Poze romania-inedit de la 5268 la 5307

music from the region in romania released by folkways (this album is part of the unesco collection

Music from the Maramureș region in Romania released by Smithsonian Folkways (This album is part of the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music) This recording is a revised edition of the cassette Hori şi zîcăli moroşeneşti, released in Romania in 1992 under the aegis of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Bucharest, and the Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş Cultural Foundation, in the Ethnophonie collection initiated by Horia Bernea and Speranţa Rădulescu. This album captures the robust music in the Maramureş region of Romania, where the musicians play the ﬁddle (ceteră), the guitar (zongoră), and the drum (dobă) at large gatherings, annual festival celebrations, and smaller, neighborhood parties. The traditional dancing parties occur regularly in the villagers’ homes, where they make music together impromptu, and have poetic competitions all night long. The live recordings of such a party in Hoteni village oer a taste of this gaiety. Today, these recordings from 1992 carry particular signiﬁcance because many political and social changes have greatly impacted the region since the 1990s. 60 minutes. Festive music from the Maramureș region ▶ is an album previously-unpublished volume of the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music, which was transferred to the Smithsonian to keep the series publicly available. 01 Horea oilor (The song of the sheep) | Petrica Giurgi, Ioan Pop 02 Zîcali de baut (Suite of feast songs) | Petrica Giurgi, Ioan Pop 03 Horea miresei (The ritual bride’s song) | Petrica Giurgi, Ioan Pop, Marcel Seras 04 Music to accompany the marriage ceremony | Petrica Giurgi, Ioan Pop, Marcel Seras 05 Hore din Saliste (Song from Saliste) | Petrica Giurgi, Ioan Pop, Marcel Seras 06 Suite of dances | Nicolae Griguta, Ioan Pop, inhabitants of Hoteni, Valeni, and Poienile Izei villages 07 Music for dancing and singing | Nicolae Griguta, Ioan Pop, inhabitants of Hoteni, Valeni, and Poienile Izei villages 08 Suite of songs (hori) and feast songs (de baut) | Nicolae Griguta, Ioan Pop, inhabitants of Hoteni, Valeni, and Poienile Izei villages 09 Suite of songs and dances | Nicolae Griguta, Ioan Pop, inhabitants of Hoteni, Valeni, and Poienile Izei villages o1 Horea oilor (The song of the sheep) Men dancing the bărbăteşte in the village of Hoteni 02 Zîcăli de băut (Suite of feast songs) village of Hoteni. 03 Horea miresei (The ritual bride’s song) 04 Music to accompany the marriage ceremony a) Horea drumului (The procession song) 0:00–1:25 b) March 1:26–3:53 c) Bărbăteşte (Men’s dance) 3:54–6:09 05 Hore din Sălişte (Song from Sălişte) 6–9. Feast music recorded on site, during a family and friends party 38:49 06 Suite of dances a) Baraboiul (The chervil) 0:00–1:49 b) Bătuta (Stomping dance) 1:50–3:40 c) Ardeleanca (Transylvanian dance) 3:41–5:25 d) Coasa (Scythe) 5:26–6:39 07 Music for dancing and singing a) Bărbăteşte (Men’s dance) 0:00–3:44 b) De învârtit (Whirling dance) 3:45–6:57 c) Zîcăli de jucat prin casă (Tunes to be danced to indoors) 6:58–9:55 08 Suite of songs (hori) and feast songs (de băut) 9:43 a) Hori prin casă (Indoor songs) 0:00–3:42 b) Zîcăli de băut (Suite of feast songs) 3:43–9:43 09 Suite of songs and dances a) Hori prin casă (Indoor songs) 0:00–7:26 b) Jocuri de învârtit (Whirling dances) 7:27–10:15 c) Horea căsii (The home song) 10:16–12:32 This music was recorded in 1992, two years after Romania in cooperation with Jacques Bouët had started to slowly distance itself from the totalitarian communist regime imposed by the USSR after World War II. The liner notes were written at the time and present an accurate reﬂection of the musical life of Maramureş in the early 1990s. In the section "2012: Twenty Years Later," the authors have added a few sentences about the changes that have taken place in society and the music of the last two Dancing party in Hoteni. decades. The readers should know that, however robust the music of Maramureş might have been at the end of the last century, it has been unable to avoid the commercial pressures leading to standardization, fusion with other local traditions, and the adoption of electronic nstruments, to which most traditional musics of the world are subjected today. Community life in a Maramureş village at the time of these recordings It is no accident that the communists never completely succeeded in establishing collective agriculture in Maramureş; though by nature friendly and hospitable, its people can show a stubborn and inﬂexible opposition to anything perceived as a threat to their community life. They are hard workers, full of energy and enthusiasm. The natural beauty of the countryside, with its hills and minor mountain ranges and lovely houses, combined with the character of its inhabitants, makes Maramureş one of the most picturesque regions of Romania. Religion is still important here: churches, whether Orthodox or Uniate, are full every Sunday, while certain pre-Christian practices still ﬁnd a place in peoples’ lives. The basic livelihoods of the region are raising livestock, agriculture, forestry, and mining, but over recent decades these have proved insuficient to support an ever-increasing population, and many men upplement their income by seeking summer agricultural work in southern Romania, particularly in the Banat region. Although they willingly face the hardships of exile and wage-labor to maintain living standards at home, few would contemplate a permanent absence from their villages. Departure is always undertaken with the ﬁrm intention (which outside factors may of course subsequently modify) of an eventual return to the community, the only place where a decent life is to be had. These attitudes are evidenced by the many villagers who still live in the traditional wooden houses with their magniﬁcently carved front gates, and attend church in traditional attire on feast days, greeting those who pass not with the trite "Bună ziua!" (Good day!) but with "Lăudăm pe Isus!" (Praise the Lord!), to which the person addressed should reply "In veci amin!" (Forever amen!). God (the Christian God, but as perceived by popular piety) is frequently invoked in village conversation.In Maramureş even the small market-towns have a "countriﬁed" atmosphere. Women spin, weave, embroider, and handcraft wooden utensils (plates, cutlery, bowls, etc.), which command a lively trade. Various ancestral practices have survived in the context of certain calendar festivals. Left-handed Ioan Pop (left), vocalist and guitar player (tracks 1-9), playing the violin (ceteră) together with Grigore Chira (zongoră) The end of spring agricultural work is marked by the Tânjaua festival (the word denotes the central shaft-pole by which oxen are harnessed to a plough), while the spring assignment of sheep and shepherds to new sheepfolds gives occasion to the Sâmbra oilor gathering. Needless to say, the young people’s Sunday dance is still a living tradition as well.Musical activity and its environment in the early 1990s Everyone sings almost everywhere. Young people sing in full voice, while doing household work or farming and in their leisure time. Sometimes they sing in the streets, walking with arms entwined or around each other’s shoulders. Girls sing when they are together or when they are alone, at home and in the ﬁelds. Married women show more restraint but, during wedding rituals and at domestic parties (băute) among relatives, friends, and neighbors, they break loose in a frenzy together with the young girls. Women are the principal repositories of lullabies, funeral laments, and the long song horea lungă (discussed on page 8). Men prefer singing at the pub. Today most of the local musics are practiced in the context of a banquet—weddings, baptisms, merrymakings ending collective work (clacă)—or domestic parties (băute). The voices of the singers (and indeed the general atmosphere) are "warmed up" by an instrumental accompaniment consisting of a lead ﬁddle (called ceteră), a plucked guitar with a special tuning (zongoră), and a drum with cymbal (dobă) struck with a padded stick and a metal tool respectively. All the musicians are called ceteraşi (ﬁddlers), the same name as the violin players. These ceteraşi (usually professional or semi-professional musicians) display considerable skill and sensitivity: they can keep the party guests singing and dancing for hours, without showing the least fatigue or decline in the quality of their performance. Sometimes they are Romani people, but this is less often the case in Maramureş than in other regions of Romania. The guests sing or shout out to encourage the ceteraşi, using Young drummer during a dancing party in the village of Hoteni. phrases such as: Ceteraş cu patru strune După tine-aş mere-n lume Fiddler with four strings I’d follow you everywhere you play Ceteraşul zice bine Dar dobaşu-i mare câne The ﬁddler is good But the drummer’s even better Fiddler (ceteraş) during a dancing party in the village of Hoteni. Although instrumental accompaniment has become the norm, nowadays participants at the parties claim they could do without it: Când eram în vremea mea Ceteră nu-mi trebuia Că era guriţa mea Years ago when I was young I needed no ﬁddle My strong voice was enough Young drummer during a dancing party in the village of Hoteni. The vocal music is performed as a series of musical phrases supporting assonant verses of seven or eight syllables (as in the Romanian originals of the texts above). Nowadays its main genres are feast song (de băut) and lyrical song (hore). All pieces belonging to these genres may have instrumental or multi-instrumental versions, usually more rhythmically and melodically complex than the vocal ones. In de băut the melodies are performed and harmonically accompanied by ceteraşi, and the lyrics are shouted out indvidually or in groups by women and men, at varying pitches, as each one deems convenient (tracks 2, 8). Men and women often split into two distinct groups that take turns shouting over the music, in a sort of poetic competition often containing personal satirical allusions that cause general amusement. In hori, the songs echoed by ceteră and accompanied by plucked guitar (zongoră) and drum with cymbal (dobă) may be sung in unison by both men and women (tracks 4a, 9a, 9c). Group of men and boys from Hoteni village going to the dancing party accompanied by musicians (ceteraşi). The instrumental dance tunes mainly fall into two categories. Bărbăteşte is a male circle dance in duple meter with equal, symmetrical phrases. During the dance, one or several men shout improvised couplets simultaneously, with no precise pitch, but with a strict rhythm. Some of these are actually instructions regarding the dance movements to be performed together by all the dancers (tracks 4c, 7a). De învârtit is a couple dance in which the pairs choose randomly the choreographic ﬁgures from a common repertory known to all. The lyrics are shouted individually, slightly melodized, only by men, in deliberate discordance with the rhythm given by zongoră and dobă and with the shouts emitted by the other dancers (tracks 7b, 9b). A few other kinds of circle, couple, and line dances, more rarely performed, are also included on this recording: baraboiul (track 6a), bătuta (track 6b), ardeleanca (track 6c), coasa (track 6d).At parties, de băut, hori, and dance tunes alternate freely. At its best (usually unpredictable) moments, the performance reaches a peak of intensity, with a veritable contest among all the participants. Bartók’s observations and the current situation In 1913, Béla Bartók made a brief but fruitful investigation of the music of a few villages in the Maramureş region. His ﬁndings were published in Volksmusik der Rumänen von Maramureş (1923) and Rumanian Folk Music (1967–1975). It is quite interesting to compare the information provided by Bartók (musical transcriptions and an essay classifying the music by sound criteria rather than by function) with current practices. None of the musics have changed beyond recognition, but a number of signiﬁcant developments may be noted. The funeral laments (bocete) remain in full vigor. The carols (corinde) are now more standardized, and show the inﬂuence of art music and popular European carols. The famous "long songs," which Bartók and Constantin Brăiloiu called hore lungi, currently referred to by the Maramureş Fiddler (ceteraş) during a dancing women as hore cu noduri or hore din grumaz (long song party in the village of Hoteni. with throat-singing), have almost disappeared, apart from evocative echoes in emblematic instrumental pieces played by ﬁddlers (ceteraşi) at festivals (as in tracks 1, 5). The modern lyrical songs hori have become predominant (tracks 4a, 7c, 9a, 9c). De băut (feast songs), once shouted out in a slightly melodious way, today are always merely shouted (tracks 2, 8). The bărbăteşte male dances are vigorously alive but tending towards standardization, as their traditionally open forms are inexorably frozen in closed cycles (tracks 4c, 7a). On the other hand, the exuberant whirling dances (de învârtit) now aford more opportunities for free improvisation than before (tracks 7b, 9b). Every aspect of their ostinato metric and rhythmic evolution has been modiﬁed: the overall beat is now faster; the consecutive triplets in duple meter have become the standard. Furthermore, the musicians and the dancers now accept phrases that occasionally stray from the basic two bars of two beats each. The rhythm of the improvised couplets (strigături)—not mentioned by Bartók—has only a tenuous relation to that of the ostinato instrumental evelopment. Paradoxically, this de învârtit seems to have peaked just at the moment when its traditional cultural environment is disintegrating, and the traditional milieu—which gave it life—is itself losing its sense of purpose. 2012: Twenty Years Later Beginning in the mid-1990s, many young men of Maramureş set out on an exodus to the West (Spain, France, Italy, United Kingdom, etc.). They wanted to work and thrive; but after some time their voyage became a real initiatory trial. In the summer and on holidays (especially Christmas and Easter), they returned for a few weeks or permanently; home will always mean their native village or city. Back in Maramureş, they invested their earnings in automobiles and concrete blockhouses, which gradually replaced the delicately ornamented wood houses of their parents. In villages, the groups of young men who walked the roads with a retinue of ﬁddlers have disappeared, and the Sunday dance has been superseded by dancing at the disco. Raising livestock, agriculture, and the manufacture of peasant clothes and wooden tools have lost their importance. The agrarian custom of Tânjaua has turned into a folkloric show for TV stations. The ﬁddle (ceteră) is still "the heart" of the people ("The ﬁddle is my heart / With all its strings") and is played at wedding parties. However, it is now accompanied by synthesizers, and its timbre is severely distorted by ampliﬁcation. Accoustic ﬁddling still occurs at parties among relatives, friends, and neighbors (băute). There, people of all ages sing and dance to various music, including hori, de băut, bărbăteşte, and de învârtit. Thus, the music prominent two decades ago did not die out, but has withdrawn to the family circle, supported by people to whom an identity strongly rooted in the past still matters. Men’s dance (bărbăteşte) in Hoteni. Among those who value traditional music are three Hoteni residents, Ioan Pop, his wife Anuţa, and her sister Voichiţa, who participated at the băută (party for family and friends) on this recording. The then-young musicians are now in their 50s. Together they form the core of a small vocal instrumental ensemble named Iza, which performs in Romania as well as in theaters in France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, United Kingdom, and the United States. To attune their music to everyday life, the three have built, from wood discarded by their fellow villagers, a cluster of three wonderful houses with an archaic look, but with state-of-the-art equipment. This is where they live and receive guests from around the world—fans of Maramureş music willing to listen and learn to play the violin (ceteră) and the guitar (zongoră). For a number of years, with great eort, the three of them organized the village dancing party in their yard, hoping to convince their fellow villagers to revive it. They gave up, however, when they understood that if people decide to cast something away forever, they cannot be persuaded to change their minds. In their opinion, revivalism is a project doomed to failure. The only viable option they saw for themselves was performing in shows for a conservative and sophisticated audience. And their only concern is to avoid the standardization of their performances as much as possible. Group of musicians ready to go to a family party. Second from left: Ioan Pop. Right: Voichiţa Tepei, singer and dancer (tracks 6-9). 1. Horea oilor (The song of the sheep) Petrică Giurgi (29 years), ﬁddle (ceteră); Ioan Pop (35 years), plucked guitar (zongoră) This horea oilor highlights the alternation between two distinct musical sections. The ﬁrst is a violin imitation of the music traditionally (but not invariably) played on an alphorn (trâmbită) at the celebrations that conclude the reassignment of the ﬂocks. The second is a dance melody borrowed from an old instrumental poem now out of circulation named "The Shepherd Who Lost His Sheep." This hore is a relatively recent work performed by ceteraşi during an event named Sâmbra oilor. 2. Zîcăli de băut (Suite of feast songs) Petrică Giurgi, ﬁddle; Ioan Pop, plucked guitar, vocals Zîcăli (sing. zîcală) means instrumental melodies. (Interestingly enough, the name derives from the Romanian verb a zice, to say.) Zîcăli de băut is a suite of instrumental songs over which the guitarist-vocalist performs improvised couplets ﬁt for a wedding banquet. On the whole, the piece, recorded in a studio, may be considered a shortened version of the de băut from real popular parties (you may wish to compare it to the suite on track 8).Left-handed Ioan Pop (left), vocalist and guitar player (tracks Mândru cântă cetera Când se mărită mândra; Când se mărită cea hâdă Nice cetera nu cântă. If the bride is pretty The ﬁddle will play nicely; If she’s ugly The ﬁddle won’t play. 3. Horea miresei (The ritual bride’s song) Petrică Giurgi, ﬁddle; Ioan Pop, plucked guitar; Marcel Seras, drum with cymbals (dobă) This song is usually played at the end of the nuptial banquet, when the godmother (naşă) of the bride replaces the nuptial crown with a headscarf to symbolize the bride’s changed status. This is enacted three times, the bride at ﬁrst refusing to wear the headscarf, and ﬁnally accepting it in tears. The music for this ritual resembles the old instrumental version of a hore lungă, today almost extinct. 4. Music to accompany the marriage ceremony Petrică Giurgi, ﬁddle; Ioan Pop, plucked guitar, vocals, and couplets (strigături) ﬁtted for the event; Marcel Seras, drumThe ceteraşi perform this music on the road at the head of the wedding retinue which, on the Sunday of the religious the godparents’ house, to church, to the new house of the newlyweds, etc.), stopping a few times for a round of bărbăteşte dancing. a) Horea drumului (The procession song) The piece is performed not only during weddings, but every time young people walk through the village in procession. Drumu-i lung, pe el mă duc Capătu’ nu i-l ajung De-aş ajunge capătu’ Da-o-aş mâna cu cucu’ Şi cu tine, mândră, nu; De-aş ajunge marginea Da-o-aş mâna cu mierla Şi cu tine, mândră, ba! The road is very long I cannot see its end And if I get to the end I will ﬁnd the cuckoo there But my girl will not be there; In the depths of the forest I shall ﬁnd a blackbird But not my girl! b) March Nu-i acela ceteraş Să-mi zică mie de marş Să mă duc la cununie Cu cine îmi place mie This ﬁddler’s not good enough To play a decent march for me To lead me to the church With the one I love c) Bărbăteşte (Men’s dance) This particular bărbăteşte is played while wheat (thought to ensure their prosperity and fertility) is thrown over the couple, when they return from church. La cusutul steagului Joacă ruja macului Şi cu fata diacului. When the banner is decorated Dance the poppy dance The cantor’s daughter comes ﬁrst. Când oi muri să mă cânte musicians (ceteraşi). Mândrele o-nebunit M-o cântat şi n-am murit. I asked the girls To make a lament when I die The girls went mad Sang it beforehand, but I am still alive. 5. Hore din Sălişte (Song from Sălişte) Petrică Giurgi, ﬁddle; Ioan Pop, plucked guitar; Marcel Seras, drum This hore (akin to the old long song) is still sung at Sălişte, but here the musicians have made an instrumental version (a common development in Maramureş). 6–9. Feast music recorded on site, during a family and friends party Nicolae Griguţă, ﬁddle, vocals, improvised couplets, dance steps (tropotit); Tracks 6-9 consist of four sequences cut from the complete recording of a băută. It took place in Hoteni in the house of Ion Tepei (known in the village as Ionu Diacului). The party was organized by his sons, daughters, and son-in-law in the summer of 1992. 6. Suite of dances The four dances that make up this suite can be danced at any festival, including băute and weddings. In the latter case, it is traditional for the young people to perform them in front of the church while the religious ceremony takes place inside. a) Baraboiul (The chervil) This is a dance for a number of couples, who stand in a circle with the girls on the outside. The girls change partners at the direction of one of the dancers who shouts these couplets: Frunză verde baraboi Să schimbăm din doi în doi. Şi iar verde-a răchiţii Să schimbăm din tri în tri. Ioan Pop (left), playing in his Foaie verde baraboi Leaf of the meadow chervil One to two, go, change now. Leaf of the wood chervil Go, change one to three. Green chervil leaf Change the direction of the dance... b) Bătuta (Stomping dance) The dancers stand in a line and perform simple choreographic ﬁgures which do not need a caller. They stomp the ground with their boots at an ever-increasing rate and continue until they are completely exhausted. c) Ardeleanca (Transylvanian dance) The dancers stand in pairs or in a line and a leader coordinates the steps by shouting the following couplets: Foaie verde lin pelin Ardeleanca s-o pornim. Şi iar verde şi una Ardeleanca la podea. Şi iar verde strop de rouă Ardeleanca bate două. Câte tri c-apoi ne-a si Că mărg oamenii-a cosi. Everyone start the dance. Green leaf of the ﬁelds Everyone stomp on the boards. Green leaf bedewed The second turn has rung. The third is the last After that you must go and do the scything. d) Coasa (Scythe) The dancers stand in a ring in pairs, and their steps imitate the action of scything. 7. Music for dancing and singing a) Bărbăteşte (Men’s dance) For the bărbăteşte, the dancers stand in a circle. The melody, which in earlier periods had an open form (free and asymmetric), is now cyclic. The melody overlies a rhythmic ostinato on the drum (dobă), the tread of the dancers, and handclapping. Here the improvised couplets have a greater importance: there are more of them, they are shouted more emphatically, and they often serve as directions to the dancers. Sări-o-aş sări, sări Gardurile cele tri Până la casa mândrii. Sări-o-aş ca purecile Nu mă lasă pântecile. I would like to leap and jump Men’s dance (bărbăteşte) in Hoteni. To jump over three fences And get to my beloved. Three ﬂeajumps I’d like to make But my fat paunch keeps me on the ground. b) De învârtit (Whirling dance) Dance de învârtit in the village of Hoteni. Also called învârtită, this is a couple dance without any coordination of the steps. Each couple dances independently, giving a visual impression of chaos, but their feet maintain a perfect synchronization with the rhythm. The women alternate static turns or half-turns in either direction, and then the men, supporting themselves by holding the women at the waist or shoulders, use a special stomping step (tropotit) to beat the ground in the cadence of the music. The whole activity is accompanied by many improvised couplets (strigături), which the men shout somewhat at random, according to taste. Mie jocu’ mi-o plăcut De când mama m-o făcut Cât oi ﬁ m-oi învârti Sub grumazu’ ceterii Ever since the day when I was born c) Zîcăli de jucat prin casă (Tunes to be danced to indoors) These zîcăli are related here to the contemporary hori (songs). They are sung as much by men as by women in domestic occasions, such as family celebrations, with the singers strolling slowly around to the rhythm of the accompanying music.8. Suite of songs (hori) and feast songs (de băut) a) Hori prin casă (Indoor songs) These tunes are sung especially by women (but also by men) at quiet moments or at the end of festivals at dawn. The women stand in a circle holding hands and move slowly to the rhythm of the ccompaniment provided by ﬁddlers (ceteraşi). During the instrumental interludes, the men stomp the ﬂoor with their boots. The lyrics are semi-improvised, in that the singers add topical elements to the standard formulas. În anu’ cinzecişinouă O zinit o lege nouă Dar acuma în optzeci Ori te spânzuri, ori te-neci Ori la colectiv te treci! In the year ’59 There came a new law But now, in ’80, to be quite frank You’d better hang yourself or drown Than be collectivized! Care frunză pică joc Nu mai urcă unde-o fost Care frunză pică-n vale Nu mai urcă pe stâlpare A fallen leaf Can never regain its place After it is detached It can never be reconnected Câtiodată când mă-mbăt Mărg acasă şi sparg tăt: Nu sparg masa, nici dulapu’ Numa’ la femeie capu’; Nu sparg masa, nici cuptioru’ La soacră-mea rup picioru’ When I’ve had a few too many I start smashing everything: Not the table or the cupboard But my wife’s head; Not the table or the stove But my mother-in-law’s leg b) Zîcăli de băut (Suite of feast songs) Here the lyrics consist of assonant verses shouted out by women and men in turns. The dialogue thus created becomes a competition in satire in which each side seeks to cap the previous verse in terms yet more caustic or derisory. There are set verse formulas, but the variants are always more or less connected to the context. Boys: Mărită-te hurhulină C-amu eşti fată bătrână Că şi dracu’ s-o-nsurat Şi tu nu te-i mărita Boys: You should get married now For you are almost a spinster Even the devil got married So surely you can too Girls’ answer: Să trăieşti că mândru eşti Da’ mie nu-mi trebuieşti Zis-o mama mândrului Este-o cioată la Moisei Tocma ca feciorul ei Girls’ answer: Have a good life, pretty boy But I have no need of you The pretty boy’s mother says Her son is one of a kind At Moisei there is a dwarf Who looks just like her son 9. Suite of songs and dances The pieces in this sequence are performed at the end of the băută with the last burst of energy from the participants. a) Hori prin casă (Indoor songs) Zi, ceteraş, după mine Că eu nu poci după tine Unde-oi greşi cu gura Să tomneşti cu cetera Unde-oi greşi cu glasu’ Să tomneşti tu cu arcu’ Play after me, ﬁddler For I can’t sing after you And if I sing out of tune Fix it with your ﬁddle If my voice slips Fix it with your bow Când eram mai tânăr prunc Aveam glas ca şi de cuc Aveam glasul cucului Şi umbletul lupului Years ago when I was young I sang like a cuckoo My voice was like a cuckoo’s Las-o asta-n prăpădit Şî ne zî şi de-nvârtit! b) Jocuri de învârtit (Whirling dances) Astă vară la Sălişte Fost-am păcurar la gâşte This summer at Sălişte I was a gooseherder Mie jocu’ mi-o plăcea Şi la petrecania mea... I shall always like dancing Even the day they bury me... Arde-te-ar focu’ de viaţă Eşti subţire ca şi-o aţă Tragi de ea, gândeşti că ţine Să rupe când ţi-e mai bine! May you burn in hell, life You only hang on by a thread Pull it when you think it’s strong And it breaks when all is well! c) Horea căsii (The home song) As usual, this song is sung by guests leaving the feast to pay homage to their hosts (gazde). The guests gather in a circle and sing in chorus, at ﬁrst inside the house, then they go out to the courtyard, and ﬁnally into the streets, singing all the while. Certain verses serve as directions to order the group’s movements. Când o ﬁ vremea de dus Da-ne-or gazdele răspuns; Când o ﬁ vremea de mărs Da-ne-or gazdele p-ales. Aria căsii nu-i bătută, Voia gazdii nu-i făcută. Horea căsii bate-om, Voia găzdii face-om. When it’s time for us to take our leave It’s the hosts who will answer; When we have to go The hosts will give the sign. The hosts will never be content, Unless we dance all over the place. So let’s dance, To please our hosts.