Damian

Romanian pan flute virtuoso Damian Draghici is not an easy artist to categorize. His recordings -- many of which are instrumental, although he sometimes features vocalists -- could be described as world music, but he certainly doesn't limit himself to any one style of it. Damian, a gypsy, is unpredictable, and the musician has been influenced by rock, pop, jazz, new age, and classical as well as Eastern European, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Latin music (especially Spanish flamenco, although he has also acknowledged Afro-Cuban salsa and South American/Andean music). Although Damian now lives in Los Angeles, he was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania. The musician/composer (who plays the piano as a second instrument) is old enough to remember when Romania and the rest of Eastern Europe were ruled by oppressive Communist regimes, and Romania's was among the most brutal and restrictive in the '70s and '80s. Rock music was frowned upon by the late dictator Nikolai Ceaucescu, who ruled Romania with an iron fist and was infamous for his human-rights abuses. Nonetheless, Damian exposed himself to as many types of music as he could, and he learned to speak English by watching American movies.

Damian's first exposure to the pan flute came from an uncle, who gave him two lessons before fleeing the country; after that, Damian was on his own