RE: Doina

[Gifford, Paul <pgifford...>]

I played a lot of Jewish doina recordings for Nicolae Feraru once, and
he
recognized all as versions of Doina Oltului. Doinas are popular in
certain 
regions of Romania, but not in other areas. In Banat, they are very
popular,
sung mainly during the wedding or christening dinner to instrumental
accompaniment.

The Doina Oltului supposedly has its origins in the Olt River area, in
southwestern
Romania. I've got an early recording (1910s) of a vocal version of
this, called
"Ca pe olt." The singer was a professional, probably from Bucharest.
The earliest
Romanian recording that I have is from 1908, where it appears as a
flute or piccolo solo in a military band recording of a medley of
Romanian tunes. I think what happened is that,
whatever its origins, it became popular around Bucharest as an
instrumental tune and
probably spread to klezmorim that way. As far as I know, no one sings
a vocal version of
that today.  They accompany it either in free rhythm (the old way) or
(in the newer way) in metrical rhythm.

The recordings don't reflect how the tunes are played at weddings or
in restaurants. Usually Banat doinas follow one another; they are
sung. The Doina Oltului might be followed by a fast tune, but it's not
obligatory. Usually the musicians string tunes together and the leader
decides what follows. Another way is to play the same tune, but in
another rhythm.
For example, a hora could be played in sarba rhythm, or a slow hora
could be played as a fast hora.

There are obvious differences between the Jewish doina and the Doina
Oltului, such as
harmonization. For example, the Romanians go from a minor chord to a
diminished chord, but the Jewish version stays in minor during the
part where the Romanians used a diminished chord. From listening
closely to the recordings, it appears that this diminished chord was
introduced by Dinicu (1920s?). But there are other similarities---the
Romanians sometimes play a section in major, like the Jewish version.
I accompanied Nicolae Feraru playing this tune many times, and he
varied it quite a bit---sometimes including the major part, sometimes
not; sometimes free rhythm, sometimes as a fast hora; and he always
plays variations, etc.

Paul Gifford

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Meyen [mailto:tim (at) topic(dot)com(dot)au]
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 8:47 PM
To: World music from a Jewish slant
Subject: Re: Doina


This reminded me of a doina question I've got.

Almost all recordings of 'Jewish' doinas end with a faster dance
piece,
even if they only have time for a few bars, the musicians seem almost
obliged to fit this in.  Recordings of Romanian (usually gypsy)
musicians playing doinas frequently don't end with a faster piece.  Is
this a specific characteristic of Jewish doina-playing, or of the the
types of doina adopted by Jews ('Doina Oltului' was suggested by Paul
Gifford in earlier doina discussions)? Or is it because most of my
Romanian doina recordings are more recent than klezmer doina
recordings?

Tim Meyen


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