The Dancing Hat

Hats have power.  Hats can change you into something else. 

Catherynne M. Valente

Today's post is about an ethno-pop dance band from Romania. The name of the group: Ro-mania. The song is about a magic hat (beret) that has a mind of its own. It belongs to the violinist, who takes it off when he plays the violin. The hat makes its way through town and lands on the ground.

 A curious young woman picks it up and puts it on her head; she can't stop dancing until she takes it off. The hat finds its way to a street artist (it lands on his head) and he dances as well. After he takes it off, the hat makes its way to a street sweeper, who also can't stop dancing until she tosses the hat. The hat ends up back where it started, and the music stops.

The video is fun to watch.  While the hat makes its journey the guys go crazy singing and tapping on the table. Make sure to watch it all.  It's 3 1/2 minutes of fun.

The rhythm of this song is geampara (apple-apple-pineapple). It is similar to Bulgarian rachenitsa. Geampara is a dance native to the Romanian folklore region of Dobrogea.

   Video #2 is a geampara  performed by a group from Taiwan. The instructor does a great job (he can really shake that body as well!) Unfortunately, I have not seen any groups in North America or Europe do this dance.  I wonder if the hat is in there somewhere....

We are going to let 2020 go out with a bang and hope 2021 won't be a repeat of 2020. Regulars have probably seen this before: Dunavsko Horo with a war movie as a soundtrack. It's time to kill 2020! 

Notice that the explosions are in time with the music. Hopefully by the end of 2021 things will get back to normal and people will be dancing together again.

If you enjoyed this you may also like: The Best of the Alien Diaries 2010-2015.  

 
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Black Sea Folk Songs from Romania and Bulgaria

 "Seagull Flying in a Blue Sky"by Michael Haddad (from Wikipedia)

There comes a time in a man's life when he hears the call of the sea. If the man has a brain in his head, he will hang up the phone immediately.
Dave Barry

Today's post features folk songs about the Black Sea. Seagulls are part of the seaside experience, and people tend to romanticize them (especially those who have read the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. They are obnoxious birds that are a big nuisance at the beach and they will eat just about anything.  Seagulls especially like to hang around while you're eating a sandwich; the smell of meat attracts them. A friend of mine used to feed them (bad idea!) and they never left us alone after that.  They got into the potato chips while we were in the water. My husband saw one eat a spare rib bone, whole!

The Black Sea coast is a big resort area, and there are places that have a reputation for being party towns overrun with human seagulls :) especially Sunny Beach (see Video #1).



Video #2 is a song from Romania in an uneven rhythm (9/8): Cantec de la Marea Neagra (song from the Black Sea). The Black Sea region of Romania, Dobrogea, is an area known for music in odd rhythms. The dance to this is cadeneasca, similar to Bulgarian daichovo.



Video #2 is of a Roma song from Bulgaria, Karavana Chajka. The lyrics (in Bulgarian) are about the group Edessa, who have been invited to play at the Café Seagull on the Black Sea coast. You can find the lyrics here, along with an English translation. You can sing and/or dance along to the music (the dance is a cocek).



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

Quirky, Odd and Unusual Folklore Videos from the Universe of YouTube

More Songs from the Romanian Folklore Region of Dobrogea

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Dancing in the "Different Village" Three Variations of the Romanian Folk Dance Joc Batranesc

Mine is a proud village, such as it is. We are best when dancing. - Makah

Today's featured dance is Joc Batranesc from the village of Niculitel, in Romanian Dobrogea. There is also a region in Bulgaria with a similar name, slightly different spelling: Dobrujda. Both have one thing in common: they share the region between the Danube and the Black Sea.

Joc Batranesc translates into English as "ancient dance," but as you will see, it is not just for senior citizens:) The dance also has different spellings, some with and without diacritical marks; and sometimes an "i" substitutes for the "a". The Romanian spelling with the diacriticals is Joc bătrânesc.

Video #1 shows the dance as it is done in the United States.  Why do they go "oooh" when they move to the center of the circle? This variation must be particular to their "village."



Video #2 features a costumed group of young people from Romania. Notice that their belts are the same colors as the Romanian flag. Although this is essentially the same dance as in video #1, there are variations in style (hops and sways).  These dancers don't vocalize, all you hear are the stamps and the music.

Who is the girl in the middle and why isn't she part of the dance? My guess is that this is their "village" variation; along with the fancy moves.

This group is a pleasure to watch, with an a attractive and charismatic leader. That girl knows her stuff.



Video #3 has the song that goes with the dance; the ensemble is from the village of Niculitel.  There are two other dances in the video that follow Joc Batranesc.  The first rhythm change is at 2:57 where the music turns into Sârba, a fast dance in 6/8. At 5:18 there's another rhythm change, this time it's Cadâneasca, in 9/16, a dance similar to Daichovo Horo from Bulgaria.



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

Crossing the River, Part One, Folk Music from the Romanian Region of Dobrogea 

More Folk Songs from the Romanian Region of Dobrogea


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

More Songs From the Romanian Folklore Region of Dobrogea

This week's post will feature some lively songs from the folklore region of Dobrogea.  I am not very familiar with the performers (except for Aneta Stan); nor the songs.  Although they may be popular in Romania, they are not so well-known outside the country.  The songs caught my attention, which is why they ended up on this blog.

The rhythms of Romanian Dobrogea have counterparts across the Danube in Bulgarian Dobrudja. Here are two examples:

Geampara - Rachenitsa
Cadaneasca - Daichovo

The Eliznik website goes into more detail about odd rhythms in folk dances from Romania.  Rustemul is also mentioned. I couldn't find any songs with that name, but here's the dance:



Now it's time to enjoy some very danceable songs by several Romanian folk artists. Although there is no dancing in these videos,  you probably will want to sing (and dance) along to them, and there are some very nice photos to go along with them.

The first song, by Natalia Serbanescu, is Mandra Floare de la Mare.I couldn't get a proper translation; Google ended up with  Proud Flower to the Sea. In the video you can see some pictures of the Romanian Black Sea coast. For all I know this is probably an ad for tourism:

The song starts as a cadaneasca, then changes into sirba rhythm. Sirba is another popular Romanian folk dance that was featured on a post about a year ago (see link at the bottom of this page).



The next song is a geampara, (a dance in the rhythm  of 7/16) performed by Ani Orheanu Stanciu: Sunt Fata de la Braila (I am a Girl From Braila). Braila is a port city near the Danube Delta. Some of pictures in this video are scenes from the Delta region. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



Here's another example of geampara rhythm, performed  by Elena Ionescu Cojocaru: Mult ma doare inima (my heart aches...a lot). If  you didn't understand Romanian, you'd never guess this is a tragic love song. Your first impulse would be to dance to it.



Aneta Stan sings Eu Sunt Fata Dobrogeana (I am a Girl from Dobrogea), another example of the cadaneasca. If anyone knows the name of the flower in the picture, please let me know in the "comments section."  Aneta Stan is from the town of Cernavoda; there is a playlist of her songs on the Cernavoda Blog. 



If you enjoyed this you may also like:

The "Flavors" of Romanian Sirba

Crossing the River, Folk Songs from the Romanian Folklore Region of Dobrogea

If you're interested in music from Bulgaria read: Stamping it Out: Dances From the Bulgarian Folklore Region of Dobrudja


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Crossing the River: Folk Music from the Romanian Region of Dobrogea

Today's post features some delightful Romanian folk music and dance from the region of Dobrogea (Dobrudja). It is the land between the Danube and the Black Sea and spans two countries; the northern portion is in Romania and the southern portion in Bulgaria.

Asymmetric rhythms are part of the Romanian musical fabric. This article explains the prevalance of this in Romanian folk dances, which share some characteristics with those of their neighbors across the Danube in Bulgaria.

http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaDance/uneven.htm

A group from Denmark performs a dance that I best describe as "rachenitsa with a Romanian accent." Just don't call it that in Romania; their name for it is Geampara. As for the music, it bears little resemblance to Bulgarian folk music except for the rhythm: apple-apple-pineapple. If you listen closely you can hear the cimbalom and the panpipes.


Ochesica Dobrogeană is a lively lilting song in 7/8 rhythm about a beautiful brown girl from Dobrogea. She probably spends lots of  time in the hot sun, working in the fields. The song conveys a sense of pride about being from Dobrogea.  According to the translation on the YouTube page, this is actually a love song.  To me it looked more like a mother singing about her daughter.  The attractive young woman is beautifully dressed in an embroidered outfit, no way would she actually use it for work :)



The next video is of a dance similar to Bulgarian Daichovo Horo, another dance in an uneaven rhythm (it's in 9: quick-quick-quick-slow). On this side of the river it's Cadâneasca. When things change nationalities, they often change names. The River of Many Names does that too, Bulgarian Dunav becomes Dunărea in Romania.



Joc Batrinesc is a dance that's very popular at our Friday night dances. This one is slow and graceful with beautiful music. Joc Batrinesc translates into "old dance", could it be a dance choreographed specifically for senior citizens?



If you enjoyed this you may also like The Bagpipe in Romanian Folk Music

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-country-heard-from-bagpipe-in.html

Some folk dances from Bulgarian Dobrudja. A good way to stamp out your frustations.

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2012/06/more-stamping-it-out-reka-sborenka-and.html

More interesting and unusual instruments in Balkan folk music (check out the lady playing the panpipes).

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-interesting-and-unusual.html

New! Crossing the River Part 2:  The Stick Dancers:  Căluşari and their Bulgarian counterparts

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2013/01/crossing-river-part-2-stick-dancers.html


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.