Melodic Types Originating in Other Areas in the Old-style Proper Song From Pădureni Land, Hunedoara County

Abstract

Circulation of melodic types from one area to another is a natural mechanism of oral transmission over time, by which variation occurs. This is especially true in the old-style song genre, where performance is usually individual; in such cases, transfer of “very popular” melodies occurs fast, either, in the past, by people moving from one area to another, or, more recently, through the emergence of the mass media and various musical folklore festivals. The field research carried out in Pădureni Land, Hunedoara, enabled us to identify melodic types originating from other folkloric areas, though perfectly “adapted” to the local style of interpretation. Even if the process depends mainly on the performers’ interpretative qualities and on their capacity to create artistic variation, our aim here is to show how a few extremely popular and well-known melodies were absorbed and adopted, altered and/or adapted to the zonal repertoire of the Pădureni area.