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National Inventory of Active Intangible Cultural Heritage Elements – extract – Taraf - The Traditional Music Band from Romania

The paper presents the Traditional Romanian Music Band (Taraf) as a case study of intangible cultural heritage. Spread across all folkloric regions, these ensembles - typically composed of violin, contra, and double bass, sometimes enriched with instruments like cobza, dulcimer, zongora, taragot or accordion - play a central role in community life at weddings, village dances, and festivals. The study highlights the diversity of regional types, from Wallachia and Moldavia to Maramureș, Transylvania, Banat, and Dobrogea, showing how bands adapt their structure and repertoire to local traditions. Transmission is mainly familial, passed from one generation to the next, and remains open to influences across ethnic groups (Romanian, Hungarian, Roma, German, Slovak, Serbian). Today, despite challenges from urbanization and commercialization, safeguarding measures - festivals, archives, NGOs, and national legislation - seek to preserve the vitality and authenticity of these ensembles as a defining element of Romania’s living cultural heritage

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