The following song is a well known lăutărească melody. Lăutărească is a type of music tradition specially found in Moldova, Wallachia and Transylvania. It was originally performed by shephers, peasants and other non- professional musicians. However, throughout time it has become a favourite style for professional players. Although we can find compositions not requiring a high proficiency in playing an instrument, generally it is a very demanding music technically speaking.
Remember that in Romanian music most trills and mordents are half step only. Although lăutari musicians were originally Romani, nowadays we can find non gypsy musicians playing the style. It is a very down home music style used in social events such as weddings, funerals, etc. It has many influences. Besides its inherent Romanian elements it also contains many others from Middle Eastern traditions, as well as other Western European styles.
Althought I have not found clearly the specific style where this piece belongs to, most people I asked agree that it is a type of Rustem (Rustemul) in 5/8 time. The Romanian Rustem is like a Bulgarian Paidushko.
We can also find the Rustem performed in different time signatures and not only 5/8. Hence, that some people classified Mugur Mugurel as a slow Hora.
As usual, the best way to feel this rhythm is by borrowing from the dance tradition. That is, instead of counting numers like 12312 we go by Long+Short. Long equals 123 and short 12, resulting in the 5 beats count used for this rhythm. Musicians and dancers in this tradition are not metronome-accurate. In fact, that is part of the charm.
In the following arrangement we can use a natural F on the first string first fret. And a natural C on the second string first fret. Or get closer to the real feel by using microtones on both notes. In this case, we would use the sharp sign with an added downward arrow. This means it is a F# or C# slightly lowered.
If you are not familiar with what "fretlets" are, how to make your own at home, and use them on your guitar to play music traditions using microtones, you should check the post in this blog explaining all about it. After you do so, you can place a fretlet between the first and second frets on the first and second strings in order to have these pitches. The microtone can be inside the zone of -35 to -42 cents. I will not get into a disccusion about microtonal pitches placement here. Remember that pitches vary according to player, tradition, geographical area, and quality of instruments, among other factors.
In this arrangement of Mugur Mugurel I have included the version using microtones. However, be careful because some Fs and Cs are also natural. Not all of them need to be microtonal.
Pay special attention to the video/audio sample. I have purposely kept the score as simple as possible so you can learn it fast, and focus on the real details which can not be notated. Hence, listen many times to the audio samples. Play along with them imitating every nuance you feel in pitches, rhythm, ornaments, etc.
ROMANIAN GUITAR VIDEO…
Here is the video with the original recording on guitar.
ROMANIAN MUGUR MUGUREL SCORES AND TABS.
Here is an excerpt from the piece. I hope you enjoy it. If you are thirsty for more check out the book “ROMANIAN MUSIC FOR GUITAR”.
This article comes from the book “ROMANIAN MUSIC FOR GUITAR by Fernando Perez”.