Romanian Beats

It’s a tendency not unlike that of sampling or remix culture. Emerging manele bands in the ’80s and ’90s replaced traditional instruments with electric guitars and synthesizers and were ready to absorb any and all influences, from pop and oriental to folk and electronic. Nowadays we call this nascent music, for lack of a better term, “proto-manele.” It represents a transitional period and marks a time before manele matured and became the regional norm in the Balkans and Southeastern Europe. This transitional stage was represented in ’90s Romania by the Eurostar label, which was focused on “Cântece de Petrecere,” or “music for parties,” as they titled a series of proto-manele releases.