1999 millennium collection gheorghe zamfir

Although the pan flute was considered somewhat obscure outside of the region, it was a central instrument in the nation's folk music tradition, particularly in Zamfir's home territory of Wallachia. Zamfir made rapid progress on the pan flute and within four years was already considered a top musician on the instrument within Romania.

It was a difficult decision for the teenager, but he agreed to the condition and became the pupil of flute master Fanica Luca. There was one catch, however: Zamfir would have to give up the accordion and adopt a new instrument, the pan flute (or pan pipe, called nai in Romanian), if he wanted to enroll. His talent was obvious enough that he was offered a scholarship to study music at the Bucharest Academy of Music when he was 14 years old. First introduced to some of his country's folk songs by his mother, Zamfir studied the accordion during his childhood. Although his father had once owned a vineyard, his parents managed a small grocery store in the city while Zamfir was growing up, which gave the family considerable status in a country with a centrally planned economy that often produced shortages of consumer goods. Zamfir was born on April 6, 1941, in the small, industrial city of Gaesti, about 40 miles northwest of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. 'Then when I recorded something ordinary as a concession-poof!-people suddenly said that the work was wonderful.' 'Up until then, I made only fabulous things,' he told People in 1986 about his decision to record easy-listening standards for Heartland. Although he relished his success, the classically trained Zamfir was annoyed that it overshadowed his former reputation as the world's best pan flute player.

Despite the criticism, the ads made Zamfir a household name and the flutist sold enough albums to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. The ads made some improbable statements about Zamfir's worldwide record sales and the easy-listening, instrumental arrangements of popular and classical songs struck some critics as cloying. Most North American music lovers were introduced to pan flute artist Gheorghe Zamfir in the mid-1980s, when he appeared in numerous late-night cable television advertisements for his albums on the Heartland record label. Addresses: Record company-Delta Entertainment Corporation, 1663 Sawtelle Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025. Education: Studied at the Bucharest Academy of Music. Born on April 6, 1941, in Gaesti, Romania children: one son (with Susan Nichols) married to Marie-Noele Zamfir.

1999 millennium collection gheorghe zamfir