tare tare!!!

Hottest jamz from Romania:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LTypsUjil8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiYYBWnkFp4

This is manele- it seems any Romanian with any sophistication, real or pretended, would never, never admit to even tolerating this genre. I think it's similar to Latin American reggaeton or US pop hip hop- all about money, cars, sex, etc etc but in certain environments after a certain number of drinks, I found it to be all right. Also, in the country, this is ALL that was played in clubs [by clubs I mean the one and only disco, but I'm sure this is the case in other villages, too] It's really derided as 'gypsy music' though, and there's pretty much nothing worse you can call something than 'gyspy.'

The other music listened to incessantly is the 'Etno' genre of music. There are two channels that play nothing but music videos in bucolic settings with ethnically dressed Romanians singing and dancing. Super, super, super kitsch, but in the villages, TVs are set on either these two channels or the manele channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpTyvgEfMkU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ph3fnMHU_A&feature=related

These last two show some examples of traditional types of dancing. I'm far from expert on the variations of ethnic dances in each particular region of Romania, but as a very general overview, these show some examples. People do get dressed up like that sometimes for weddings, particularly people in the procession, but the boys tend to prefer Euro-trashed jeans to the white tights normally. Dancing at parties isn't quite this organized, but you do see groups of men or boys dancing in circles with their arms around each others' shoulders; and partners, even in the disco setting, dance turning in circles and spinning at various speeds and directions. The way the men dance at 3:30ish in the second video is a type of dancing that I think most of the men in the village did know, to varying degrees, but it usually took more than 2 or 3 tuica to get them to show you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGiFbGwRfY0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9LGWnc_UxU&feature=related

Enjoy