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{{short description|Romanian musical tune style}}
{{distinguish|Daina (disambiguation)}}
{{other uses}}
The '''doina''' ({{IPA|ro|ˈdojna}}) is a [[Romanians|Romanian]] musical tune style, possibly with [[Middle East]]ern roots, customary in [[Romanian peasant music]], as well as in [[lăutărească music]]. It was also adopted into [[klezmer]] music.<ref name="The Jews of North America">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTQ7hzTUBJoC&pg=PA97 The Jews of North America]</ref>

Similar tunes are found throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In some parts of the Balkans this kind of music is referred to as {{lang|ro|scaros}} or {{lang|ro|scaru}}.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

==Origins and characteristics==
[[Béla Bartók]] discovered the ''doina'' in Northern Transylvania in 1912 and he believed it to be uniquely [[Romanians|Romanian]]. After he found similar genres in Ukraine, Albania, Algeria, Middle East and Northern India, he came to the belief that these are part of a family of related genres of Arabo-Persian origin.<ref name="Bela Bartok Essays">[https://books.google.com/books?id=aSDMIkq_ds8C&pg=PA11 Béla Bartók Essays]</ref> He particularly linked the Romanian doina to the Turkish/Arabic ''[[Turkish makam|Makam]]'' system. Bartók's conclusions were rejected by some Romanian ethnomusicologists, who accused Bartók of anti-Romanian bias. Similarities between the Romanian ''doina'' and various musical forms from the Middle East have been subsequently documented by both non-Romanian<ref name="Garfias">[https://web.archive.org/web/20131016164314/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/Ethnomusic/Ethoworld/Romanian.htm The Romanian Doina]</ref> and Romanian<ref name="Nixon">[https://archive.today/20240524224955/https://www.webcitation.org/5qp3e9OPb?url=http://hemingways-studio.org/dictionary/Entries/S13339.htm Hora lunga (doina, cantec lung)]</ref><ref name="SR">World Library Of Folk And Primitive Music Vol 17: Romania - Linear Notes by [[Speranța Rădulescu]]</ref> scholars. Until the first half of the 20th century, both lăutari<ref name=SR /> and klezmer musicians<ref name="Phillips">Stacy Phillips - ''Klezmer collection for C instruments''</ref> were recorded using a ''[[Taqsim|taksim]]'' as an introduction to a tune. The ''taksim'' would be later replaced by the ''doina'', which has been described as being similar, though not totally identical to the ''taksim''. Romanian ethnomusicologist and musician Grigore Leşe, after performing with a group of [[Persian people|Iranian]] musicians, noticed that the ''doinas'' of Maramureş have "great affinities" with the Arabo-Persian music.<ref name="Interviu Lese">[http://www.crestinortodox.ro/interviuri/interviu-artistul-grigore-lese-126034.html Interview with Grigore Leşe]</ref>

The ''doina'' is a free-rhythm, highly ornamented (usually [[melisma]]tic), [[Musical improvisation|improvisational]] tune.<ref name="Merwe">[[Peter van der Merwe (musicologist)|Peter van der Merwe]] - ''Origins of the Popular Style''</ref> The improvisation is done on a more or less fixed pattern (usually a descending one), by stretching the notes in a [[Tempo rubato|rubato]]-like manner, according to the performer's mood and imagination. Usually the prolonged notes are the fourth or fifth above the floor note.

The peasant ''doinas'' are mostly vocal and [[Monophony|monophonic]] and are sung with some vocal peculiarities that vary from place to place: interjections (''măi'', ''hei'', ''dui-dui'', ''iuhu''), glottal clucking sounds, choked sobbing effects, etc.<ref name="Nixon" /> Instrumental ''doinas'' are played on simple instruments, usually various types of flutes, or even on rudimentary ones, such as a leaf. The peasant ''doina'' is a non-ceremonial type of song and is generally sung in solitude, having an important psychological action: to "ease one's soul" (''de stâmpărare'' in [[Romanian language|Romanian]]). Grigore Leşe believes that, while scholars describe in great detail the technical aspects of the ''doina'', they fail to understand its psychological aspects. ''Doinas'' are lyrical in aspect and their common themes are melancholy, longing (''dor''), erotic feelings, love for nature, complaints about the bitterness of life or invocations to God to help ease pain, etc.

The doina is an integral component of the archaic Romanian pastoral poem '''[[When the shepherd lost his sheep|When]]'' ''[[When the shepherd lost his sheep|the shepherd lost his sheep]]'', where it expresses the shepherd’s sorrow and lamentation for his lost flock.

Unlike peasant ''doinas'', lăutar and klezmer ''doinas'' are usually accompanied and played on more complex instruments (violin, pan-pipe, cymbalom, accordion, clarinet, tarogato, etc.). Also, unlike peasant ''doinas'', lăutar and klezmer ''doinas'' are mostly played as an introduction to another tune, usually a dance.

In the regions of Southern Romania, [[Romani people|Romani]] lăutari developed a type of doina called ''cântec de ascultare'' (meaning "song for listening", sometimes shortened to ''de ascultare'' or simply ''ascultare''). The ''cântec de ascultare'' spread to other regions of Romania, with local particularities.

Klezmer Doinas are influenced by Hassidic [[nigun|niguns.]]

==Types of doina==
*[[Hore lungă]] – [[Maramureş]].
*[[Doină cu noduri]] – an archaic doina with a "knotted" glottal technique (Oltenia, Maramureş, Oaş, Lăpuş)
*[[Ca pe luncă]] – found along the [[Danube]].
*[[Oltului]] – found along the [[Olt River]].
*[[De codru]] – ''codru'' means "forest".
*Haiduceşti  (cântece haiduceşti, Cântece de haiducie) - "haiduc's songs" ''haiduc'' means "outlaw" or "brigand".
*[[Ca din tulnic]] – unique type in which the [[melody]] imitates a type of [[Alpenhorn]] called the [[trambita|tulnic]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Garfias |first1=Robert |title=The Romanian Doina |url=https://www.academia.edu/33194266 |website=Academia |access-date=3 February 2021}}</ref>
*[[Ciobanului]] – [[shepherd]]'s doina.
*De dragoste – popular form, usually about love; ''dragoste'' means "love".
*[[De jale]] – mellow, mournful doina; ''jale'' means "grief".
*[[De leagăn]] – a [[lullaby]]; ''leagăn'' means "cradle".
*[[De pahar]] – drinking song; ''pahar'' means "drinking glass".
*[[Foaie verde]] – classical form; literally "green leaf".
*[[Klezmer]] – played by [[Jew]]ish musicians from [[Bessarabia]] and [[Moldavia]].

==Current status==
While at the beginning of the 20th century, the ''doina'' was the most common type of peasant song (in some areas the only type), today it has almost completely disappeared from peasant life, as most peasant music has. This process has been accentuated during the [[Communist Romania|communist era]], with the rise of the new, so-called "[[Romanian popular music|popular music]]", bringing a new style of performance that diluted the peasant styles.

The ''doina'' is still, however, common in the repertoire of the lăutari from [[Ardeal]] and [[Banat]] regions.

In 1976 the [[BBC]] religious television programme ''The Light of Experience'' took [[Gheorge Zamfir]]’s recording of "Doina De Jale" as its theme tune. [[Epic Records]] released the song as a single and made it to number four in the UK charts.

In 2009 the ''doina'' has been included in the [[UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists|UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible Eastern Europe}}
{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible music}}

[[Category:Music of Romania]]
[[Category:Music of Moldova]]
[[Category:Klezmer]]
[[Category:Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity]]
[[Category:Lăutari and lăutărească music]]