Typical music instrumentation by region

Banat

musicians from ensemble Timişul

The violin has been the predominant instrument in the past and is still played alongside the more recently introduced woodwind. The taragot was introduced in the 1920s when it was brought from Hungary by the Banat lăuturi. The taragot is used for the slow doina as well as the fast dance melodies. The saxophone is now often played alongside the taragot. It is common to see a slightly strange combination of many violins playing together with taragots and saxophones in the regional ensembles.

One of the best known violinists of the region is Efta Botoca. Luca Novac is the best known taragotist.

Bucovina

This remote area maintains some of the oldest instrumentation such as the now rare ţilincă and the cobza. The regional version of the fluier is an end blown pipe know locally as the fluieraş (small pipe) or the fluier mare (large pipe). These are played with a cobza accompaniment. Violins, and more recently brass, have been added to the melody line and the accordion has taken over the accompaniment from the Cobza.

Crişana

vioară cu goarnă

The violin dominates the music in this region. In some areas a second violin is used to provide the accompaniment to the lead violin. This predates the accompaniment use of the Braci (contra) found in Transylvania. The best recordings using a second violin can be found of the Romanian villages of Elek and Mecherechi in Hungary.
In the mid 20th century a version of the Stroh violinknown as the "Tiebel-Radio system violin" spread into Romania where it is know as the vioara cu goarna (violin with horn). Although once found in several areas these are now restricted to Bihor.
The taragot has become popular in Arad with the musicianship of Petrica Paşca

Dobrogea

The Romanian instrumentation in Dobrogea is the same as that found in Muntenia. However, Dobrogea also has Tartar, Turkish and Bulgarian populations all with their own music and instruments.

Maramureş & Oaş

musicians from Valea Stejarului

Maramureş

The typical ensemble is violin, zongora, and sometimes drum. In 1913, when Bela Bartok was researching music, the zongora had only two strings strummed continuously independent of the melody, much like the drone strings of a zither. The number of strings have since increased to three with some changes to the tuning used to follow the melody. Nowadays the number of strings has increased further and the harmonic structure is fitted to the melody. More recently the taragot has been made popular by Dimitru Farcas and saxophone and accordion are now common. The invârtita and barbatesc dance melodies of Maramures are made up of short elements put together by the musician allowing improvisation and varying the length of the phrases.

musicians at Certeze

Oaş

Music is commonly played on an adapted violin to make it sound shriller and sometimes it is accompanied by the zongora. The musician uses archaic melodic elements to build the melody, but to the uninitiated the whole effect does not sound very musical! The singing in Oaş is again very shrill and quite unique.

Moldavia

village brass band

Violin and ţambal are now the basis of Moldavian dance music. Until the spread of the ţambal in the early 20th century the cobza was the accompaniment instrument but now can only be found in the more remote areas such as Bucovina (see the separate section), Vrancea and with the Hungarian minorities known as the Csángó. Ion Dragoi is one of the best know violinists of Moldavia.

The Moldavian Csángó minority has maintained the older instrumentation of pipe (fluier or caval) and cobza and those of Gyimes pass have developed a unique style with the violin and gardon.
More recently brass ensembles have become very popular in central Moldavia.

Muntenia

village fluier player

Muntenia has always been at the heart of the Romanian nation, all the capital towns for Wallachia and Romania have been in Muntenia. The better communications are reflected in the progression of music in this region. The older fluier is still very common in the sub-Carpathians, but generally the newer instruments have been quickly integrated. The progression from the cobza though to the ţambal mare and to the accordion happened earliest in this region. The fluier and violin are traditionally the main melody instruments, but now the melody line is commonly led by the clarinet or accordion. Musicians such as Ilie Udila and Vasile Pandelescu have perfected a very fast accordion style in keeping with the musical tradition. To audiences in west Europe, the best known taraf is from Clejani (to the west of Bucareşti) marketed as "the Taraf de Haidouks".

Oltenia

Oltenia has not progressed as quickly as neighboring Muntenia, but otherwise they have similar music and dance. Pipes and violins are still the dominant melody instrument with musicians such as the pipe player Dumitru Zamfira. In the past the local taraf would have rhythmical backing from cobza, but this has been replaced by the guitar and the ţambal.

Transylvania

taraf in Miheşu de Câmpie

In central Transylvania the typical gypsy taraf of violin, braci (contra) and bass dates from the last century. The braci can be bowed to play triads giving a fuller sound compared to the earlier technique using a second violin. The bass is played with a short rustic bow allowing the musician to "dig" into the notes to emphasize the dance beat, often lagging behind the melody! These taraf play for both the Hungarian and Romanian communities over a wide area giving rise to the exchange and spreading of melodies. Mostly the harmonic arrangement from the braci and bass is rudimentary. However, in Kalotaszeg, on the road between Cluj and Hungary, a much higher level of musical arrangement has developed during the 20th century.
Not all musicians are gypsies, there are Romanian musicians and in some areas they have continued playing pipes, possibly not having the wealth to hire the local gypsy taraf.
Across the south of Transylvania the most popular sound is now a saxophone backed by accordion. There are many young saxophone musicians with cassettes of the traditional music in the local shops.