death_date death_place years_active birth_place label image_size birth_date background instrument genre image article_title birth_name occupation
26 october 1968 bucharest , romania 1916-1968 ploieşti , romania electrecord , columbia 225 5 april 1894 non_vocal_instrumentalist pan flute lăutarească fanica luca 01.jpg fănică luca
 fănică luca lăutar , conductor
fănică luca

fănică luca -lrb- born Ştefan luca iordache ; 5 april 1894 -- 26 october 1968 -rrb- was a romani-romanian musician and a pan pipe -lrb- `` nai '' or `` musical '' in romanian -rrb- virtuoso , who was the first to make this instrument popular outside his own country .
he learned music from his father -lrb- who also played the `` nai '' , the romanian pan pipe , in a band -lrb- taraf -rrb- of lăutari -rrb- and brothers .
fănică luca himself would also play in such orchestras , developing great skills and gaining a reputation as a pan pipe virtuoso .
in the 19th century the `` nai '' - originally an instrument of the lăutari with only 8 to 10 pipes , covering a little more than one octave - had been extended to about 20 pipes , giving far greater possibilities to a solo performer .
remarkable is the fact that fănică luca never learned reading musical scores , he always played by the ear .
in 1910 , at the age of only 16 , he made his first international concert tour , during which he spent some months in İzmir , turkey .
between 1920 and 1929 he regularly played in the best restaurants of bucharest and his fame spread all over romania .
in 1929 he performed in warsaw and paris .
it was his concerts at the universal exhibition of paris -lrb- 1937 -rrb- which gave the pan pipe its first popularity in the west .
in 1937 fănică luca received the `` palme d'or '' from the french ministry of national education .
he also performed at the new york world 's fair in 1939 .
thereafter he gave concerts in russia , the people 's republic of china , poland , czechoslovakia , hungary , bulgaria and the usa .
in 1951 he received the distinction of `` eminent artist '' from the people 's republic of romania , the highest distinction a musician could get .
in 1949 fanică luca started teaching the `` nai '' .
he was the teacher of a whole generation of famous romanian pan pipe performers , such as damian luca , damian carlanaru , constantin dobre , radu constantin , radu simion -lrb- his son in law -rrb- , nicolae pîrvu and gheorghe zamfir .
most of his best pupils scattered all over europe and america , driven away by the dictatorial regime of nicolae ceauşescu .
