Lesson 10: Romania

This week let’s venture to Romania, which is much more than just the home of the real Dracula (you can call him “Vlad”) and dancing bears. After several decades of harsh Soviet rule Romania is still emerging as a politically stable, albeit economically challenged, member of the European Union. Romania has never been musically challenged…in class we’re going to hear some great Romani  tunes and maybe even do a Translyvanian foot-slapping dance. So let’s go!

OVERVIEW: Romania is still working its way toward strength and stability after hundreds of years of rule by others, interspersed with a period or two of independent “greatness.”

MUSIC: Traditional Romanian music generally originated in either Transylvania — the Hungarian-dominated northwest — or across the Carpathian mountains in the Balkan-oriented east.

LANGUAGE: Romanian may be the big-time language in Romania, though there are other languages around such as the Roma people’s Romani.

ADDITIVE RHYTHMS: Stringing short groups of beats together to get brilliant phrases.

CADANEASCA: A 9 beat step-step-step-HOP dance that we try in class.

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