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THE MAN AND HIS INSTRUMENT »
The Panpipe is a 6,000 years old instrument. According to mythology, the pipe must have been created by hazard, as the wind, passing through a bamboo, gently caresses its opening. Though Greek mythology associates it with the God Pan, we may find instruments similar to the Panpipe in folklore music from such countries as Japan, Peru, Columbia, Greece, and Zamfir's fatherland: Romania.
Gheorghe Zamfir dedicated his career to the accordion, in the first place, but he rapidly changed it for the Panpipe, as his natural talent for this instrument became obvious. His passion for the restitution of original sounds led him to the study of new possibilities for the Panpipe. He strives to discover means to expend the use of his instrument. Thus, the 20-tube traditional pipe successively became the 22-pipe flute, then the 25, 28 and 30-tube flute. The strident character of his instrument has been attenuated and due to the sounds adjusted to the low register, he was thus able to tackle a larger repertoire. Consequently, he adapted the melancholy Romanian folk songs, lullabies, laments, even succeeding in imitating certain inflexions of the human voice.
As musical aesthete, he personally chose the bamboo required for the manufacturing of flutes, assembling them himself in a specialised workshop. The flutes are tuned by penetrating small quantities of beeswax into the tubes. The sound becomes unique, bewitching and moving. The cohesion man-instrument is then complete and the magic may begin…
THE MAN AND HIS CAREER »
From "Eminent" to "The Reincarnated God Pan", and to "Panpipe King", world media has been searching for the most powerful words that would designate the only and unique Master of the Panpipe: GHEORGHE ZAMFIR.
The most ancient instrument might have disappeared without the passion of a child of the Arges fields, near the gates of Bucharest.
Fascinated by music in childhood, where, in his home town he would listen to Gypsy bands singing Romanian folk songs, he decided at an early age to become a musician and, after having conquered the family?s opposition, he enrolled with the Music High School in Bucharest, where he studied in the class of the famous Fanica Luca, who became his Master and spiritual father in music. Fanica Luca became very soon aware of the exceptional gift and fabulous talent the young Zamfir was endowed with, giving him one of the three Panpipes the class had at that time.
He was then admitted to the Bucharest High Academy of Music, where he proved to be a brilliant student in all subjects (solfeggio, harmony, counterpoint), piano and orchestra conducting. Once he received all his diplomas, he became director of orchestra, conducting one of the greatest Romanian folklore bands - the "Ciocirlia" - for many years. Zamfir then returned to a simpler and more authentic sound, creating a music band made up of 6 to 8 musicians, the so-called Romanian "Taraf".
"The Panpipe genius" was born at Gaiesti, near Bucharest, in 1941. Aged 13, while he was still driving goats to the pasture, he would dream of nothing but music, playing the accordion with gypsies. His father, a wine grower, enrolled him with the Music High School, when he was 14. He wanted to study the accordion but, for technical reasons, he was accepted in the Panpipe class, managed by Fanica Luca at that time. The latter decided to offer this young talent one of the three Panpipes the class had.
He was then admitted to the Bucharest Academy of Music, where he studied the harmony, solfeggio, counterpoint and piano. As director of orchestra, he would conduct one of the greatest Romanian folklore bands the "Ciocirlia" for many years. Beginning with the 70's, Zamfir decided to return to a simpler and more authentic sound, concentrating on a music band made up of 3 to 8 musicians, the so-called Romanian "Taraf". France plebiscited him in 1971, where he performed 45 concerts at the Gaité-Montparnasse theatre. He seduced the legendary scene of Olympia in '73. Consequently, he toured the entire world. From South America to Japan, from Australia to Scandinavia, he seduced the world with his mystic sounds. The empress of Japan invited him, the Pope John Paul the 2nd received him three times, and chiefs of state received him from all over the world like their alter ego.
In parallel, Zamfir composed more than 300 opuses for the Panpipe and organs or piano, chamber music and symphonic orchestras, sacred music for orchestra and choir. He accompanied the most important international orchestras. He composed and interpreted several film themes such as Sergio Leone's "Once upon at time in America", or "Karate Kid" themes, as well as "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe". More recently, he prepared a disk denouncing the former Romanian political regime. With his album "Seven Hearts for Romania", he brought forth a message of freedom and tolerance for his fatherland, where he still remains a respected star.
Financed from his own funds, the disk appeared on the market at a time when the former secret police was not yet gone. Duke Ellington once said that a very talented musician with a veritable style should be a part of a group of endowed artists referred to as "category-free". It seems that Zamfir is, through his talent, an active participant of this imaginary frontier between the good and the excellent.
With millions of records sold, full house concerts (25,000 persons at the Antique Theatre of Efes in Turkey), honours in all countries, Gheorghe Zamfir is a proof that goodness, harmony with nature, equilibrium and perfection are the ferments of an artistic beauty beyond comparison.
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