The Song of the Fir Tree in ‘Ținutul Pădurenilor’ [The Land of Pădureni], Hunedoara
The Song of the Fir Tree in ‘Ținutul Pădurenilor’ [The Land of Pădureni], Hunedoara

Summary/Abstract: Among the funeral ritual songs of pre-Christian origin from the Romanian musical folklore, the song of the fir tree stands for a distinct thematic category. With a limited geographical spread of the custom (Northern Oltenia, Banat, Southern Transylvania), the song of the fir tree is found mainly in Ținutul Pădurenilor [the Land of Pădureni], in Hunedoara county. As proof stand the collections gathered in the area by Béla Bartók more than a hundred years ago, those of Emilia Comișel and of the team of researchers from Bucharest, gathered 70 years ago, and, last but not least, those gathered by Ph.D. Professor Ioan Bocșa and Ph.D. Lecturer Alina Stan, who recorded 26 songs reflecting this theme. The musical and literary elements of the ritual song performed in group only by women, with great interpretive force and spiritual emotion, are distinct from those of the songs from other areas. In this respect, we will undertake a comparative analysis of the melodic variants, taking into account: the identification of the main musical traits, the changes produced over time; the existence of a melodic type in several villages, or the existence of several melodic types in the same village; the identification of the most enduring melodic type, collected during all the research periods. Although the area is currently less inhabited, with an ageing population, the variety and multitude of songs collected show us that they are alive in the memory of the people of the entire Land of Pădureni, and that in many communities it is practised according to ancient customs.

• Details
• Contents