The Professional Inheritance of Traditional Fiddlers in Buzău County: Typologies of Continuity and Rupture

Abstract

In this study, we examine how the traditional fiddler (Lăutar) profession is passed down through generations among Roma musicians in Buzău County, Romania. We conducted interviews and reconstructed family trees across multiple generations in seven families, combining external analysis with insider perspective from a co-author who is himself a practicing traditional fiddler. Using Goffman's concept of moral career and theories of cultural capital, we analyzed how musical knowledge and professional roles are transmitted within families. Our findings show that musical inheritance follows some patterns: the profession passes almost exclusively from fathers to sons, while daughters are excluded despite talent due to concerns about reputation and safety. Mothers provide support through emotional encouragement and financial investment but are not recognized as educators in this area. Contemporary families adapt to economic pressures by combining traditional performance with other types of work, education, and migration rather than abandoning music entirely. We identified five career paths: traditional heirs who follow family apprenticeships, aspirational modernizers who pursue music strategically, constrained daughters whose careers are blocked by gender norms, economic migrants who perform abroad, and lost heirs who abandon the profession. By combining interview data with the genealogical method, we uncovered transmission patterns across generations, showing both successful continuity and points of breakdown. Professional survival depends on family networks, reputation, and economic support systems. These findings contribute to understanding how cultural professions persist in marginalized communities through family strategies that balance tradition with economic necessity while revealing the structural constraints that shape these processes.