Thedoina (Romanian pronunciation:[ˈdojna]) is aRomanian musical tune style, possibly withMiddle Eastern roots, customary inRomanian peasant music, as well as inlăutărească music. It was also adopted intoklezmer music.[1]
Similar tunes are found throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In some parts of the Balkans this kind of music is referred to asscaros orscaru.[citation needed]
Béla Bartók discovered thedoina in Northern Transylvania in 1912 and he believed it to be uniquelyRomanian. After he found similar genres in Ukraine, Albania, Algeria, Middle East and Northern India, he came to the belief that these are part of a family of related genres of Arabo-Persian origin.[2] He particularly linked the Romanian doina to the Turkish/ArabicMakam system. Bartók's conclusions were rejected by some Romanian ethnomusicologists, who accused Bartók of anti-Romanian bias. Nevertheless, the similarities between the Romaniandoina and various musical forms from the Middle East have been subsequently documented by both non-Romanian[3] and Romanian[4][5] scholars. Until the first half of the 20th century, both lăutari[5] and klezmer musicians[6] were recorded using ataksim as an introduction to a tune. Thetaksim would be later replaced by thedoina, which has been described as being similar, though not totally identical to thetaksim. Romanian ethnomusicologist and musician Grigore Leşe, after performing with a group ofIranian musicians, noticed that thedoinas of Maramureş have "great affinities" with the Arabo-Persian music.[7]
Thedoina is a free-rhythm, highly ornamented (usuallymelismatic),improvisational tune.[8] The improvisation is done on a more or less fixed pattern (usually a descending one), by stretching the notes in arubato-like manner, according to the performer's mood and imagination. Usually the prolonged notes are the fourth or fifth above the floor note.
The peasantdoinas are mostly vocal andmonophonic and are sung with some vocal peculiarities that vary from place to place: interjections (măi,hei,dui-dui,iuhu), glottal clucking sounds, choked sobbing effects, etc.[4] Instrumentaldoinas are played on simple instruments, usually various types of flutes, or even on rudimentary ones, such as a leaf. The peasantdoina is a non-ceremonial type of song and is generally sung in solitude, having an important psychological action: to "ease one's soul" (de stâmpărare inRomanian). Grigore Leşe believes that, while scholars describe in great detail the technical aspects of thedoina, they fail to understand its psychological aspects.Doinas are lyrical in aspect and their common themes are melancholy, longing (dor), erotic feelings, love for nature, complaints about the bitterness of life or invocations to God to help ease pain, etc.
Unlike peasantdoinas, lăutar and klezmerdoinas are usually accompanied and played on more complex instruments (violin, pan-pipe, cymbalom, accordion, clarinet, tarogato, etc.). Also, unlike peasantdoinas, lăutar and klezmerdoinas are mostly played as an introduction to another tune, usually a dance.
In the regions of Southern Romania,Romani lăutari developed a type of doina calledcântec de ascultare (meaning "song for listening", sometimes shortened tode ascultare or simplyascultare). Thecântec de ascultare spread to other regions of Romania, with local particularities.
Klezmer Doinas are influenced by Hassidicniguns.
While at the beginning of the 20th century, thedoina was the most common type of peasant song (in some areas the only type), today it has almost completely disappeared from peasant life, as most peasant music has. This process has been accentuated during thecommunist era, with the rise of the new, so-called "popular music", bringing a new style of performance that diluted the peasant styles.
Thedoina is still, however, common in the repertoire of the lăutari fromArdeal andBanat regions.
In 1976 theBBC religious television programmeThe Light of Experience tookGheorge Zamfir’s recording of "Doina De Jale" as its theme tune.Epic Records released the song as a single and made it to number four in the UK charts.
In 2009 thedoina has been included in theUNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
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