Search - Alan Lomax :: World Library: Romania

Unlike most of the CDs in the World Library of Folk and Primitive Music series, which were recorded in the field by Alan Lomax or his associates, the tracks on Romania were taken from the collection in the archive of the Folklore Institute in Bucharest. Consequently, the selections range over a much wider time span than other volumes in the series, which tend to focus on the varieties of music found at a specific time and place. The earliest recording here dates back to 1934 and features a medley of dance tunes played on fiddle. The latest is a long ballad recorded in 1958. The years in between include recordings of ritual hunting songs from Transylvania, a song to end a drought sung by a group of Gypsy children in Wallachia, and a fanfare played on an alpenhorn by a 19-year-old musician from the Carpathian Mountains. Even though the recordings were made over a long period of time and with equipment of varying degrees of sophistication, the sound quality is uniformly fine. As with the other CDs in the series, each of the tracks is well annotated in the accompanying booklet. --Michael Simmons