by Miamon Miller   
Romanian Transylvania has many sub-regions each with its unique folkloric flavor and traditions and the northern county of Maramureş is no exception. Indeed, each valley can be said to have distinct characteristics.   
While most Transylvanian folk bands rely on bowed strings for both melody and accompaniment, Maramureş musicians have gone down a different path. For over a century, they’ve used a version of the guitar (called ‘zongora’) to play rhythm and harmony. When Béla Bartók recorded musicians during a 14-day research trip in 1913, he wrote that a 2-string …