Hi Don, I just left a comment on the Cimpoi article, but when I clicked on ‘comment’ it mentioned “Anonymous”. Maybe I have done something wrong. In any case, you are welcome of course to mention my name, I don’t want to comment anonymously. Thanks. Radboud Koop
Hi Don, as you probably know the music of Mihai David’s dance Cimpoi was included in his album Gypsy Camp Vol.1 GC 5201, I think somewhere late 70s. The music was pirated from the Romanian state record company Electrecord, that released the music in 1969 on the album: The Romanian Folklore Ensemble Ciocîrlia Vol.II, Electrecord ST-EPE 0471 (also catalogue number EPE-0472, and a few years later again with label number ST-EPE 0879), side A, track 7. As you state, the original piece on the Electrecord album is named Joc din cimpoi, translated on the record sleeve as Dance on the bag-pipe, which sounds a bit strange… (probably translated by Romanians at the record company). Neither Joc din cimpoi nor Cimpoi seem to me to be the name of a traditional dance. Although the music of Joc din cimpoi clearly is danceable as a Rustemul, I have the feeling the piece was included on the original LP just as an instrumental to show the musical skills of the famous Marin Chisăr. Like John mentions, Mihai seems to have chosen the name Cimpoi in order to have a unique name not to be confused with Rustemul. In Romanian dance folklore there are traditional dance names that have the word cimpoi in it, like Cimpoiasca (Băcău, Moldova), Cimpoiască (Arad, Banat), Cimpoiaşul (Suceava, Moldova), Cimpoiereasca (Mehedinţi, Oltenia), Cimpoieşu (Botoşani, Moldova), Cimpoiul (Ilfov, Muntenia), but none of these is of the Rustemul type. So the dance known to recreational folk dancers as Cimpoi seems to be a Rustemul (probably choreographed by Mihai on the basis of steps he learned when dancing with the ensemble) with a ‘fantasy’ name refering to the instrument used for the music.
Folkdance Footnotes 
Hi Don, I just left a comment on the Cimpoi article, but when I clicked on ‘comment’ it mentioned “Anonymous”. Maybe I have done something wrong. In any case, you are welcome of course to mention my name, I don’t want to comment anonymously. Thanks. Radboud Koop
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Hi Don, as you probably know the music of Mihai David’s dance Cimpoi was included in his album Gypsy Camp Vol.1 GC 5201, I think somewhere late 70s. The music was pirated from the Romanian state record company Electrecord, that released the music in 1969 on the album: The Romanian Folklore Ensemble Ciocîrlia Vol.II, Electrecord ST-EPE 0471 (also catalogue number EPE-0472, and a few years later again with label number ST-EPE 0879), side A, track 7. As you state, the original piece on the Electrecord album is named Joc din cimpoi, translated on the record sleeve as Dance on the bag-pipe, which sounds a bit strange… (probably translated by Romanians at the record company). Neither Joc din cimpoi nor Cimpoi seem to me to be the name of a traditional dance. Although the music of Joc din cimpoi clearly is danceable as a Rustemul, I have the feeling the piece was included on the original LP just as an instrumental to show the musical skills of the famous Marin Chisăr. Like John mentions, Mihai seems to have chosen the name Cimpoi in order to have a unique name not to be confused with Rustemul. In Romanian dance folklore there are traditional dance names that have the word cimpoi in it, like Cimpoiasca (Băcău, Moldova), Cimpoiască (Arad, Banat), Cimpoiaşul (Suceava, Moldova), Cimpoiereasca (Mehedinţi, Oltenia), Cimpoieşu (Botoşani, Moldova), Cimpoiul (Ilfov, Muntenia), but none of these is of the Rustemul type. So the dance known to recreational folk dancers as Cimpoi seems to be a Rustemul (probably choreographed by Mihai on the basis of steps he learned when dancing with the ensemble) with a ‘fantasy’ name refering to the instrument used for the music.
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