There are three major regions in Romania: Transylvana, Muntenia (Wallachia) and
Moldavia. In terms of folk music and dance, each has a unique identifiable flavor, shaped in no small measure by history and demographics.
When one talks of Romanian Moldavia, there are immediate possibilities for confusion. Although Moldavia comprises the northeast part of the country, its eastern border abuts the former Soviet republic (now independent country) of Moldavia. The Romanian region and independent country share much in common beyond their name and at times during their histories were politically joined.
Those of you who play klezmer and other types of Jewish music may have taken special notice of this article's title "Hora Mare". Moldavia was one of several
Eastern European areas rich in klezmer tradition and it's not surprising there are many words borrowed with identical or near-identical meanings. For example, the
Romanian 'doina' has a similar rubato and improvisational quality to its Jewish counterpart.* (*Moldavia was very important in Jewish cultural life. The capital city of Iasi (Jassy), had a thriving Yiddish theater. Indeed, if one mines the song made popular by
Aaron Lebedeff, "Rumania, Rumania" merely for food names, one will come up with several that are used interchangeably by ethnic Romanians and Romanian Jews.)
Literally, 'hora mare' means 'the big circle' and In Moldavia, there are two types
musically defined by meter and tempo. The slower is typically notated in a 3/8 meter and primarily found in the sub-region of Bucovina. Although this genre is in triple meter, it is decidedly not waltz-like because the rhythmic accents fall on beats 1 and 3. The faster hora is in 2/4 meter. Occasionally, the musicians will change from slow to fast without changing the melody, merely by altering the rhythmic structure (going from 3/8 to 2/4). More typically, different melodies are used from one to the other.
Apart from shepherd instruments, a typical band would have one or more violins,
known regionally as 'scripca'. Other melodic instruments include trumpet and clarinet. Basses, accordions, cimbaloms and violins and/or violas offer rhythmic and harmonic support.
The hora is as much a social event as a dance. It can involve the entire community,
the circle expanding to accommodate new participants and contracting as others
leave. The steps are not as complicated as in other dances; consequently, horas are a staple of the repertoire. The hora notated here "Horă Bucoveniei" (Bucovinian hora) is an excellent example of a slow hora mare.
I found what I think is Alexandru Biderel's recording (although the harmonies are slightly different than my transcription) on a YouTube video.
The video doesn't show Biderel or any musicians; it's a series of still shots of Bucovina folklore with the music used as a sound track. However, it's on the internet!
{This link can be an entrance into an amazing introduction to Eastern European styles. Just explore some of the related video links and see what you find! - Stacy Phillips}
author bio
Miamon Miller has been playing the folk music of Eastern Europe for 40 years. His performance credits include the Aman Folk Ensemble in Los Angeles as well as Fuge Imaginea, Bucovina Klezmer and Trei Arcusi. Miamon initiated the Romanian and Trans-Carpathian music courses at the East European Folklife Center's summer workshops and taught them for nearly 15 years. He has an MA in ethnomusicology from UCLA and was awarded a 10-month Fulbright scholarship in the mid 70s' to study a Romanian-Transylvanian instrumental genre.
Here is a guide to some Romanian pronunciations that Miamon sent.
A, a - a as in father
Ă, ă - a as in around
Â, â - i as in girl (see Î)
E, e - e as in let
I, i - i as in machine
Î, î - i as in girl
O, o - o as in note; also o as in gone
U, u - u as in duke
C, c - c as in cello (ch) when before E or I, otherwise c as in cat
Ch, ch - ch as in chaos (k)
G, g - g as in germ (j) when before E or I, otherwise g as in go
Gh, gh - gh as in ghost (g)
J, j - z as in azure (zh)
Ş, ş - s as in sugar
Ţ, ţ - tz as in quartz (ts)
DIPTHONGS AND TRIPTHONGS:
The Romanian language has many dipthongs (and tripthongs), which are pronounced separately but in rapid succession. The weaker vowel almost becomes semiconsonantal. Examples are:
ai - ai as in kaiser
au - au as in sauerkraut
ău - a as in about combined with u as in flute
ea - ea as in bread
ei - ei as in seine
eu - eu as in feud
ia - ya as in yacht
ie - ye as in yes
io - yo as in yoke
iu - yu as in yule
îi - i as in hike
îu - similar to eu in feud
oa - wa as in wash
oi - oi as in spheroid
ou - ou as in dough
uă - wu as in wuther
eai - yi as in yikes
eau - yow as in yowl
ieu - ieu as in lieu
The letter i at the end of a word is silent unless preceded by another letter i.
COMBINATIONS:
Ci, ci - chi as in chief
Ce, ce - che as in chess
Chi, chi - chi as in Chianti
Ghe, ghe - ghe as in ghetto
Ghi, ghi - gee as in geese
Ge, ge - ge as in genesis
Gi, gi - gi as in giraffe
