The folk music of Romania is rich in variation. The different folkloristic zones stand out by their typical dances, music styles, and customs. A special zone can be adjudged to the cities, where gypsy orchestras have developed a characteristic style, often called "lautaresc", after the Romanian word "lăutar" (folk-musician).

The great variation in music styles within the same Romanian population is caused by history and geography. Large parts of the contemporary Romania were politically separated in former times and high mountains devide the country.

All over Romania the songs and dances are performed on more or less special occasions. The most important occasions are listed under the head “occasions”.

Several rhythmic styles can be found all over the country, sometimes under changing names, sometimes with a zone-specific variant of the basic rhythm. There are also some rhythmic styles that are specific for one or two zones. Many rhythmic styles are named after dances. This requires a two-fold explanation.

First, many songs – especially the so-called proper songs – have a melody in dance-rhythm. Often this rhythm is similar to the rhythm of a popular dance in the local folkloristic zone. For this reason, a dance name can often be used to describe the rhythm of a song.

Second, often dances in different regions have the same name but a different rhythm. Likewise, the rhythm of dances may be similar in different regions although named the same. For instance, in Maramureş the dance named învârtită has a rhythm quite different from that under the same name in Transilvania, while its true rhythm is close to the commonly known sârbă. In this case, the dance – or a song on this rhythm - is classified under sârbă, not under învârtită.

Information about Romanian tunes and categories are obtained from several sources, e.g. texts on LPs and CDs. Important information (and some of the tunes) has been taken from the following books.

[1] Brăiloiu, Constantin (1984). Problems of ethnomusicology. Edited and translated by A. L. Lloyd. Cambridge University Press.

[2] Gal, Eugen (1998). Seara bunã-n sezãtoare [Good evening in the spinning room]. Editura “Augusta”, Timişoara.

[3] Rădulescu, Speranţa (2004). Taifasuri despre muzica ţigănească [Chats about gypsy music]. Paideia, Bucureşti.

[4] Rădulescu-Paşcu, Cristina (1998). Ornamentica melodicii vocale în folclorul românesc [Ornamentation of vocal melodies in the Romanian folklore]. Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor şi Muzicologilor din România, Bucureşti.

[5] Breazul, G. (no year). Carte de cântece: Pentru clasa IVa secundară de băeţi şi fete [Book of songs: For class IV-a second of boys and girls]. Editura scrisul românesc S.A., Craiova.