Nicu Covaci, leader of Transylvania Phoenix, has died at 77.
Considered one of the best and most influential figures of Romanian rock, Covaci blended traditional rock with Romanian folk music.
After founding Phoenix and quickly gaining notoriety in Romania, he fled for Germany in 1976, and returned after the Romanian Revolution in 1990.
The son of a political dissident, he famously snuck his band members out of communist Romania inside some speakers and passed across the Iron Curtain in a truck.
He and his mother were highly harassed by the Communist secret police.
He since lived in Germany, Holland, and Spain, but passed away in Romania after complications from a brain tumour.
Combining forceful, solid rock with ethnic elements and poetic lyrics, Phoenix pioneered the “ethno rock” genre, which is still very popular in Romania.
