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Argint Ensemble

'Peasant Taraf Music from Gorj'

Musicians:
Victor Argint senior - vioara, violin
Maria Argint - voice
Margalina Cidoiu - voice
Ion Argint - voice, vioara, violin
Marian Argint - vioara, violin
Victor Argint junior - vioara, violin
vioara, accordion
Adrian Pobirci - chitara, guitar, vioara, double bass
Florian Argint - accordion, double bass
Pantele „Civit" Rap - vioara
Elena Rap - accordion

Label - Ethnophonie, Romania
Released 2009

With 24 page booklet in Romanian and English, including photos and information on the music and musicians.

Muzică ţărănească de taraf din Gorj / Peasant Taraf Music from Gorj

This music is played by the members of the family Argint (Silver) from the village of Pârâu de Pripor, in the ancient district of Gorj, Romania. It contains dance music (sârba, hora de mână) and lyric songs (doine and topical songs), sung and played on violin, viola, guitar and double bass with a special sweetness, distinct to style of the region.

Extract from notes:
PEASANT TARAF MUSIC FROM GORJ 
"Seven or eight decades ago, the music from the Gorj region was in great fashion all over southern Romania. At that time, the peasants from Gorj were suppliers of vegetables to the capital city. They used to hang their pails and bundles onto shoulder yokes, get on the train to Bucharest, and sell their merchandise at the market, or right on the clients' doorsteps, announcing their offers in melodized calls that drew all the housewives out into the street. The Gorj sellers would spend the evenings in pubs around the North Station, where they could listen to Gypsy musicians from their villages, whose lively songs were also enjoyed by the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Back then, these performances had striking features which nobody could ignore or mistake: the voices of both the male and female singers were colored with glottal attacks (especially clear in the case of women), and shifted unexpectedly from the head register to the chest register; unlike in any other part of Romania, the melodic phrases of the violinists ended in "mewing," descending glissandos; the harmonizations of the accompanying groups, simple but efficient, were bathed in a charming tonal ambiguity; the melodies of the doine and sarbe were generous, free, and had unique profiles. Years have passed, and with them the fashion of Gorj music. Perhaps the death of the superb Maria Lataretu, the Gypsy singer from Balcesti turned folkloric music star, was the terminus of its decline. Official folkloric orchestras emerged that destroyed, one by one, its distinctive notes, regarded as too rustic and "uncivilized." With help from orchestras, "arrangers" and folklore singers, the culturniks and the media invented a new style designed to extend beyond the boundaries of Gorj: the "Oltenian" style. The musicians took it for a model and began to boldly adopt melodies, melodic-rhythmic and ornamental formulas, and harmonies specific to folkloric ensembles in their...

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Argint Ensemble

'Peasant Taraf Music from Gorj'

This symbol  indicates an mp3 sound clip for that track. Click on the symbol and wait for the clip to start. For more information click here. Tracks

1. Joc / Dance' Sarba (2'47")

2. Doina: Mi-aduc aminte demult (5'03")

3 Hora: Colindar valceaua toata (4'16")

4. Sarba: Ici i dealul, ici i via (3'49")

5. Suita de jocuri/ Dance Suite: Doina, Sarba (6'35")

6. Doina: Eu conosc vara cand vine (5'07")

7. Suita de jocuri/ Dance Suite: Hora de mana, Sarbe (6'31")

8. Doina: Usurel trecui prin lume (4'10")

9. Sarba: Cine-a fost stapan pe Gorj (sau/ or Dinca Schileru) (5'06")

10. Doina: Pusei fata la pamant (3'42")

11. Cantec/ Song: Trei in lume nu se poate (3'54")

12. Doina: Mi-aduc aminte demult (4'31")

13. Sarba: Mai treci neica si tu dealul (4'42")

14. Sarba: La Tismana-ntr-o gradina (3'10")

mp3 samples are approximately 30 seconds long - click on play symbol to start + pause clip