Urban(?) Culture(?)

Urban(?) Culture(?)

Graffitti on a wall in Timisoara

Manele (singular: Manea) is a Balkan music style mainly derived from Turkish love songs, and is 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 and with expatriates and emigrants originally from these regions. Manele musicians are almost exclusively Gypsies (Roma) and are called "manelisti" in Romanian.

The lyrics and verses of Manele usually refer to love, romance, 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 is criticized for its lyrical content, which often consists of boasts about the singer's sexual ability, intellect ("Doamne ce ma 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 ma agata", "Chicks pick me up"), or wealth ("Toti banii", "All the money"), or have lyrics portraying the lead singer as a high-society member ("sunt jupan/boier" - "i'm a boss/landlord"), sometimes all in one song. Many singers intentionally use bad grammar, repetitive and simplistic rhymes suitable for chanting and sometimes vulgarity and misogynism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manele with the mention of "subjective article"