Music of Romania
One of them, Gheorghe Zamfir, is famous throughout the world today and helped popularize a traditional Romanian folk instrument, the panpipes.
Dobrogea's population is ethnically mixed and the music here has a heavier Turkish, Bulgarian, Tatar and Ukrainian import than in the rest of the country.
Maramureș is a remote province (like Bucovina) and its traditions include some of the most ancient Romanian instruments and peasant music.
Transylvania has been historically and culturally more linked to Central European countries than Southeastern Europe, and its music reflects those influences.
The province is tied historically to the smaller western regions of Maramureș, Criana and Banat and they are often referred to collectively as Transylvania.
Drum, guitar and violin make up the typical band in Maramureș and virtuoso fiddlers are also popular in the area.
Wallachia, consisting of Muntenia and Oltenia, is home to the taraf bands, which are perhaps the best-known expression of Romanian folk culture.
Other styles of folk music include the bocet ("lament") and cântec bătrânesc (traditional epic ballads; literally "song of the elders").
Doinas are often played with a slow, free rhythm melody against a fast accompaniment pattern in fixed tempo, giving an overall feeling of rhythmic tension.
And from the second half of the 20th century by the Romanian spectralism school: Ştefan Niculescu, Horațiu Rădulescu, Iancu Dumitrescu, Octavian Nemescu, Ana-Maria Avram and others.
In recent years a few bands have emerged that make use of elements of nu-jazz, trip hop and electronic music: Aievea, Jazzadezz, Norzeatic & Khidja and others.
During the 1980s, bands such as Iris, Transsylvania Phoenix, Celelalte Cuvinte, Compact, Holograf or Cargo achieved popularity, with songs about love and friendship.
Contemporary popular Romanian rock bands include Vița de Vie, Robin And The Backstabbers, Coma, Alternosfera, Vama, Luna Amară, The Kryptonite Sparks, and Grimus.
It supported influences from other similar melodic styles, like Musica leggera italiana (from Italy) and Canción Melódica (from Spain).
The most representative singers of that era are those from the 1980s, 1970s and rarely, the 1960s: Aurelian Andreescu, Elena Cârstea, Corina Chiriac, Mirabela Dauer, Stela Enache, Luigi Ionescu, Horia Moculescu, Margareta Pâslaru, Angela Similea, Dan Spătaru and Aura Urziceanu.
After World War II, singers like Gică Petrescu integrated in this music orchestral elements, which are specific for Argentinian style, Tango Nuevo.
It was promoted later, through the medium of the Cenaclul Flacăra, a cultural phenomenon from the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, which was initiated by Adrian Păunescu, a Romanian poet.
[9] Names with historical resonance for the Romanian rock movement include Phoenix, Sfinx, Roșu și Negru, Mondial, Sincron, Sideral, Semnal M, Metropol, FFN, Progresiv TM, Pro Musica, Catena, Iris, Compact, Holograf, Timpuri Noi, Krypton, Cargo, Celelalte Cuvinte, Post Scriptum, Florian Pittiș, Cornel Chiriac, Dan Andrei Aldea, Octave Octavian Teodorescu, Sorin Chifiriuc, Nicu Covaci, Valeriu Sterian, Mircea Baniciu, Ovidiu Lipan, Ilie Stepan, Liviu Tudan, Mircea Florian, Dorin Liviu Zaharia, Teo Peter, Florin Ochescu, Cristi Minculescu, Dan Bittman.
Mafia, La Familia, Paraziții or Ca$$a Loco, Latino singers (Pepe) and others (the electronic band Șuie Paparude and alternative rock bands such as Vama Veche, Bere Gratis, Sarmalele Reci, OCS, Spitalul de Urgență, Zdob și Zdub or Luna Amară that are still popular, especially underground).
Artists such as Edward Maya, Vika Jigulina, Alexandra Stan, Andreea Bănică, Smiley, Inna, Andreea Bălan, Antonia, David Deejay, Play & Win and Radio Killer brought a new sound has emerged that has managed to achieve commercial success outside Romania and dominate the national TV and radio music charts.
This new sound, nicknamed pejoratively by some "popcorn"[11] after the name of one of its characteristic synths, is characterized by "shiny", danceable melodies, hooks sometimes based on synthesized accordion[12][deprecated source] and simple lyrics written most often in English, accompanied by videos frequently featuring young women.
"Popcorn" has been criticized by some as superficial (sometimes being even compared to Manele), overly commercial, repetitive and easily grating, as a large number of producers and performers have adopted this sound in a short period of time.
An important influence on Romanian dance-pop was house music, which gained so much following in clubs that, thanks to radio stations such as Pro FM, has attained mainstream status.
alongside older rock bands such as Celelalte Cuvinte and Semnal M. First electronic music attempts belong to composer Adrian Enescu.
[13] Also notable is the label La Strada Music, which has been home to names such as Silent Strike (who has gained acclaim on the Internet and some radio stations with the single Astenie featuring Ada Milea), Yvat (a prolific IDM producer of Belgian origin, based in Bucharest), Electric Brother, nu-jazz outfit Aievea and others.
Trip hop and post-rock have influenced a few bands such as Margento, but dream pop, shoegaze and other niche genres are poorly represented.
Freak folk is partially known due to the success of singer-songwriter Ada Milea, but is practiced by only a few other bands such as Nu & Apa Neagră.
Dubstep DJs have started to emerge, though with the genre has also been associated the band R.O.A., who have achieved some mainstream success thanks to the leader Junkyard, formerly vocalist in Șuie Paparude.
