Eastern European Music

This week in class, we watched the rest of the film, Latcho Drom. It portrayed the Roma peoples' movement from the Middle East into Eastern Europe. The musical tradition of these people was quite interesting. I noticed the use of the sanzur in the movie. This instrument gives off a sound very similar to that of a western piano. Musicians hold elongated pick-like tools in their hand to stroke the strings of the sanzur. There was also a case in the movie where an older man was playing a violin -like instrument. He used one string to make sound by pulling the string in a standardized way. The sound was quite harsh and rigid and I was comforted when he began using the bow to play the strings.

The sanzur was a familiar instrument because it sounded much like a western piano. However, when the older man began playing the one string of the violin, the sound was harsh enough for me to question whether or not what he was producing was in fact music. I began to wonder if a sound suddenly became meaningless if its timbre was not smooth or soothing. My ears were obviously not tuned to the characteristics of eastern European music. However, it is increasingly important to keep in mind that the musical traditions of various parts of the world are an amalgam of various musical traditions blended together. As a result, no one culture is so isolated that it has not been influenced by another nearby or even far away music-culture. Therefore, it seems easy to understand how music that may seems so far away can be relatable to even the most western ear.