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 Petrica Pasca with Rapsozii Arandului Band 'Un Virtuose Du Taragote' (EDC 183) |
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World Beat > Romanian > Music CD details
Petrica
Pasca
accompanied by the Rapsozii Arandului
Band
'Un Virtuose Du Taragote'
(EDC183)
Solo Taragot with small ensemble accompaniment.
Extract from sleeve notes:
'This folklore CD is from Transylvania and offers a specific musical
folklore repertoire, performed by the well known taragot player Petrica
Pasca, together with the Arad band 'Rapsozii Zarandului.
The area where the melodies on this CD were collected is a large one: the
Arad vine-growing and plain area, the Lipova woods, south of Mures river,
the Mures valley in the counties of Hunedoara and Arad, as well as the
White Cris valley, up to the mountainous area of its springs, in the
Apuseni mountains, that of tarina from around the Gaina peak, with its
famous nedeia (fair).
It is an area where four countries meet — Arad, Hunedoara, Alba and
Bihor, all peasant land with a very long, harsh and oppressive history,
which is reflected in a folk melodies of such nostalgic poetry.
Through the years the ‘Rapsozii Zarandului band, together with vocal and
instrumental soloists, recorded 12 Electrecord records. This is the
taragot player Petrica Pasca’s second recording as a soloist, this time
on CD and with special attention paid to the rendering of the pieces in a
manner as ethnomusicologically accurate as possible.
Born in the Apuseni mountains, Petrica Pasca attended music school in Cluj
in the taragot class of the distinguished instrumentalist Dumitru Farcas,
from whom he learned the art of producing an exceptional tone and
interpretations of remarkable poetry, to be perceived mostly in the doina.
Eventually he settled in Arad, where he joined the Folklore Orchestra of
the local Philharmonic Society, with which he remained from 1971 until
1980, when he founded the ‘Rapsozii Zarandlului band' which, from 1990,
became a professional state-subsidized ensemble.
Most of its members are Conservatory graduates, with a remarkable ethno-musicological
training; the others, who are also outstanding instrumentalists, attended
various specialist courses and have vast experience from long years of
playing in the Folklore Orchestra of the Arad Philharmonic Society.
In addition to making commercial records, the band has given several
performances on Romanian Radio and Television, making numerous recordings
with these two organizations.
The tunes’ accompaniment is poetically rendered by the harmonies of the
bowed string instruments, predominant in the band --- which, especially in
slow, doina-like songs, resemble the sound of the organ. This led the
ethnomusicologist Marcel Cellier, a champion of Romanian folklore, to
characterize them, when discussing these Arad melodies, as ‘the divine
harmonies of the strings’ (violins, violas, cello and double bass): the
composer Sabirn V. Dragoi used the phrase ‘the swinging harmonies of the
strings’.
According to research conducted by Aron Densusianu (1895), the first
Miorita was recorded in writing in Transylvania in 1865, by the priest
Ambrosie Jurma from Bata, Arad county. Of all the musical Mioritas in
circulation in the country (ballads, songs, carols), the Transylvanian
carol Miorita, with a ritual performing function and representing an
institution in itself, is (it is believed) the oldest. The carol Miorita:
Pe razor de vie performed by our taragot soloist, Petrica Pasca is one
of its variants from the vine-growing area, and is considered to be a
unique ancestor specific to the area.'
[Note: Miorita - The most famous motif in Romanian folklore, that
of the enchanted sheep, who warns her master about his partners' plans to
kill him.]
USD 14.99
Petrica
Pasca
accompanied by the Rapsozii Arandului
Band
'Un Virtuose Du Taragote'
(EDC183)
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Tracks
Giocoso pieces
1. Rara from Covasinti (Arad vine-growing area) (2'03")
2. Ardeleana from Socoder (Arad plain) (2'54")
3. Ardeleana from the Arad part of Mures (2'30")
4. Rara from the Hunedoara part of Mures (3'26")
5. Zorile m (Hunedoara, Alba) (2'03")
6. Vidreana — an old Rara from the Gaina fair (3'08")
7. Batraneasca from Mogos (Alba) (2'09")
8. Tarina from the Gaina fair (1'32")
9. Mocaneasca and tarina from the Gaina fair (1'58")
Other giocoso pieces
10. Maruntel from Semlac (Arad plain) (1'09")
11. Batuta from the Cris (2'20")
12. Re picior from Arad vine-growing area (2'14")
13. Pe picior from the Mures (4'31")
14. Pe picior from Covasinti (4'29")
Molto rubato songs
15. Doina -— like song from the Ariesmil Mare river (3'33")
16. Song from Poiana Horii (2'45")
Wedding repertoire
17. Bridal song from Buzad (Lipova area) (1'51")
18. Bridal dance from Buzad (4'03")
19.Bridal march from Scarisoara (Ariesul Mare) (2'31")
Christmas carols
20. Miorita — carol 'Pe razor de vie' (Arad plain) (2'24")
21. The turca dance (at carols) (4'44")
Duration (58'17")