Manele

Manele (singular: Manea) is a Balkan music style mainly derived from Greek, Turkish, Arab or Serbian love songs, and is a form of sub-culture.But is also present in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Romania and parts of Turkey and with expatriates and emigrants originally from these regions.

History

Early references of the term appear in Romanian texts from the early 19th century, during the period of Turkish suzerainty over the Romanian principalities.

Modern manele originated in the 1980s and early 1990s as underground translations and imitations of Turkish and Arabic songs. It was being sung on the streets of Ferentari, a poor neighbourhood of Bucharest inhabited mostly by Roma people.

It developed in other parts of the country, such as Oltenia and Banat, under Serbian musical influences. The genre has been rocked by accusations of plagiarism a number of times, with manele singers illegally adapting popular songs from Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. The accusations increased especially after the hit "De ce mă minţi" ("Why are you lying to me?") proved to be a mere cover of Despina Vandi's song "M'agapas"/"Ah kardoula mou".

Manele is one of the most popular as well as one of the most disputed music genres in Romania today. In present, 2007, manele is one of the most popular music genres.

Characteristics

Manele is a mixture of "oriental" (Turkish/Middle Eastern) influences and Balkan music, with a very strong influence from Roma music.

Subject matter

Manele is criticized for its lyrical content, which often consists of boasts about the singer's sexual ability, intellect ("Doamne ce mă duce capu", "God my mind works so well"), ability to attract the opposite sex ("Toate gagicile mele", "All my chicks"; "Am gagici top-model", "I've got top-model chicks"; "Gagicile mă agaţă", "Chicks pick me up"), or wealth ("Toţi banii", "All the money"), or have lyrics portraying the lead singer as a high-society member ("sunt jupân/boier" - "i'm a boss/landlord"), sometimes all in one song. Many singers intentionally use bad grammar, repetitive and simplistic rhymes suitable for chanting and sometimes vulgarity and misogynism.

Manele composers and players also use the term "oriental music" for their creation, and consider their music a sub-genre of traditional, folk Roma music. But traditional Roma musicians reject this categorisation, and consider manele a distinct and inferior genre. They reject the idea of mixing genres and of modern influences, although they accept remixes of their songs.

Traditional Roma music is usually played on classical instruments by a live band (taraf) of lăutari and has classical lyrics, while manele is usually sung by only one performer using modern instruments (generally synthesizers) as backup. Most manele are recorded in small recording studios, owned by the singer himself or by a group of singers, since major recording labels refuse to contract players of the genre. However, there are some exceptions: for example, Stana Izbaşa and Nicu Paleru sing live, often with traditional instruments.

Manele players usually have a stage name, such as Florin Salam (Florin Salami); Adi de Vito (real name Adrian Simionescu), who also used the name Danny DeVito due to some resemblance to the American actor in terms of height and weight, and was formerly known as Adrian Copilul Minune (Adrian The Wonder Boy); Vali Vijelie (Vali the Whirlwind, real name Valentin Rusu); Florin Fermecatoru' (Florin the Charmer); Sorinel Puştiu' (Sorinel the Kid); Ştefan de la Bărbuleşti (Ştefan from Bărbuleşti); or Jean de la Craiova (Jean from Craiova). The only significant manele players not adopting stage names are Costi Ioniţă and Nicolae Guţă (although Guţă's real surname is Lingurar).

Manele fashion style

Male Manele howlers have created a distinct image on the Romanian music scene, by having their own fashion style. Manelisti often wear very tight T-shirts, tight pants and pointy shoes (usually expensive brands, although less wealthy individuals may prefer imitations). Manelisti are noted for using a lot of gel in their hair and a lot of flashy gold jewelry). It is de rigueur for Manele singers to own, or at least claim to own luxury cars (usually either a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or a convertible BMW).

Public opinion

Manele is popular, especially among the middle and lower strata of Romanian and Bulgarian society. But the Romanian intellectual class and others oppose this musical movement.

On Romanian television stations, manele performers and music are particularly seen on ProTV,OTV Prima TV and Antena 1, and on some small TV stations such as TARAF TV. While mainstream radio stations do not air manele, a lot of smaller (or pirate) and quite popular stations do, especially in Romania's capital, Bucharest. On New Year's Eve 2006, almost all Romanian television stations featured programs that included manele singers of both sexes. Prior to this, on Romania's National Day and ProTV's anniversary, December 1, ProTV aired 10 versions of the Romanian national anthem, one of them a remix as a manea by manele singers. This created controversy over Romanian internet and even resulted in a petition, but also showed that manele is gaining acceptance in Romanian society. Critics took solace in fact that only one of the versions of Romanian national anthem was performed in a manele style.

There is controversy over the influence of manele music and the ideas it promotes to its audience.

See also

• Chalga, in Bulgaria
• Turbo-folk, in Serbia
• Arabesque-pop music, in Middle East
• Laïkó, in Greece
• Laïka, in Greece

External links

• Manele Videos and Radios - manele.fm
• Pictures of Manele players
• Download the latest manele Romanian language
• Manele mini-doc - Audio podcast from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Manele forum (in Romanian)