were held at the National University of Music in 2011 and were underwritten by the Erste Stiftung Foundation. We owe thanks to the Romanian Peasant Museum in Bucha- rest and its cultural foundation, Al. Trigara Samurcas, institutions that considered ‘manele—a genre by and large shunned by the Romanian academic world—deserving: of solid anthropological inquiry and their assistance. We would like to offer a special word of thanks to Philip Bohlman and Martin Stokes for their great interest in the subject matter of our project, as well as their encouragement and invaluable advice regarding its produ ‘We gratefully recognize the numerous performers of manele (lintari, manelisti), ‘managets, cameramen, record sellers, fans, and adversaries of manele, ethn« and ethnomusicologists, who have willingly subjected themselves to our relentless questions and with whom we have had fruitful conversations. Of these, tion (in alphabetical order): fon Albeyteanu; Dan Bursue; Aurel Cie: and Radu Diricel; George Dumitru; Helene Eriksen; Constantin Farimités Gicugi from Apiritori; Victor Gore; Marius and Dumitru lonigés Stefan Lonel lonigis Mist ion to manele of thcai Acknowledgments eoth advocates and opponents, Lewpoints, Supporters of manele are app: sarnergy is enough to keep it in fashion. Sen from the objective distance that an ethnologist attempts to maintain, peanele are the cumulative product of Romania’s Balkan-Oriental past, the nation iL ist culcural policies of the former communist regime, Western cultural pressure, yccedlerated globalization, and the wild capitalism marring the country in the a Xo decades, including the unclear social relations it has generated. Manele are not 4 mply music but rather a complex, syncretic phenomenon, bore from the fusion See eclatively new vocal and instrumental music on the one hand, and specific Lorrical verses, dance, gestures, speeches, clothing, visual symbols, and patterns of Lcchavior during its production on he other. A significant phenomenon is that pesanele have also become, in their amplitude and dynamism, a pretext for the vent J nag of social tensions whose causes are older and deeper than the apparent ones, ‘chiar is, sympathy or antipathy toward mance. ‘We present, in the pages following, an ethnographic description of the manca Phenomenon, beginning with a review of its historical path and followed by ethno- Togical interpretations.” HISTORICAL DATA DDisring the mid-nineteenth century, the principalities of Wallachia and Moldova (in ‘che south and cast, respectively, of present-day Romania) were still under Turkish ‘Suzerainty, an attenuated form of the three-hundred-year vassalage that they experi- “cnced.? Between 1711 and 1821, the Sublime Porte determined that the Romanian ‘piincipalities would cach be governed by 2 Greek ruler who was to be recruited ‘From the Phanar District in Constantinople. This was the period during which che *Orientalization” of social and cultural life in the Romanian principalities reachedMusic, Dance, Peformance 5 its peak while also acquiring a nonspecific, pan-Balkan color. The two principalities were united in 1859, gained their independence from the Ottomans in 1877, and became the nucleus of the current national state of Romania, Nevertheless, for a long time, even up until the present, cultural expression in these regions has preserved signs of Ottoman domination, The other provinces, Transylvania and Banat, situ- ated in the western third of Romania, endured a shorter period of Turkish vassalage (1526-1683) with relatively minor cultural repercussions. “The term manea first appeared in Moldovan records in the 1850s. At che time, it designated a slow, languid, possibly free-rhythm Turkish love song interspersed with wails thac had been in fashion a few decades previously (sce chapter 2). The manea, accompanied by the canbur, was sung at social gatherings by the Romani slave musi- cians of the boyars, as well as at times by the boyars themselves. Once forced to adopt “Oriental music” at court, the boyats remained attached to it ater the coercion had waned. The European-influenced Romanian intelligentsia criticized it, however, as a reminder of a past that they had hoped ro erase from their fellow countrymen's col- lective memory. Their preferences leaned toward Western music spread by opera and operetta companies on tour in the Romanian principalities, as well as Central Euro- pean-inspired army brass bands that had recently replaced the Turkish mehterhane {military brass band), Romanian symphonic orchestras that were taking root in the big cities, and the music of young women who were beginning to display their skills as pianists and guitarists in aristocratic and bourgeois salons. The only written evidence of a nineteenth-century manea is a piece in psalm noration from 1830 that was later re- written in linear or Wester notation. It is debatable, however, whether this represents an actual manea or whether it was a different genre of Ottoman music (se figure 2.1). By the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, the manea was gradually being performed less frequently and typically by older léutari (professional traditional Romani musicians; sg, Mautar) for their more conserva- tive patrons (Alexandru 1980b:273). On a recording published around 1928, the ‘American ethnomusicologist John DeMetrick discovered a rather dynamic manea played by an urban saraf (instrumental or vocal-instrumental ensemble specializing in traditional music, rural or urban; pl. tarafuri).” Its melody was recognized by Florin lordan as a Turkish song recorded on the small Danube island of Ada Kaleh (inhabited exclusively by Turks) probably in the 1960s by an unknown researcher from the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore in Bucharest (see figure 1.2 and example 1.2"), In 1949, two folklorits came across an instrumental Turkish manea in the village of Clejani (Giurgiu County) southwest of Bucharest. Is slow melody, in line with the local traditional style, also discreetly outlines an “Oriental” sound (Gee figure 1.3 and example 1.3).! Another piece called a manea, in quick tempo and very different from the manea from Clejani, was recorded in 1962 at Brincoveanca, another village near the Danube." It would be risky, however, to connect it with the ninetcenth-century manea. Moreover, “itis not clear when the manea song form developed dance associations” (Beissinger 2007:106)ul Anca Giurchescu and Speranta Radulescu JTL. A Figure 1.2. “Turkish manea": Aman Doctor Colecton of Jotn OaMet: Yanscred by Sperarya Raodescu In the mid-1960s, several musicians from Bucharest launched a form of music that was perceived as absolutely new: the mavea. 1 seemed to be borrowed from the ‘Turks of Dobruja (a province in southeastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria) who wete quite numerous at the time. Its distinctive element was the syncopated thythmic accompaniment (amphibrach + spondee, ie, U = U [= the gifietell pattern. A few pieces circumvented national communist censorship and made it to commercial LPs. The new manea spread in the Romani milieus of south- ‘ern Romanian cities and villages, according to studies made in the 1970s by Anca Giurchescu and Robert Garfias (Garfias 1984:88). Its music, this time the basis of a dance in which women excelled, seemed a far cry from the lascivious music of the aristocratic manea of the previous century. Its simple, scarcely ornamented melody, with a precise beat, was sung with a vocal timbre and presentation considered by ical to Romanians to be specific to Roma. Most of the associated lyrics were erotic, Some ‘manele, however, extolled an idyllic Romani slum, In the 1980s, the new manea was not yet well-known, At a celebration, it would be performed once or twice by the typical Romani band of the time: violin, cimba- Jom, accordion, double bass, and sometimes clarinet, saxophone, and/or trumpet, all of which were amplified. (Serbian-Banat music infl composed folk music” was simultaneously fashionable in Romanian milieus.) Manele were promoted by a few music bands that recorded them in clandestine studios and sold recordings on the black market at extortionate prices. In the early 1990s snced by Yugoslav “newlya9 col sempre Figure 1.3. “Turkish manea” trom the village of Clejani Ccalected by Pavia Carp anc Conetntn Zant: angered by Pascal Bantou (Archives of te Constartn Sou Inette of Ehnogaphy and Fakir, Buches) in Tiber Asan, lnstumentie muncale ae popes Bucharest Esra Ge stat porns erated a 1358Anca Ginrcbesen and Speranta Radulesce revolution of 1989, manele eluded the cen- jegrating in the new political climate. Popular “ands rushed to record manele and Serbian-Banat music in hundreds of versions. Sewly established. privare labels quickly produced cassettes that were distributed ia and Moldova, the provinces once snmediately afier the anti-commun srship. which, in any case, was dis Bi over the country, but especially in Munt Lcpendent on the Sublime Porte. Manele became constiuents then, of a larger car rically named “Ori names including “Turkish “Arabic music,” and “Gypsy music,” popular in both Romani and Romanian cs (Beissinger 2007; S. Radulescu 2000). By the end of the 1990s, manele “sped this category in populaiy. As in the nineteenth cencury, however, the term Durned was often employed indiscriminately co any “Oriental-sounding” pieces that J ventually became increasingly different from one another, losing any coherence as a csignation. Today. the plural form manele, used by people in everyday conversation, appropriately reflects the diversity of the genre. "Manele woday comprise a dynamic music, performed live with deafe ity and timbres distorted by echo effects: the music sometimes includes densely Tenamented melodies and a particular vocal timbre. Perceived as “modern,” manele E-scinate ordinary Romanians, chiefly the poorly educated younger generations in ooth villages and cities. In regionally adapced forms, manele became popular even in Transylvania, where people have less of an inclination for exotic oddities" Anyone ecan dance to manele, but the expert dancers are always Roma, Manele can be heard ‘Sverywihere: im the streets and parks, on buses and taxis, in private homes, and in merged: manelist (xg, manelis), that is, tal music,” with alternativ restaurants and stores. Specialists have also spanea composers and performers who, like all professional traditional music “Wiuari), are able co perform various other traditional and popular musics as well. “An entire industry has been established for the creation, commodification, dis- Semination, and consumption of manele: recording studios, management agencies, “club restaurants, nightclubs, newspapers, and magazines, many owned by maneliti ‘themselves. Just as in the nineteenth century, intellectuals find manele repulsive—as in the other Balkan countries, for instance, chalga in Bulgaria (Statelova 2005). Ie is the lyrics that repel intellectuals the most: they are viewed as immoral, vulgar, and uncouth, in consonance with the Fierce capitalism, corruption, and moral decay in today’s Romania. To these intellectuals, manele stand for society's tendency toward “Gypsiication? and a stubbornness to remain anchored in the Tarco-Oriental cul tural universe.'* Journalists speak and write, in helpless anget, about the “mancliza- tion’ of culture, politics, and the country at large. A pseudoscientfic theory has appeared and is being spread via the Internet that “demonstrates” the biological iakriority of manea admirers. Acid remarks about manele and their fans, declarations of war against manele signed by young people, and even an anti-manea computer vi rus can be found on Romanian websites. The mayor of Cluj has issued an ordinance forbidding taxi drivers from listening to manele at work (national television channel, DOLL). Bur these concerted attacks have failed ro stem the progress of manele, on the contrary, they seem (0 boost it