Manele (singular: Manea) is a Balkan music style mainly derived from Turkish love songs, considered by most to be a form of sub-culture.
The phenomenon is most prominent in Romania, especially in rural areas and poor urban neighbourhoods, but is also present in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania and
parts of Turkey. Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia,
Vojvodina, Kosovo ...
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Modern manele originated in the 1980s and early 1990s as underground
translations and imitations of Turkish and Arabic songs, first being sung on the streets of Ferentari (a poor neighbourhood, inhabited mostly by Roma people
in Bucharest). MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. The Roma people (pronounced rahma, singular Rom, sometimes Rroma, and
Rrom) along with the closely related Sinti people are commonly known as Gypsies in English, and as Tsigany in most of Europe.
They also developed in other parts of the country, such as Oltenia and Banat,
under Serbian musical influences. The genre was rocked by accusations of plagiarism a number of times, with manele singers adapting (illegally) popular songs from Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
The accusations increased especially after the hit "De ce mă minţi" ("Why are you lying to me?") proved to be a mere cover of Despina Vandi's
song "Ah kardoula mou".
The manele current is a mixture of dance, hip-hop, oriental influences, some Balkanic, but also with a very strong influence from Roma music.
The texts and verses of the songs usually refer to love, enemies, money, drinking alcohol, and the hardships of life in general, but there are also some texts specifically designed for parties, weddings and
so on. Manele composers and players also use the term "oriental music" for their creation, and consider their music as a sub-genre of traditional, folk Roma music. Traditional
Roma musicians reject this approach, and consider manele a distinct and inferior genre, by taking into account a list of differences between manele and Roma music: Traditional Roma music is played using classical instruments, usually by a band (taraf) of lăutari,
using classical lyrics, always performing live, and rejecting the idea of mixing genres and using modern influences (although accepting remixes of their songs), while manele are sung most of the time by only one performer using modern instruments (generally synthesizers).
However, there are a couple of exceptions, such as Stana Izbaşa and Nicu
Paleru who sing live, often with traditional instruments. Most manele are recorded in small recording studios, owned by the singer himself or by a group of singers, since major recording labels refuse to contract players of the genre. The term the Orient - literally
meaning sunrise, east - is traditionally used to refer to Near, Middle, and Far Eastern countries.
Manele players generally adopt a stage name, such as Calu Minune (Wonder Horse),Adi de Vito (he used the name of Danny
DeVito due to some resemblance to the American actor in terms of height and weight). He was formerly known as Adrian Copilu' Minune (or Adrian Puradelu' Minune, also known as "Adrian The Wonder Child"), Vali
Vijelie (Vali the Storm, his real name is Valentin Rusu, also known as
"Cioară" (crow) ), Florin Fermecatoru' (Charming Florin), Sorinel Puştiu' (Sorinel the Kid), Ştefan de la Bărbuleşti (Ştefan from Bărbuleşti), Florin Salam (Florin the Salami) or Jean de la Craiova (Jean
from Craiova). The only significant manele players ("manelişti" in Romanian) not adopting stage names are Costi Ioniţă and Nicolae
Guţă (who later admitted that his real name was Nicolae Linguraru). Adi de Vito, also known as Adrian Copilul Minune ( Adrian The Wonder Child ), is a successful Romanian manele singer suffering from growth failure. ( Danny
DeVito as Louie in Taxi).
Costi Ionitza,
is also very well known as : Plagiatorul de Renume Mondial ( World Class Plagiarist).
Manele male singers have created a distinct image on the Romanian music scene, by having their own fashion style (very tight T-shirts, tight pants, white sneakers or expensive shoes, with a lot of gel in
their hair and wearing a lot of gold jewelry), and by owning luxury cars (usually either a Mercedes S-Klasse or a convertible BMW). Bling
Bling is a 1999 hit hip-hop song by The B.G., featuring his Cash Money labelmates Juvenile, Lil Wayne, Turk, Baby, and Mannie Fresh.
The Romanian soi-disant intellectual class opposes this musical movement. The manele are somehow popular, especially among the lower strata of Romanian and Bulgarian society. Among Romanian television stations, manele performers
and music are particularly seen on ProTV, Prima TV and Antena
1, and on some small TV stations. While the mainstream radio stations do not air manele, there are a lot of smaller (or pirate) stations that are quite popular, especially in Romania's capital Bucharest. The climax was attained on New Year's Eve of 2006 when almost all Romanian television stations,
with the exception of National Television, featured programs that included manele singers of both sexes. Prior to this, another controversy had been raised after Romania's National Day, December
1; this day happens to be ProTV's anniversary, as well. That day, ProTV aired 10 versions of the Romanian national anthem; one of them was a remix of the anthem as a manea, interpreted by manele singers. This generated a controversy over Romanian internet and even resulted in a petition,
but it also served as proof that manele is gaining acceptance in Romanian society. Generalist Tv channel Antena
1 ( Romanian television network, and one of the three top networks in the country with a market share of about 20%. It covers most of the country and it is owned by Dan Voiculescu, who is also the president of the Conservative Party).
Manele is criticized for its lyrical content, which mostly includes boasting about one's sexual capabilities, one's intellect ("Doamne ce ma duce capu", which translates to "God my mind works so well"), the ability to attract members of the opposite sex ("Toate gagicile
mele", "All my bitches"; "Am gagici top-model", "I've got top-model bitches"; "Gagicile ma agata", "Chicks pick me up"), or wealth ("Toti banii",
"All the money"), sometimes all in one song. Some singers intentionally use bad grammar, repetitive and simplistic rhymes and sometimes even vulgarity and misogynism.
The issue is the influence of such music and the ideas and concepts promoted by the genre on its audience. Many intellectuals compare it with the new wave of hip-hop/rap music that impacts Romanian youth, but they consider that unlike the hip-hoppers and rappers who, although sometimes vulgar, speak
about the hardships in a transitional Romania and urge the public to take action and warn about the dangers of present society and the corruption of statesmen, the manelists are, in a way, the product of a corrupt transitional environment.