Production and Consumption of Folk-Pop Music in Post-Socialist Romania: Discourse and Practice
Production and Consumption of Folk-Pop Music in Post-Socialist Romania: Discourse and Practice

Summary/Abstract: This study explores a much disputed product of the contemporary Romanian music industry, usually known as manele. Manele could be best defined as a musical hybrid containing oriental, Balkan, and Gypsy rhythms alongside “traditional” Romanian music and also dance or hip-hop influences. It is disputed because of an ardent public and media critique but also because of its public influence. In many cases, this musical genre is labelled as immoral and is generally interpreted in terms of ethnic and racial stereotypes. This kind of public discourse is used by many intellectuals and journalists for whom manele represents a form of ignorance that threatens the “education of youth” and should be removed. Wide-spread opinion “explains” the consumption of this music as being due to poverty, lack of education and social integration. But it is difficult to define this musical genre in terms of class, socioeconomic status, education, occupation, or other variables. Manele, in their contemporary form as consumer culture, is the musical expression of post-socialist life trajectories. Industrial decline and increasing rates of poverty and unemployment after 1990 have led to complex life strategies (“economic informalisation”), which have been adopted by most people for their own survival.

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