The shouting singing from Oaș

Oaş Country is an atypical folklore area, located in the northeastern part of Satu Mare county, near the border with Ukraine, and its isolation has decisively contributed to the preservation of traditional forms of culture, which are unique in the Romanian space. Even if it borders Maramureș, or the Codru area, Oaș Country has a strong particularity, where the ancestor stubbornly maintains, in essence, its immutable force.

In the spring of 2021, the Satu Mare County Centre for the Conservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture  took the first steps through a notification to the Ministry of Culture, to the National Commission for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, with the aim of having the Oaș Country ţăpuritura listed on the National Inventory of Living Elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage from Romania.

Moreover, in the same year, on the occasion of the UNESCO 65th anniversary celebration  events, as well as the 65^th anniversary of the Romanian Television, TVR produced 65 documentary films with the most valuable identity landmarks of the material and immaterial culture in Romania, among which the Oaş Country  was features with the very shouting singing.

Thus, we have chosen to outline the steps leading to an extensive research of this element, to demonstrate its uniqueness.

In this respect, we started by geographically delimiting its area of manifestation. We considered it necessary to delimit and individualize each commune in order to facilitate the following steps, in order to establish the preservation degree of ţăpuritura in each commune or even village and hamlet. As a result, we shall be able to draw certain statistics related to both material and immaterial culture, with ţăpuritura in the foreground. What followed was the centralization of all toponyms and the changes they underwent over the years, thus facilitating the reading of maps and the identification of studies from different periods of history, regardless of the administrative-territorial changes they went through.

During the research, we will refer to two distinct time periods, during which the ţăpuritura was and is manifested: the 20th century and the 21st century, having as starting point a number of approximately 250 ţăpurituras collected by the late researcher Ilona Szenik. Along the way, through the Folklore Archive Institute of the Romanian Academy, we will seek to acquire more records from the field, such as those of folklorist Bela Bartok. To these will be added the personal collections – currently having 95 ţăpurituras – and those of other researchers of the 20th century.

In Oaş Country , three names are used for this shouting singing element: tăpuritură, străgătă or străgatură. The melody that provides the background sound of the dance is called the danţ.

Ţăpuritura is practiced in all the villages of Oaş Country  from the children to the adults and the elderly, and from the girls or women to the boys or men. It represents a direct way of externalization, without excluding any social category.

Depending on the interpretation context, the shouting song can be practiced both individually and in a group. The context of ţăpurituras generates their division into repertoires. Two types thus emerge: the occasional repertoire and the non-occasional repertoire, divided in turn into other, less general repertoires. Thus, the occasional repertoire includes the wedding repertoire and the funeral repertoire, and the non-occasional repertoire includes various themes: shepherding, love, nature, pain, longing, etc.

Also regarding the context of interpretation, the ţăpuritura may be interpreted both collectively and individually. Collective involvement in shouting singing takes place in a ritualistic context. Let’s take for example the wedding ritual, where magical practices combined with the sound of ţăpurituras  have an anticipatory role.

As a vocal performance technique, ţăpuritura uses the mixed voice, depending on the vocal qualities of the performer. The diaphragm has a particularly important role, both in sustaining long and sharp sounds and in the correct and clean execution of the jumps that occur during the melodic line. Intensity is characterized by the forte and fortissimo nuances.

Regarded from the outside, the specialists and not only them may ask about the degree of harmfulness that the practice of shouting singing over a long period can have. We have also included in the research steps a part of the medical sphere, intending to collaborate in the near future with a phoniatrician for the examination of three types of volunteer shouting singers: beginners, intermediate and advanced, establishing all the changes that occur in the phonatory apparatus.

The funeral is also part of the series of thresholds in human life. Taking into account the funeral repertoire, we found that the vocal technique used in ţăpurituras seems to be found here as well. There is no group lament, but involuntarily a group of interpretive individualities is formed – an overlap of laments. To the question “How do you sing after the dead ones?”, the Oaş natives answer “Same way, like a ţăpuritura, only differently, in a sadder manner.” We are still looking into this aspect.

Ţăpuritura is still a living element. It continues to accompany the Oaş natives in all the moments of their lives, remaining a way of expression, to sooth their soul. In Oaş Country there are several groups and folklore ensembles that continue to mobilize the rural community to preserve this landmark of folk identity The Satu Mare C.J.C.P.C.T. seeks to keep this folk element unaltered, acting on several levels:

•through different cultural manifestations such as:

– „The Sheep Gathering / Sâmbra Oilor” Folklore Festival – which has reached the LXV (65^th)  edition;

– „At the Fairy Gates” Folklore Festival;

– „Oaş Country” Folklore Festival – where both local ensembles and local people with informative potential are valorised;

•by creating audio-video field documentation, with informational purpose;

•by editing volumes with ethnomusicological references on this folklore area, recalling here:

– The monograph of the Oaş Country – the wedding repertoire, leaving the door open for the other repertoires to finally constitute a large and complete monograph;

– Repertoire of Oaș tăpurituras – containing a number of 40 tăpurituras by the informant and interpreter Maria Petca-Poptean, with other collections to illustrate the contemporary existence of the shouting singing;

– The elaboration of the personal PhD thesis, which has as subject the Oaş Country ţâpuritura – a landmark of folklore identity, will provide us with a complete and complex fund of perspectives in favour of its inclusion on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage items.

We hope that the documentary and field research, the analysis of the musical examples, all the investigations that we will carry out in the coming years will allow us to formulate consistent conclusions regarding this unique and still alive interpretative manner of the Oaş folk song, materializing in success.

Contributor: PhD student Bianca-Angela Cionca, administrative clerk – Satu Mare C.J.C.P.C.T.