Re: Roumanian Gypsy bass and processions

[Sandra Layman <sandralayman...>]

To Paul and Pete and anyone else interested,

Thanks for the interesting post, Paul.

Meanwhile, I wrote Speranta Radulescu, an eminent ethnomusicologist in
Romania who has worked with and recorded the Clejani lautari since the
1980s. I was interested in finding out, among other things, if there was a
term in Romanian for this "slap-bass" style of playing, and whether it is
indeed most characteristic of the area around Bucharest.
Those who read Romanian can find her responses immediately below.

Speranta says all she ever knew was the term used when she was a student --
"Bartokian pizzicato."
Also, she says this technique is used a great deal, but only in Muntenia and
Oltenia (southern Romania); in Transylvania the bow is used.

Best,
Sandra
________________
[from Speranta Radulescu:]

Draga Sandra,

Nu stiu exact... Imji amintesc ca in facultate il numeam "pizzicato
bartokian", adica asa cum cerea bartok...
Te sarut,
Sp.
_______
Da, Sandra, se canta mult in pizzicato bartokian, dar numai in Muntenia si
Oltenia.
In Transilvania se canta cu arcusul.
Scuza-ma ca nu-ti scriu mai mult, dar nu prea stiu...
S.
_______


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gifford, Paul" <pgifford (at) umflint(dot)edu>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 1:59 PM
Subject: OT: Roumanian Gypsy bass and processions


This was on the list last week, but due to technical problems, I couldn't
respond. Actually I'm responding to the comments because I just
happened to read the "Rough Guide to World Music." In it, the author
describes the older and younger Clejani lautari playing different music,
the younger ones playing "jazz bass," etc. He doesn't get it.

Although the style is reminiscent of jazz, it's altogether its own thing,
and unrelated. The player from the "Taraf Haiducilor" has his own ornaments,
but the basic style is the normal Gypsy style from the region, using a
3-string bass, without a bow. This is primarily used for weddings. In older,
 more genteel urban groups, and with the organized song-and-dance ensembles,
they bow the bass (as the village groups in the former Hungarian regions in
Romania do). The pizzicato bass is part of the sound to accompany the hora
lautareasca, the typical dance at lautari weddings, just as the bowed bass
is necessary for the right csardas sound.

My friend Nicolae Feraru says that some village lautari used to use a cello
held by a neck strap, in order to lead the wedding parties from the houses
to the church and back, stopping here and there for dancing. This is
probably the older style, and they probably got it from Jewish klezmorim (as
they did with the tzambal). But the plucked bass style isn't new, either.
Gypsy musicians in Detroit (whose ancestors came from Slovakia 1880-1900)
play in funeral processions in front of the hearse carrying the casket, and
someone holds the bass by the endpin in front of the player (I've done
this). There might be a couple of basses, 5-10 violins, a viola, a couple of
guitars, etc. They play a specific tune and never play it except at f
unerals, because if they do, they think it will bring on someone's death.

Paul Gifford

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