The Oşeni and the Dynamics of their Emblematic Music
The Oşeni and the Dynamics of their Emblematic Music

Summary/Abstract: he Oaş is a small rural region in the far north of Transylvania.Before 1990, its community life and local culture was still very lively. Music,with its distinct identity, was supported by several traditional institutions: theSunday dance, the wedding, collective pastoral feasts, the bee, and caroling.The Oşeni were better off than their fellow countrymen, because the men oftenleft their villages to find employment, taking hard, but well-paid seasonal jobsall around the country (e.g. repairing high-voltage poles). As their wealthgrew, so did their ambition to show it off. Like today, the symbols of prosperitywere houses (multistory, with monumental gates), and music, deliberatelydifferent from all other Romanian music.Emigration to the West began in the 1990s and intensified in the 2000s.At the beginning, it was riddled with deprivation. In a few years, the Oşeniorganized themselves in communities where each newcomer could find shelterand a job. After a turbulent period, the Oşeni adhered to lawfulness, andtheir earnings from construction work grew substantially. They invest allof their money in houses (the construction of which is supervised by theirparents, who stayed behind in the village), in lavish parties with live music,and in expensive traditional costumes, which they put on occasionally, makingsure they are also photographed in them. They come back on short vacationsat Easter, on the Feast of Dormition, and at Christmas. The rest of the time,their houses are empty.In the new socio-economic mechanism, music, which the Oşeni play athome, but also take with them abroad, plays an essential role. Like houses,it runs a constant race to the heights, the super-acute register symbolizingprestige, success, and uniqueness. This music, which I am going to speakabout, has now reached a pitch that threatens the singers’ throats and thephysical integrity of the accompanying violins.

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