**2. The level of ethnographic and folkloric research of the area**

Scientific research currently has numerous data on the evolution of concerns for Romanian folklore. The stage reached the concerns for the popular heritage and especially the areas that have been researched, still requires some contributions, even more so than for some folklore areas, such as the Chioar area, some collections and representative studies that would help a better understanding and identification of the particularities of this area. Of course, we cannot dispute some concerns for the collection of folklore material from Chioar undertaken by personalities interested in the folklore of Transylvania. On the other hand, the research activity on a region or the development of a particular subject will never cover the entire activity of a community. There will always be a side that will never be known and one that is waiting to be discovered and deciphered from the many documents that have remained manuscript until now. We consider that such an activity would put in a clearer light the general ethnological folkloristic movement and that of areas less known as the one in question.

In 1920, at the initiative of the teacher Poptefan Pop, with the collaboration of Ilie Pop and Aurel Buteanu, appeared the "sheet" *Chioarul.*<sup>9</sup> The most valuable folklore collections published in this magazine are those of Andrei Grobeiu and Vladimir Diaconiță-Poiană, especially the sinks from their collections and manuscripts (*1070 chiuituri ale Chioarului*). Some attempts (Micle Adelaida, *Contribuții la cunoașterea activității desfășurate de doi dascăli din Țara Chioarului, Ilie Pop și Andrei Grobeiu*) ([8], p. 172) to highlight the material of the collection have classified the siftings collected by the two teachers in the following groups: satirical, erotic, of greed, friendship and social-political character, of course being a questionable

*Research of the Musical Folklore From Maramureș: Chioar Area*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90682*

In the first half of the twentieth century, several publications intended exclusively for the publication of folklore material, such as *Izvorașul* (1919–1940), *Comoara satelor* (1923–1927), and *Anuarul arhivei de folclor* (1923–1945), which will also include folk material from the Chioar area. The most important contributor to the *Izvorașul* magazine was teacher Costică Iureș from the town of Vima Mare (belonging to the county of Someș). He sends to the magazine five lyrical songs

Between 1969 and 1970, in the *Rapsodia chioreană* magazine of the High School in Șomcuta Mare (today named "Ioan Buteanu" High School), songs collected by the students of the high school are published. Also here we find the study *Arta populară în lemn din Țara Chioarului* signed by Sabin Șainelic,<sup>10</sup> which brings to light details of the popular architecture found in the area (the reason for the tree of life, the reason for the sun). The popular dances were also absent from the concerns of the researchers of the Chioar area, Gheorghe Baciu and Gavril Ghiur, being the authors of two volumes entitled *Dansuri populare din Țara Lăpușului și Țara Chioaruluii* (1973). Virgil Medan was preoccupied with the Chiorean musical folklore, publishing the work *Cântece epice* (Cluj-Napoca, 1979), where two transcribed variants of the ballad *Pintea Viteazul* are included. The first is collected from Valea Chioarului (p. 221) and the second from Buciumi (p. 223). Both are built on the

In the context of the concerns for the folklore of the Chioar area, a series of studies were carried out under the aegis of the County Center for the Conservation and Promotion of the Traditional Culture of Maramureș (CJCPCT), which resulted in reference works, for example the work of the Janeta Ciocan, *Portul popular din Țara Chioarului*. Other important works are as follows: *Arhitectura bisericilor de lemn din Țara Chioarului* (Sabin Șainelic, 1971); *Dansuri populare din Țara Lăpușului și Țara Chioarului* (Baciu Gheorghe, Ghiur Gavrilă, 1973)11; *Instalații populare pentru obținerea uleiului în zonele etnografice Chioar și Lăpuș* (Janeta Ciocan, 1978); *Nobilimea Chioarului* (Valer Hossu, 2003); *Miorița s-a născut în Maramureș* (Ștef, Dorin, 2005)12; and *Satele Chioarului la 1405: date istorice, economice, demografice și etimologice pentru anii 1231–2005* (Vasile Radu, 2005). The list of

<sup>9</sup> Appeared under heavy financial conditions, the *Chioarul* was printed at Șomcuta Mare, at the typeface

<sup>11</sup> The work includes drawings, graphic scoring of dances, illustrative sketches, musical scores, etc. <sup>12</sup> It contains an anthology of 136 texts of the version *Miorița*—carol, collected from Maramureș (Maramureș County, 63; Chioar Country, 22; Country of Codrului, 28; Country of Lăpușului, 23). The texts were published, with two exceptions, in various collections, anthologies and periodicals, published

<sup>10</sup> The researcher who writes the first studies on the Codru and Chioar areas.

in Maramureș, in Cluj-Napoca or Bucharest, between 1925 and 2001.

division.

under the title *Doine, cântece*.

occasion of revealing the secret of Pintea's death.

"Mercur" where folklore collections also appear.

**187**

Leaving aside the indirect testimonies about this area, it seems that the first written notice in a prestigious magazine, about the popular Chilean spiritual production we owe to AP Alexi: 7 texts by Doine *Doine și hore poporale (Din ținutul Cetății de Peatră)* published in *Familia* ([8], p. 164) magazine in 1871. At the end of the nineteenth century, the greatest merits in the field of folklore collection in the Chioar area were attributed to a teacher named Ilie Pop from Șomcuta Mare. He also responded to the requests of Simion Florea Marian (1847–1907),<sup>7</sup> sending a rich material regarding the customs in the area which is present through the collected folklore materials, in numerous periodicals of the time such as *Amicul familiei*, *Șezătoarea*, *Familia*,*Tribuna* (1884–1903) and the *Gutinul* newspaper (published in Baia Mare between 1889 and 1890, intended to inform a wider public). We must mention that in the *Cărțile săteanului român, nr. 7* (1878), Ilie Pop published an article entitled *Cetatea de Peatră*, in which he talks about the name of the fortress and of the Chioar, the Chiorean tradition, recounting the legend of the construction of the fortress heard from some elders.

The one who somehow understands Ilie Pop's concerns about the folklore of the Chioar area is Emil Bran (1864–1941),8 trained in the cultural environment of the city of Gherla. The contribution regarding this area is reported in the periodicals of the time (in the *Tribuna* magazine, the ballad *Tânguirea nevestei* is published, specifying that it is a "popular literature").

The folklore collectors in the Chioar area prove to be, during this period, with a good sense of the selection of folklore productions, but there are numerous gaps regarding the data on localities and informants, and there are certain interventions in the folklore production text that harm the authentic. However, their merit remains unquestionable regarding the beginnings of the folklore movement in Chioar, which will be developed and amplified in the next century.

<sup>7</sup> Renowned folklorist, member of the Romanian Academy, born in Iliești in Suceava. In addition to folklore collections from all the lands inhabited by Romanians, he wrote monographs on holidays, Romanian customs, ornithology, chromatics, etc. Through his work he laid the foundations for the scientific research of folklore and stimulated the wide collection of popular creations by other researchers.

<sup>8</sup> A fost fratele preotului greco-catolic Laurențiu Bran, primul român care a tradus poeziile lui Mihai Eminescu în alte limbi.

**2. The level of ethnographic and folkloric research of the area**

known as the one in question.

*Heritage*

of the fortress heard from some elders.

ifying that it is a "popular literature").

researchers.

**186**

Eminescu în alte limbi.

Scientific research currently has numerous data on the evolution of concerns for Romanian folklore. The stage reached the concerns for the popular heritage and especially the areas that have been researched, still requires some contributions, even more so than for some folklore areas, such as the Chioar area, some collections and representative studies that would help a better understanding and identification of the particularities of this area. Of course, we cannot dispute some concerns for the collection of folklore material from Chioar undertaken by personalities interested in the folklore of Transylvania. On the other hand, the research activity on a region or the development of a particular subject will never cover the entire activity of a community. There will always be a side that will never be known and one that is waiting to be discovered and deciphered from the many documents that have remained manuscript until now. We consider that such an activity would put in a clearer light the general ethnological folkloristic movement and that of areas less

Leaving aside the indirect testimonies about this area, it seems that the first written notice in a prestigious magazine, about the popular Chilean spiritual production we owe to AP Alexi: 7 texts by Doine *Doine și hore poporale (Din ținutul Cetății de Peatră)* published in *Familia* ([8], p. 164) magazine in 1871. At the end of the nineteenth century, the greatest merits in the field of folklore collection in the Chioar area were attributed to a teacher named Ilie Pop from Șomcuta Mare. He also responded to the requests of Simion Florea Marian (1847–1907),<sup>7</sup> sending a rich material regarding the customs in the area which is present through the collected folklore materials, in numerous periodicals of the time such as *Amicul familiei*, *Șezătoarea*, *Familia*,*Tribuna* (1884–1903) and the *Gutinul* newspaper (published in Baia Mare between 1889 and 1890, intended to inform a wider public). We must mention that in the *Cărțile săteanului român, nr. 7* (1878), Ilie Pop published an article entitled *Cetatea de Peatră*, in which he talks about the name of the fortress and of the Chioar, the Chiorean tradition, recounting the legend of the construction

The one who somehow understands Ilie Pop's concerns about the folklore of the Chioar area is Emil Bran (1864–1941),8 trained in the cultural environment of the city of Gherla. The contribution regarding this area is reported in the periodicals of the time (in the *Tribuna* magazine, the ballad *Tânguirea nevestei* is published, spec-

The folklore collectors in the Chioar area prove to be, during this period, with a good sense of the selection of folklore productions, but there are numerous gaps regarding the data on localities and informants, and there are certain interventions in the folklore production text that harm the authentic. However, their merit remains unquestionable regarding the beginnings of the folklore movement in

<sup>7</sup> Renowned folklorist, member of the Romanian Academy, born in Iliești in Suceava. In addition to folklore collections from all the lands inhabited by Romanians, he wrote monographs on holidays, Romanian customs, ornithology, chromatics, etc. Through his work he laid the foundations for the scientific research of folklore and stimulated the wide collection of popular creations by other

<sup>8</sup> A fost fratele preotului greco-catolic Laurențiu Bran, primul român care a tradus poeziile lui Mihai

Chioar, which will be developed and amplified in the next century.

In 1920, at the initiative of the teacher Poptefan Pop, with the collaboration of Ilie Pop and Aurel Buteanu, appeared the "sheet" *Chioarul.*<sup>9</sup> The most valuable folklore collections published in this magazine are those of Andrei Grobeiu and Vladimir Diaconiță-Poiană, especially the sinks from their collections and manuscripts (*1070 chiuituri ale Chioarului*). Some attempts (Micle Adelaida, *Contribuții la cunoașterea activității desfășurate de doi dascăli din Țara Chioarului, Ilie Pop și Andrei Grobeiu*) ([8], p. 172) to highlight the material of the collection have classified the siftings collected by the two teachers in the following groups: satirical, erotic, of greed, friendship and social-political character, of course being a questionable division.

In the first half of the twentieth century, several publications intended exclusively for the publication of folklore material, such as *Izvorașul* (1919–1940), *Comoara satelor* (1923–1927), and *Anuarul arhivei de folclor* (1923–1945), which will also include folk material from the Chioar area. The most important contributor to the *Izvorașul* magazine was teacher Costică Iureș from the town of Vima Mare (belonging to the county of Someș). He sends to the magazine five lyrical songs under the title *Doine, cântece*.

Between 1969 and 1970, in the *Rapsodia chioreană* magazine of the High School in Șomcuta Mare (today named "Ioan Buteanu" High School), songs collected by the students of the high school are published. Also here we find the study *Arta populară în lemn din Țara Chioarului* signed by Sabin Șainelic,<sup>10</sup> which brings to light details of the popular architecture found in the area (the reason for the tree of life, the reason for the sun). The popular dances were also absent from the concerns of the researchers of the Chioar area, Gheorghe Baciu and Gavril Ghiur, being the authors of two volumes entitled *Dansuri populare din Țara Lăpușului și Țara Chioaruluii* (1973). Virgil Medan was preoccupied with the Chiorean musical folklore, publishing the work *Cântece epice* (Cluj-Napoca, 1979), where two transcribed variants of the ballad *Pintea Viteazul* are included. The first is collected from Valea Chioarului (p. 221) and the second from Buciumi (p. 223). Both are built on the occasion of revealing the secret of Pintea's death.

In the context of the concerns for the folklore of the Chioar area, a series of studies were carried out under the aegis of the County Center for the Conservation and Promotion of the Traditional Culture of Maramureș (CJCPCT), which resulted in reference works, for example the work of the Janeta Ciocan, *Portul popular din Țara Chioarului*. Other important works are as follows: *Arhitectura bisericilor de lemn din Țara Chioarului* (Sabin Șainelic, 1971); *Dansuri populare din Țara Lăpușului și Țara Chioarului* (Baciu Gheorghe, Ghiur Gavrilă, 1973)11; *Instalații populare pentru obținerea uleiului în zonele etnografice Chioar și Lăpuș* (Janeta Ciocan, 1978); *Nobilimea Chioarului* (Valer Hossu, 2003); *Miorița s-a născut în Maramureș* (Ștef, Dorin, 2005)12; and *Satele Chioarului la 1405: date istorice, economice, demografice și etimologice pentru anii 1231–2005* (Vasile Radu, 2005). The list of

<sup>9</sup> Appeared under heavy financial conditions, the *Chioarul* was printed at Șomcuta Mare, at the typeface "Mercur" where folklore collections also appear.

<sup>10</sup> The researcher who writes the first studies on the Codru and Chioar areas.

<sup>11</sup> The work includes drawings, graphic scoring of dances, illustrative sketches, musical scores, etc.

<sup>12</sup> It contains an anthology of 136 texts of the version *Miorița*—carol, collected from Maramureș (Maramureș County, 63; Chioar Country, 22; Country of Codrului, 28; Country of Lăpușului, 23). The texts were published, with two exceptions, in various collections, anthologies and periodicals, published in Maramureș, in Cluj-Napoca or Bucharest, between 1925 and 2001.

works could continue because the Chioar area still represents an interest for ethnomusicologists and not only as evidenced by the articles published in the *Memoria ethnografică.* 13

1930,<sup>15</sup> in Cluj-Napoca, its purpose being to study at a professional level the Romanian folklore, its links with the repertoire of other nationalities from Romania, as well as the cultural relations with the neighboring peoples. The Folklore Archive Institute of the Romanian Academy has a unique immaterial spiritual heritage in Europe, with over 750,000 ethnological and anthropological documents, and it has its own periodical publication, of international circulation, *Anuarul Arhivei de Folclor*, a remarkable scientific production. The institute has become a center of excellence in the institutional network of the Romanian Academy, carrying out some great works of national interest, among them are *Bibliografia generală a etnografiei şi folclorului* (1800–1930), *Ritualurile agrare româneşti*, *Cimiliturile româneşti*, *Proverbe româneşti*, *maghiare şi săseşti (dicţionar tezaur)*, *Cântecele populare ale maghiarilor din Transilvania*, and *Tipologia dansurilor populare*. Currently, within the institute the *Enciclopedia culturii tradiţionale românești* is developed*,* and ethnomusicologists and ethno-choreologists are concerned with monographic research on the most important areas of Transylvania.

*Research of the Musical Folklore From Maramureș: Chioar Area*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90682*

University professor Ioan Cuceu, director of the Folklore Archive Institute of the Romanian Academy in Cluj-Napoca, mentioned in a press article that the idea of a research project with the theme *Enciclopedia culturii tradiționale românești* was launched in a public session of the Romanian Academy on May 27, 1920, by Ovidiu Densuşianu, who at that time criticized everything that had been done so far in

Returning to our research topic on the musical folklore of the Chioar Country, within the Folklore Archive Institute of the Romanian Academy in Cluj-Napoca, I have identified a unique material, which deserves a special attention to be used further. We are talking about a number of 602 vocal songs that we extracted from 17 catalogs, ordered by certain periods, the first catalog being from 1950. Respecting the pattern offered by the catalogs, we made a table in which we included all the extracted songs. With one exception, the table is made according to the model

(1) Criterion number; (2) band number; (3) the title; (4) played from; (5) gender; (6) informant; (7) origin; (8) collector; (9) place and date of

From our table we excluded the tenth heading. In the catalogs at the *observations*, data about the song were passed, whether it was transcribed or not. In the table of the institute, in the case of the songs that have not been transcribed, nothing is completed in this section, space is left, and to those that have been transcribed, "Tr" is written. The 602 vocal songs represent a musical material that has not been transcribed or published, so this section is not necessary in the case of our table. The musical materials can be found both in the original version, the recordings being made on tape recorders, as well as in electronic format, (currently a tape digitizing activity is carried out—this is part of the inventory and archiving process

The selected musical material was collected between 1958 and 1980 by important researchers who worked in Baia Mare and Cluj-Napoca such as the following: Virgil Medan, Ioan Chiș Șter, Ileana Szenik, Ioan R. Nicola, Doina Truță, Nicolae Both, Pașca Valer, Florian Elena, Berindan Emilia, Levendula Florica, Covaciu

<sup>15</sup> "Cu denumirea Arhiva de Folklor a Academiei Române, institutul a fost înfiinţat, în urma memoriilor alcătuite de Ion Muşlea, pe lângă Muzeul Limbii Române al Universităţii Regele Ferdinand I din Cluj, în Sesiunea anuală a Academiei Române din mai 1930"—information taken over from the official website of the Folklore Archive Institute of the Romanian Academy—https://arhivadefolclorcluj.ro/despre-institut/

terms of knowledge of traditional culture.

registration; (10) observations.

adapted to the technological evolution).

istoric.

**189**

offered by the catalogs. It has ten fields and not nine:

Among the highly individualized areas, with customs, beliefs, and well-preserved habits, there is the Chioar area. Despite the interference with the neighboring areas (Codru, Lăpuș, Maramureș Istoric, Sălaj), this area has retained a series of characteristic elements in archaic form. An important feature of this region is the wheat, which Chis Ioan Șter states in the work *Graiul, etnografia și folclorul zonei Chioar* (1983) that it is almost confused with the Codru area and thus we are entitled to count the Chiorean dialect as belonging to the family of the Someanese dialect. We could say that the area is, rather, a "transition" between Codru (due to the many common elements of the Someşean type) and Lăpuș (against which there is no firm geographical delimitation). However, there are localities that are individualized in terms of dialect. An exception is the locality of Vălenii Șomcutei, where the vowel "ă" is not used properly; in some words it is replaced by the vowel "a" (e.g., *Maicuță când m-ai facutu/Doamne bine ți-o parutu/De părerea ta cea bună/Mi-ai facut fașe de lână/Și procuț di matragună*). An explanation of this fact was not found; it is certain that even today the locality is individualized with this particularity in speech.

With the arrival of the Hungarian colonists in the Depression of Maramureș, from the end of the thirteenth century,<sup>14</sup> there were also influences on the lexicon which were not only due to the political, administrative, or military factor but also to the coexistence of the native population with the groups of colonists, in the last seven centuries. Professor Gheorghe Radu mentions in the book *Observații asupra lexicului subdialectului maramureșean* (1970) that there are numerous Hungarian terms attested in the regionalisms of Maramureș County.

In the field of music (collections and transcriptions of songs, identification of musical peculiarities of the area), we can say that there is no important work to clarify these aspects. For these reasons, the Chioar area represents a territory with many elements in the field of ethnology or ethnomusicology that are waiting to be discovered and enhanced.
