Gheorghe Zamfir

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Gheorghe Zamfir /'ge̯or.ge zamˈfir/ (born April 6, 1941, in Găeşti, Romania) is a famous Romanian musician who is a master of the pan flute. He was initially self-taught and continued his education at the Bucharest Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Fanica Luca, and the Conservatory of Bucharest (1968). He came to the public eye when he was "discovered" by Swiss ethnomusicologist Marcel Cellier who extensively researched Romanian folk music in the 1960s.

[edit] Entertainment career

Zamfir was rumored to join the legendary power pop band Raspberries on their aborted 1976 tour. ^{[citation needed]}

Throughout his 50-year-long career, Gheorghe Zamfir has won an overall 120 golden and platinum disc awards and sold over 120 million albums.

Zamfir wrote an instructional book: Traitė Du Naï Roumain: méthode de flûte de pan. Paris: CHAPPELL S.A., 1975. ISBN 88-8291-286-8, and an autobiography: Binecuvântare Şi Blestem [Blessing & Curses]. Arad: Mirador, 2000. ISBN 973-9284-56-6.

Zamfir currently resides and teaches panpipe in Bucharest, Romania (2006).

Largely through the numerous television commercials for his many albums, he introduced the pan flute to a modern audience and revived it from obscurity. One of his most famous contributions was to the soundtrack for the classic Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock. His music has also been heard on the soundtracks of many Hollywood movies. He was asked by Ennio Morricone to perform the pieces "Childhood Memories" and "Cockeye's Song" for the soundtrack of Sergio Leone's classic 1984 gangster film Once Upon A Time In America, his music is heard throughout the 1984 film The Karate Kid, and his song "The Lonely Shepherd" which was penned by James Last, and was recorded with the James Last Orchestra is featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill Vol. 1.

[edit] Cultural references

Late night talk show host Johnny Carson often mentioned Zamfir in his Tonight Show monologues.

In an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill, "Propane Boom", Zamfir was suggested as a corporate spokesman to rival Mega Lo Mart's Chuck Mangione.

Zamfir was mentioned in two separate episodes of the television series Sports Night. In the episode "The Apology", Casey seeks advice as to what is or isn't "cool", and asks whether or not Zamfir is cool. In the episode "Kafelnikov", Casey uses Zamfir's name and status as "master of the pan flute" in a fake news story.

Zamfir once had a cameo on the Warner Bros. animated series Histeria!, in which he is one of a group of other historical musicians in a Dating Game-style show called "Duets". He is the only prospective bachelor that the bachelorette, Miss Information, is not interested in.