Nicu Alifantis (born May 31, 1954) is a Romanian

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

singer, songwriter, stage actor and poet. With an over fifty-year musical career, Alifantis is best known for his discography created with fellow band "Alifantis & Zan" and for his collaborations with other folk bands such as "

Pasărea Colibri Pasărea Colibri (, "The Hummingbird") is a Romanian folk supergroup. Aside from typical Romanian folk instruments and acoustic/electric guitars, the band also made use of digital and analogue synthesizers, pedal steel guitars, and fretless bas ...

Biography

Nicu Alifantis, born on May 31, 1954, in

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

to Greek-Macedonian parents. His mother, Evdocsia, was Aromanian, and his father, Menelaus, was

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. Alifantis studied music privately and made his stage debut in 1973. He is employed in 1975 at the "Maria Filotti" Theater in Brăila and becomes quite well-known and loved by the public, so that in 1976 the record label

Electrecord Electrecord is a Romanian record label which was founded in 1932 being a major company in the field of music production in Romania, particularly popular for the large number of LPs released on the Romanian music market. Among the musicians who ...

publishes his first record material, ''Cântec de noapte'', with four tracks. In the same year, he enrolled in ATM. After the army, he became a member of the Cenacle Flacăra, led by the poet

Adrian Păunescu Adrian Păunescu (; 20 July 1943 – 5 November 2010) was a Romanian writer, publisher, cultural promoter, translator, and politician. A profoundly charismatic personality, a controversial and complex figure, the artist and the man are almost ...

, and participated in most of the "artistic events", his songs appearing on the compilations Folk 1 and Folk 2 published by

in 1977 and 1978, respectively. In 1983, at the appearance of the triple LP that marked 10 years of activity of the cenacle, Alifantis is the best represented singer-songwriter on this album, appearing with three tracks. Between 1973 and 2002 he performed in a total of 4,036 concerts. In 1995 he founded the group Alifantis & Zan, as a studio band for his album ''Voiaj''. In 1996, after the recording of the Nichita album, Zan becomes a project band with the following members: Virgil Popescu (bass guitar, vocals), Sorin Voinea (keyboards, vocals), Răzvan Mirică (electric and acoustic guitar, sitar, mandolin, vocals ), Relu Bițulescu (drums). In April 1999, he established the Nicu Alifantis Foundation with the aim of promoting "artistic projects in which value, strength and authenticity will be paramount".

Discography

Debuts

*debut as a composer in 1972 - "The Storm" by Ostrovsky, "Maria Filotti" Theater, Brăila. *stage debut in 1973 – Tele Top show, TVR. *discography debut in 1976 – EP Night song, Electrecord.

Songs

*Night Song (EP, Electrorecord, 1976) * After Snails (LP,

, 1979) *Nicu Alifantis & Florian Pittiș (EP,

, 1980) (album made with Florian Pittiș) *Nicu Alifantis (Typewriter) (LP/MC,

, 1984) *Mitică Popescu (LP, Electrecord, 1985; reissued on CD in 2014) (album made with

Mitică Popescu Mitică Popescu (; 2 December 1936 – 3 January 2023) was a Romanian actor. Biography Popescu was born in Bucharest on 2 December 1936. He started his studies in the mid-1950s at the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Art, but he was ...

) *Romanian Square no. 9 (LP/MC,

, 1988) *The Waster of Love (LP/MC,

, 1990) *December (single, Toji Productions, 1992) *Ia toji balladist (LP, Romtrust & Eurostar & Toji Productions, 1992; reissued on CD/MC in 1998) *Voiaj (CD/MC, Intercont Music, 1995; reissued on CD in 2011 and 2016) (album made with the band Zan) *Nichita (CD/MC, Nemira, 1996; reissued on CD in 2011 and 2015) (album made with the band Zan, includes recordings with

Nichita Stănescu Nichita Stănescu (; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist. Biography Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian ...

) *25 (CD/2xMC, Intercont Music, 1998) *The Living Corpse (CD, Toji Productions, 2001) *Neuitatele femei (CD/MC, Nemira, 2002; reissued on CD in 2006 and 2011) (album made with the band Zan) *Checkmate (CD/MC, Nova Music Entertainment, 2004; reissued on CD in 2016) (album made with the band Zan) *Tenderness for women with the 4 lovers (DVD, TVR Media, 2005) (album made with

Mircea Baniciu Mircea Baniciu (; born 31 July 1949) is a Romanian musician, singer, and songwriter. Originally known as the lead singer of the Romanian rock group Phoenix, Baniciu quit the group when they illegally fled Romania for West Germany in 1977, cont ...

, Mircea Vintilă and Alexandru Andries) *Simphonicu (2xCD/DVD, Nicu Alifantis Foundation & Nova Music Entertainment, 2005) *December (CD, Nova Music Entertainment & Unica, 2006) (distributed with Unica magazine) *Vinyl Collection (4xCD, Intercont Music, 2007; reissued 2014) *Collected Music, Vol. 71 (CD, Jurnalul Național, 2008) (distributed with

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Buchares ...

newspaper) *Tonight I'm staying at home (CD, Nicu Alifantis Foundation & TVR Media, 2009) (album made with

Ștefan Iordache Ștefan Iordache (; 3 February 1941 – 14 September 2008) was a Romanian actor. Born in Calafat, Dolj County, he spent his childhood there before moving to the Rahova neighborhood of Bucharest. He failed being admitted into medical school, wo ...

) *Fireside Songs (CD/LP, Nicu Alifantis Foundation, 2010) *The Merry Wives of Windsor (CD, Nicu Alifantis Foundation, 2011) *Mosaic (CD+book, Alifantis Music, 2013) *Winter Songs (CD, e-media & Click! for Women, 2014) (distributed with Click! for Women ) *Sotron - Vol. I (CD+coloring book, Alifantis Music, 2015) *Madame Mon Amour (Love songs) (CD, Alifantis Music & e-media, 2016) *Unopened letters (CD, Nemira & Alifantis Music, 2016) (audiobook read by the author) *The country where I come from... (CD, Alifantis Music & e-media, 2018) (album made with the band Zan) *Memorabilia • Theater Music Collection • 45 Anniversary Box Set (8xCD/2xDVD box-set, Alifantis Music, 2018) *Live at UM 01671 (USB memory stick 8GB, Alifantis Music, 2019) (album made with the band Zan) *December 50 Collection • Fifty winters over December (CD/DVD box-set, Alifantis Music, 2019) *Leoneed Is Love (CD+book, Alifantis Music, 2021) (album made with the band Zan)

Other media

Filmography

Stage plays

Books

*''Unopened letters joined by 2 epistles by Emil Brumaru and Laurentiu Ulici'' (Ed. Nemira, 1997) (book relaunched in 2016) *''Alifantis' Dictionary'' (Ed. Nicu Alifantis, 2014) (book relaunched in 2019) *''Mozaic'' (Alifantis Music, 2013) (book released together with Mozaic album ) *''FaceCarte'' (Ed. Nicu Alifantis, 2016) *''45 random poems'' (Ed. Nicu Alifantis, 2018) *''Between yesterday and tomorrow'' (poems, thoughts, fireflies) (Ed. Nicu Alifantis, 2020) *''Leoneed Is Love'' (Alifantis Music, 2021) (book released with Leoneed Is Love album )

Awards and honors

*UNITER Prize for Theater Music (1991) *Stage Music Award for 'Ubu Rex' with Scenes from 'Macbeth' (1991) *Constanța Theater Music Award (1995) *The award for stage music from the show "The Living Corpse" (2002) *Honorary Citizen of Braila (2017) *On December 10, 2004, the

president of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...

conferred on Nicu Alifantis the

Order of Cultural Merit The Order of Cultural Merit is an honour or decoration awarded by a country. It may refer to: *Order of Cultural Merit (Korea) *Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco) *Order of Cultural Merit (Romania) *Order of Cultural Merit (Tunisia) *Ordem do Mérito ...

in the rank of Knight, Category B - "Music", "for the special contributions to the artistic and cultural activity in our country, for the promotion of Romanian civilization and history". *On October 22, 2024, the Romanian Royal House conferred on Nicu Alifantis the " Order of The Crown in the rank of Knight" for the special contributions to the artistic and cultural activity

References

External links

Site web oficial

Nicu Alifantis
at CineMagia
Biografie
, musicmix.rol.ro

3 aprilie 2005, Cristina Ologeanu, ''

Interviews

"Ma simt in deplinatatea fortelor mele artistice"
Corina Pavel, ''Formula AS'' - 1999, no. 348
"Dupa mine, artistul trebuie sa traiasca nu bine, ci foarte bine, pentru a-si lasa spiritul sa alerge in cautarea inspiratiei"
''Formula AS'' - 2002, no. 531

Svetlana Cârstean, ''Observator cultural'' - no. 126, July 2002
30 de ani de muzica - Nicu Alifantis
Dia Radu, ''Formula AS'' - 2005, no. 657

16 January 2005, Cristina Ologeanu, ''Jurnalul Național''

, 22 November 2007, Alice Nastase Buciuta, ''Revista Tango''
Iubirile unui trubadur - Nicu Alifantis
Bogdana Tihon Buliga, ''Formula AS'' - 2010, no. 920

9 June 2011, Sînziana Boaru, ''

Adevărul (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Kingd ...

''
INTERVIU Nicu Alifantis: „M-am cerut în armată ca să scap de medicină“
1 December 2012, Laurențiu Ungureanu, ''

''
Nicu Alifantis: „De foarte multe ori, muzica există în text“
23 August 2013, Corina Vladov, ''Ziarul Metropolis''
UN OM CÂT TOATĂ ISTORIA MUZICII , Nicu Alifantis, interviu de Mihai Căsălean
3 June 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Alifantis, Nicu 1954 births People from Brăila Romanian rock singers Romanian folk singers Romanian guitarists Folk guitarists 20th-century Romanian male singers 21st-century Romanian male singers 20th-century Romanian singers 21st-century Romanian singers Romanian people of Aromanian descent Romanian people of Greek descent Romanian male stage actors Romanian male poets Recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit (Romania) Living people Knights of the Order of the Crown (Romania)