Music in Romania

Hi,

Music is said to be a universal language. Indeed it helps to discover and better understand the culture of a country.

What are the most popular music genres in Romania? How about traditional music and instruments?

Who are the local artists you would recommend?

Where can you listen to them: are there any concerts or music festival held regularly?

Thank you in advance for participating,

Kenjee

Hi! To each his/her own, but as for this Canadian musician who loves music from Romania, let me testify to the incredible artistry of these instrumentalists/groups:  Ion Petre Stoican, Ionica Minune, Constantin Fulgerica, Paul Stanga, Costica Boieru, Marin Mexicanu, the Gore brothers, Toni Iordache, Marin Bunea, Giani Lincan, Ionel Tudorache, Anatol Stefanet (Moldova), Fanfare Ciocarlia, Taraf de Haidouks, Mahala rai Banda, Taraf Cuilendra, Shakti... for excellent folk music, I recommend all recordings on Electrachord Records... and as for "classical", there are three astonishing pieces by celebrated composer G. Dinicu ('Hora Martisorului', 'Ciocarlia', 'Hora Staccato') as well as the most famous Romanian composition known to westerners-- 'Danube Waves' by Ion Ivanovici... as for genres/styles, there are: Shepardic folk melodies (ie. 'ca din Caval'), circle dances and folk forms (ie. horas, jocs, sarbas, invartitas, geamperales, etc) in standard and asymmetrical time, taraf bands, fanfare/marching bands, manele... also I find Romanian musicians to be outstanding practitioners of jazz, which appears to be quite popular in Romania... please excuse my verbose enthusiasm; I love it all...

Hello Mike Wells !

Thanks a lot for this input!

:thanks:

Hi Kenjee,

If you want to have a first look at Romanian Traditional music you should try a traditional evening in a restaurant. They have it at Caru cu bere as far as I know and probably moany other places. They sing live muzica "lautareasca" and traditional songs.

carucubere.ro/ro/muzica-si-dans/
look for "Muzică Populară"

Hello,

Romania has a big commercial music scene. These are the artists that are mostly played on big national stations such as KissFM or ProFM. I can send you a huge list of popular commercial artists I know. This is mostly about pop music, but maybe it will help you in making your music taste wider.

Of course, if you ever want to sample all kinds of Romanian music in one night, just go to a Romanian wedding.  You'll hear it all there. :)