Doina - Origins and Characteristics

Origins and Characteristics

Béla Bartók discovered the doina in Northern Transylvania in 1912 and he believed it to be uniquely Romanian. After he found similar genres in Ukraine, Albania, Algeria, Middle East and Northern India, he came to the conclusion that these are part of a family of related genres of Arabo-Persian origin. He particularly linked the Romanian doina to the Turkish/Arabic Makam system. Bartók's conclusions were rejected by some Romanian ethnomusicologists, who accused Bartók of anti-Romanian bias. Since then, however, the similarities between the Romanian doina and various musical forms from the Middle East have been documented by both non-Romanian, and Romanian scholars. Until the first half of the 20th century, both lăutari and klezmer musicians were recorded using a taksim as an introduction to a tune. The taksim would be later replaced by the doina, which has been described as being very similar, though not totally identical to the taksim. Ethnomusicologist and doina performer Grigore Leşe, who recently performed with a group of Iranian musicians, said that the doinas of Maramureş have "great affinities" with the Arabo-Persian music.

The doina is a free-rhythm, highly ornamented (usually melismatic), improvisational tune. The improvisation is done on a more or less fixed pattern (usually a descending one), by "stretching" the notes in a rubato-like manner, according to the performer's mood and imagination. Usually the prolonged notes are the fourth or fifth above the floor note.

The peasant doinas are mostly vocal and monophonic 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. Instrumental doinas are played on simple instruments, usually various types of flutes, or even on rudimentary ones, such as a leaf. The peasant doina 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" in Romanian). Grigore Leşe believes that, while scholars describe in great detail the technical aspects of the doina, 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 peasant doinas, lăutar and klezmer doinas are usually accompanied and played on instruments with more musical possibilities (violin, pan-pipe, cymbalom, accordion, clarinet, tarogato, etc.). Also, unlike peasant doinas, lăutar and klezmer doinas are mostly played as an introduction to another tune, usually a dance.

In the regions of Southern Romania, Romani lăutari developed a more complex type of doina called "cântec de ascultare" (meaning "song for listening", sometimes shortened to "de ascultare" or simply "ascultare"). The "cântec de ascultare" spread to other regions of Romania, with local particularities.