Premium
Phoenix band leader Nicu Covaci celebrates his 76th birthday on Wednesday with a concert at Arenele Romane in Bucharest.
Special guests of the show "Nicu Covaci - 76th Anniversary Concert" are Ovidiu Lipan Tandarica, Manni Neumann, Titi Dragomir, Cristian Hrubaru, Calin Pop from "Celelalte Cuvinte", Marius Pop, Tavi Colen, Crivat and Luparu from Bucovina, Bogdan Munteninta, Alin Dinca and Balauru from Trooper, Alin Oprea and Stefan Valentin, told Agerpres.
In 1961, Nicu Covaci and Kamocsa Camo Bela, students at the Secondary School no. 2 in Timisoara, set up the band 'Sfintii', the group making its debut a year later. Initially, the band's repertoire consisted only of covers of international rock music.
In 1964, the band returned to the stage under a new name: 'Phoenix', having as members: Nicolae Covaci (lead guitar, vocals), Claudiu Rotaru (harmony guitar), Kamocsa Bela (bass), Ioan 'Pilu' Stefanovici (drums). Florin 'Moni' Bordeianu (vocals) and then Gunther Reininger (keyboards) join the band. Their first composition was recorded in 1965 at the Radio studios and was entitled 'Stiu ca ma iubesti si tu' (I know you love me too). Also in 1965, Covaci became a student at the Institute of Fine Arts in Timisoara.
The following year, with the support of the poet Victor Carcu, Moni Bordeianu and Nicu Covaci composed a series of songs that would later make them famous: 'Canarul' (Canary), 'Nebunul cu ochii inchisi' (The crazy man with shut eyes) and 'Vremuri' (Times/Hey, tram). The latter was the first big hit of Romanian rock.
After the departure of lead singer Moni Bordeianu to the USA in 1970, Nicu Covaci rebuilt the group with Gunther Reininger (organ, electric piano, vocals), Zoltan Kovacs (bass), Cornel Liuba (drums), Laurentiu Butoi (flute, oboe). Between 1970 and 1976, Nicu Covaci released three albums with Phoenix, of the opera-rock type, which are well known in Romanian music: 'Cei ce ne ne-au dat nume' (Those who gave us a name), 'Mugur de fluier' (Flute Bud), 'Cantafabule'.
On the night of 1 to 2 June 1977, a truck driven by Nicu Covaci, with his bandmates hidden in the Marshall boxes (except for Mircea Baniciu), left Romania, bound for Germany. Officially, Nicu Covaci, who had legally emigrated to the Netherlands (in 1976), had returned to the country to pick up his musical instruments and other equipment.
During his 13 years in Germany, the Phoenix leader's musical projects were sporadic, and in 1983 he sang a duet with Dzidek Marcinkiewicz. In 1987 he was asked by the town of Osnabruck to stage the opera 'Evita' (Andrew Lloyd Weber) with Erlend Krauser, and a year later the opera 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (Andrew Lloyd Weber, Tim Rice). In 1988 Nicu Covaci released the single 'Tuareg/Mr G's Promises' under the name Phoenix.
A pioneer of ethno-rock, Nicu Covaci is also known as a painter, graphic artist and sculptor. During his stay in Germany, Nicu Covaci taught fine art in Osnabruck and created a series of paintings, the best known being the gigantic 'Gladiator 2000' (1986), exhibited outside the sports hall in the same town. The huge size (45x6 metres) is created using a special technique, with paints that penetrate the canvas, making the painting last a long time. Among other things, at the request of the Osnabruck town hall, he created a statue of the curvaceous fertility goddess ('Fruchtbarkeitskönigin').
After 1989, he returned to the country and resumed his concert series alongside Phoenix, and in 1992 he published the autobiographical volume 'Phoenix-But I, a Bird'. Two of the important albums in the band's discography, released after 1989, are "La umbra marelui urs" (In the Shadow of the Great Bear) (2000) and 'Baba Novac' (2005). Other Phoenix landmark albums are 'Cantafabule' (1975), 'Transsylvania' (1981) and 'SymPhoenix' (1992).
On 4 April 2003, Nicolae Covaci received the 'Cultural Distinction' diploma from Eugen Simion, President of the Romanian Academy. In 2007, on the occasion of his 45th anniversary of musical activity and for his contribution to the development of rock music in Romania with the band Phoenix, Nicu Covaci was awarded the 'Order of Cultural Merit in the Rank of Knight'.
Nicu Covaci currently lives in Spain.
