earworm: manele
Not surprisingly, one of the aspects of Romanian culture I’m most interested in is music. So here is the first post (hopefully of a series) on Romanian genres of music.
The first up is manele music. While it is a far cry from Romanian folk, classical, or pop, manele is inescapable in Romania. It blasts out of car windows at 3AM. CDs are at almost every kiosk. There’s an entire television station dedicated to videos.
In my aural experience, manele is characterized by a blending of Eastern European and Turkish tonalities. To be a music theory geek, the flat 2 (ra) is all over the place, giving it that Turkish feel. But there are definitely the rhythms of more traditional folk music, lending it to be music people can dance to at celebrations. I think you could do the hora to just about anything in 4/4 time. The Wikipedia entry on manele mentions that it also has roots in traditional Roma music. I haven’t yet experienced traditional Roma music, so I don’t know the accuracy of that statement. But regardless, manele and its blend of musical traditions reflects the diversity of cultures that exist today in Romania.
Manele lyrics are quite simple and revolve around themes of money, power, cars, and losing/gaining women. The manele artists themselves have quite a mystique. Male vocalists are typically older with a belly, wearing fashionable clothes, lots of jewelry, and surrounded by young hip-swaying females in itty-bitty outfits. Female artists are typically younger with blonde dye-jobs and are less popular (at least from my observation over the past few months). Usually, there is one vocalist backed up by synthesizer (canned) music or sometimes accordions and some wind instruments. The keytar often makes an appearance and that makes me smile.
I’ve asked just about everyone I’ve met here in Romania what they think of manele. And it’s a controversy. Most people say they don’t like it. Several people have told me though that after a few drinks at a wedding, all anyone wants to dance to is manele, but they say those same people wouldn’t admit to liking manele sober. The street kids I worked with in Targoviste loved it. I didn’t have the language to ask what they liked about it at the time. But, I think the controversy comes in because a) it’s not really “Romanian” music, so Romanians don’t want the entirety of Romanian music to be equated to manele in the world’s eyes; b) the manele artists have a kitschy image with a materialistic message (see description above and videos below), and c) regardless of a) and b) some of it is catchy and fun to watch (albeit in a train-wreck sort of way, for me). It’s a conundrum — to like it or not like it.
I’m mezmerized by it. When flipping through TV channels, I get stuck on the manele station. I think I like it because of the Turkish sound (I heart flat 2) combined with the amateur videos and manele mystique.
Below are two videos that have struck my fancy recently. The first is what I’d categorize as “typical” manele – Sandu Ciorba singing “Ochii Tai” (Your Eyes). The second is a hybrid of manele trying to be more hip hop or something – Romeo Fantastick singing “Bombe Blonde.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xssXE5IeZlI] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaPQZu20Cak]