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Manele (singular: Manea) is a Balkan music style mainly derived from Turkish love songs, considered by many to be a form of sub-culture. It 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. Manele musicians are almost exclusively Gypsies (Roma) and are called "manelişti" in Romanian.

Early references of the term appear in Romanian texts from the early 19th century, during the period of Turkish suzerainty over the Romanian principalities.

Modern manele originated in the 1980s and early 1990s as underground translations and imitations of Turkish and Arabic songs. It was being sung on the streets of Ferentari, a poor neighbourhood of Bucharest inhabited mostly by Roma people.

It 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 illegally adapting 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".

Manele is one of the most popular as well as one of the most disputed music genres in Romania today.

The manele current is a mixture of dance, oriental influences, some Balkanic, but also with a very strong influence from Roma music. The texts and verses 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 a sub-genre of traditional, folk Roma music.

But traditional Roma musicians reject this categorisation, and consider manele a distinct and inferior genre. They reject the idea of mixing genres and of modern influences, although they accept remixes of their songs. They point out that traditional Roma music is usually played on classical instruments by a live band (taraf) of lăutari and has classical lyrics, while manele is usually sung by only one performer using modern instruments (generally synthesizers). 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. However, there are some exceptions: for example, Stana Izbaşa and Nicu Paleru sing live, often with traditional instruments.

Manele players usually have a stage name, such as Florin Salam (Florin Salami), Adi de Vito (who also used the name Danny DeVito due to some resemblance to the American actor in terms of height and weight). He was formerly known as Adrian Copilu' Minune (Adrian The Wonder Boy), Vali Vijelie (Vali the Whirlwind, his real name is Valentin Rusu), Florin Fermecatoru', Sorinel Puştiu' (Sorinel the Kid), Ştefan de la Bărbuleşti (Ştefan from Bărbuleşti), or Jean de la Craiova (Jean from Craiova).The only significant manele players not adopting stage names are Costi Ioniţă and Nicolae Guţă.

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 a lot of gold jewelry), and by owning luxury cars (usually either a Mercedes S-Class or a convertible BMW).

Manele is very popular, especially among the middle and lower strata of Romanian and Bulgarian society. But the Romanian intellectual class opposes this musical movement.

On Romanian television stations, manele performers and music are particularly seen on ProTV, Prima TV and Antena 1, and on some small TV stations. While mainstream radio stations do not air manele, a lot of smaller (or pirate) and quite popular stations do, especially in Romania's capital, Bucharest. On New Year's Eve 2006, almost all Romanian television stations, except National Television, featured programs that included manele singers of both sexes. Prior to this, on Romania's National Day and ProTV's anniversary, December 1, ProTV aired 10 versions of the Romanian national anthem, one of them a remix as a manea by manele singers. This created controversy over Romanian internet and even resulted in a petition, but also showed that manele is gaining acceptance in Romanian society.

Manele is criticized for its lyrical content, which mostly boasts about the singer's sexual ability, intellect ("Doamne ce mă duce capu", "God my mind works so well"), ability to attract the opposite sex ("Toate gagicile mele", "All my chicks"; "Am gagici top-model", "I've got top-model chicks"; "Gagicile mă agaţă", "Chicks pick me up"), or wealth ("Toţi banii", "All the money"), sometimes all in one song. Many singers intentionally use bad grammar, repetitive and simplistic rhymes and sometimes vulgarity and misogynism.

The issue is the influence of such music and the ideas and concepts it promotes to its audience. Many intellectuals compare it with the new wave of hip-hop/rap music that impacts European and American youth or reggaeton/reggae in South and Central America.

• Chalga, in Bulgaria
• Turbo-folk, in Serbia
• Arabesque-pop music, in Middle East
• Laïkó, in Greece
• Laïka, in Greece

• Download the latest manele - Romanian language