Listening Journal Week #3

Title of piece:

Stau si ma tot intreb

Performer:

Nicolae Guta

Culture or Origin:

This is an example of the modern Manele musical style of the Romani people located in Romania.  The Romani people make up about 3% of the Romanian population.  Modern Manele music is a mixture of the Romani’s traditional lăutărească music and Western pop music.  Usually the lyrics discuss themes of everyday life.  Love, family, parties, revenge and money are common topics.

Orchestration:

Vocals, Accordion, synthesizers, drum machine.

Context:

This work, intended as dance music, is a strophic piece consisting of two distinct verse patterns.  The piece begins with an Accordion feature, proceeds to verse A (performed twice), then verse B (performed twice). After both A and B are performed the accordion feature is repeated.

Accordion, A, A, B, B, Accordion, A, A, B, B, Accordion, A, A, B, B, Accordion, A, A, B, B

This form of music is not highly regarded outside of the Romani population.  In parts of Romania this music has been banned in public performance at festivals and on public transportation.  In addition to often containing crude and simplistic lyrics, this music is also suppressed due to antiziganism (anti-Roma discrimination).  This music is identified with the modern Romani culture and is thus a part of this discrimination.