Speranța Rădulescu and Lăutari: Engaging with Musicians and Music-Making
Speranța Rădulescu and Lăutari: Engaging with Musicians and Music-Making

Summary/Abstract: This article comprises a discussion of five publications by Speranța Rădulescu that employ significant portions of text from archival interviews and in-person conversations with lăutari (professional, traditional, male Romani musicians in Romania). I examine how, in these writings, the practices, mechanics, and thinking of lăutari are presented in their own words. They include a cluster of four articles written in the mid-1980s, during the communist period, and a book (Chats about Gypsy Music) that was published in 2004, fifteen years after the Romanian Revolution. The five publications offer fascinating portraits of Romani musicians and music-making. In them lăutari respond with candor, humor, and insider wisdom to Rădulescu’s questions, expounding upon a broad array of topics related to their own music-making as an occupation and the traditional music for which they are known. These topics include the taraf (traditional ensemble in which lăutari perform) as it functioned in the 20th century, the apprenticeship of lăutari, their instrumental specialization, contracts and payment for their performances, and, as Rădulescu puts it, “what ‘Gypsy music’ is”. Based in large part on what lăutari themselves reveal about their profession and artistry, Rădulescu embellishes with context, clarification, and interpretation as she elaborates on their discourse.

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