Sfinx (band)
Encyclopedia
Sfinx was one of the most appreciated Romanian
rock
acts in the 1970s, along with Phoenix
.
. It was singer and guitarist
Octav Zemlicka who had the idea to start the band. ("Sfinx" is the Romanian
for sphinx
.) The initial line up included bassist
Corneliu Ionescu, nickname
d "Bibi", who would be the only member to stay with the band until they disbanded. In 1966, Sfinx were aired for the first time on radio, with Îmi place muzica ("I love music") and their eponym
ous song, Sfinx. 1968 brought drummer
Marian Toroimac into the band, and together with him, the young and shy Dan Andrei Aldea
(both had been members of a band called Memphis). The latter left the band in 1969 for several months and returned, and he would assume control of the band and make it one of the finest rock acts in Romania
.
The band played as a trio
(Aldea, Ionescu, Toroimac) for several years. They used to play covers
of songs by The Beatles
, Jimi Hendrix
, Ten Years After
, The Doors
, The Kinks
etc. As of 1972, they recorded their first single disc
, Şir de cocori/Languir me fais (First title translated: "Flock of Cranes". The latter was an arrangement
of a lied
by George Enescu
).
Doru Donciu, set out on a number of musical experiments, of which very few were recorded
, including the famous Om bun ("Kind Man"). Towards the end of 1973, two drummers were proposed to join the band, of which the former was replaced by the skillful Mihai (Mişu) Cernea (the ex-drummer of pop band Mondial, who was also a gifted composer, with whom some of the best records of Romanian rock were taped around 1970). Hornist Petre Iordache, a former member of the band, briefly joined when the band's first EP
was recorded in 1974, Coborîse primăvara/Ziua ta/Fiii soarelui/Peste vîrfuri ("Spring descended/Birthday/Sons of sun/Over crests").
In 1974 guitarist and composer Dan Bădulescu joins Sfinx, and from that point on (until the eighties), the band had only a few changes of personnel. Their first LP, Lume albă ("White world") was released in 1975 and enjoyed a great success with the audience and critics
. At this point, the rival band Phoenix had released their own successful LP, Cantofabule, which however was not their first. Now that Sfinx had their own LP, the tension between the two bands' fans grew higher, so the Sfinx LP cover art
humour
ously features some of the very passionate articles found in newspapers of the time.
When Bădulescu joined, the band started collaborating with the Romanian Agency for Artistic Promotion, so the first coordinates were established, regarding future concert tours throughout the country and abroad. For instance, the band would be allowed to concert periodically in Belgium
for a number of years.
Only a few months after Lume albă, another project was mostly finalized: the ambitious concept album
Zalmoxe, featuring lyrics by Romanian poet
Alexandru Basarab. Bădulescu had left the band and Aldea invited instead a highschool friend, talented keyboard player Nicolae (Nicu) Enache. The album's release was however delayed for three years for political censorship
reasons, so it came out only in 1978 on a single LP instead of a double album
, as the band initially had planned. Meanwhile, Jon Anderson
's backing band released Olias of Sunhillow
in 1976 and when Aldea listened to it, he thought of trying to make a "timid" response out of their own album. After the release of the album, a major concert tour was held throughout the country, where the band enjoyed huge success with the audience.
) was invited and joined in for recording a new single disc, Focuri vii/'49-'50 ("Live Flames/'49-'50"). The disc was still a great success with the audience, yet had only moderate success with the critics.
An EP was released the same year - Din nou acasă/Zmeul/Fetele albine ("Home again/The Kite/Little bee girls"). Partly resembling the Lume albă style, although more mature, it was thought of as a much better record than the single previously released the same year. When the Zalmoxe album was re-released on CD in 1993, it also included the EPs three songs as bonus track
s. Idu Barbu played the keyboards only on Fetele albine, a piece in 7/8 timing, combining ethnic
influences with synthesizer
effects. The other two songs feature Aldea himself on keyboards.
The band got again a contract to play in a nightclub in Belgium in 1981 and Dan Andrei Aldea
decided to defect, and consequently requested political asylum
. He never returned to Romania, even after the revolution in 1989
, claiming disappointment with some of the political events in the early 90s. He built his own recording studio
in Munich
, Germany
and started working there as a producer
, arranger and session musician
.
Meanwhile, in 1982, a new singer and guitarist was brought into the band, Sorin Chifiriuc
, who had just quit his own musical act, called Domino. Together with three keyboard players (of which, Sandu Grosu had been with them since 1974 as the band's sound engineer
), Sfinx released their last album, which was untitled (except for the band's name, which was featured on the cover). This led some to take it as an eponymous album, while others called it for its blue cover, Albumul albastru ("The Blue Album", 1984). The style was very different from the previous records and ventured into some new wave
. As keyboardist Doru Apreotesei admitted in a recent interview, the producer forced the band to release the album right after the compositions were done, so they didn't have much time for rehearsals. The band later discovered that live renditions sounded much better than the studio version, as the members had not been accustomed to the songs well enough half a year before.
ordered list of the most notable recordings would include:
Romanian rock
Romanian rock is a genre of popular music in Romania. It was influenced by changes in Romanian politics to such an extreme, that both the themes and styles of musicians, and the tastes and interests of listeners, changed dramatically with every major event in Romania's internal politics.As a...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
acts in the 1970s, along with Phoenix
Transsylvania Phoenix
Transsylvania Phoenix is a Romanian rock band formed in 1962 in Timişoara by guitarists Nicu Covaci and Kamocsa Béla. Guitarist Claudiu Rotaru, vocalist Florin "Moni" Bordeianu and drummer Ioan "Pilu" Ştefanovici completed the early lineup...
.
The early years (1963-1973)
The band was formed in 1963, in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. It was singer and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Octav Zemlicka who had the idea to start the band. ("Sfinx" is the Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
for sphinx
Sphinx
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
.) The initial line up included bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Corneliu Ionescu, nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d "Bibi", who would be the only member to stay with the band until they disbanded. In 1966, Sfinx were aired for the first time on radio, with Îmi place muzica ("I love music") and their eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous song, Sfinx. 1968 brought drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Marian Toroimac into the band, and together with him, the young and shy Dan Andrei Aldea
Dan Andrei Aldea
Dan Andrei Aldea is a Romanian rock multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, best known for his work with the band Sfinx, but also for his solo career....
(both had been members of a band called Memphis). The latter left the band in 1969 for several months and returned, and he would assume control of the band and make it one of the finest rock acts in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
The band played as a trio
Power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
(Aldea, Ionescu, Toroimac) for several years. They used to play covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of songs by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Ten Years After
Ten Years After
Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...
, The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
etc. As of 1972, they recorded their first single disc
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, Şir de cocori/Languir me fais (First title translated: "Flock of Cranes". The latter was an arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
of a lied
Lied
is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...
by George Enescu
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
).
Classic Sfinx (1973-1980)
1973 found Sfinx without a drummer, after Toroimac left. Aldea and "Bibi" Ionescu, together with flautistFlautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
Doru Donciu, set out on a number of musical experiments, of which very few were recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, including the famous Om bun ("Kind Man"). Towards the end of 1973, two drummers were proposed to join the band, of which the former was replaced by the skillful Mihai (Mişu) Cernea (the ex-drummer of pop band Mondial, who was also a gifted composer, with whom some of the best records of Romanian rock were taped around 1970). Hornist Petre Iordache, a former member of the band, briefly joined when the band's first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
was recorded in 1974, Coborîse primăvara/Ziua ta/Fiii soarelui/Peste vîrfuri ("Spring descended/Birthday/Sons of sun/Over crests").
In 1974 guitarist and composer Dan Bădulescu joins Sfinx, and from that point on (until the eighties), the band had only a few changes of personnel. Their first LP, Lume albă ("White world") was released in 1975 and enjoyed a great success with the audience and critics
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
. At this point, the rival band Phoenix had released their own successful LP, Cantofabule, which however was not their first. Now that Sfinx had their own LP, the tension between the two bands' fans grew higher, so the Sfinx LP cover art
Cover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
humour
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
ously features some of the very passionate articles found in newspapers of the time.
When Bădulescu joined, the band started collaborating with the Romanian Agency for Artistic Promotion, so the first coordinates were established, regarding future concert tours throughout the country and abroad. For instance, the band would be allowed to concert periodically in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
for a number of years.
Only a few months after Lume albă, another project was mostly finalized: the ambitious concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
Zalmoxe, featuring lyrics by Romanian poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Alexandru Basarab. Bădulescu had left the band and Aldea invited instead a highschool friend, talented keyboard player Nicolae (Nicu) Enache. The album's release was however delayed for three years for political censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
reasons, so it came out only in 1978 on a single LP instead of a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, as the band initially had planned. Meanwhile, Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
's backing band released Olias of Sunhillow
Olias of Sunhillow
Olias of Sunhillow is a progressive rock concept album by Jon Anderson, the lead singer of the band Yes. Released in 1976, it was his first solo album and the most successful of Yes band member solo efforts to that date, reaching No...
in 1976 and when Aldea listened to it, he thought of trying to make a "timid" response out of their own album. After the release of the album, a major concert tour was held throughout the country, where the band enjoyed huge success with the audience.
The Eighties (1980-1989)
In 1980, the band found themselves without Enache, so Idu Barbu, the first keyboard player with the band (also, one of the founding membersEntrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
) was invited and joined in for recording a new single disc, Focuri vii/'49-'50 ("Live Flames/'49-'50"). The disc was still a great success with the audience, yet had only moderate success with the critics.
An EP was released the same year - Din nou acasă/Zmeul/Fetele albine ("Home again/The Kite/Little bee girls"). Partly resembling the Lume albă style, although more mature, it was thought of as a much better record than the single previously released the same year. When the Zalmoxe album was re-released on CD in 1993, it also included the EPs three songs as bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
s. Idu Barbu played the keyboards only on Fetele albine, a piece in 7/8 timing, combining ethnic
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
influences with synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
effects. The other two songs feature Aldea himself on keyboards.
The band got again a contract to play in a nightclub in Belgium in 1981 and Dan Andrei Aldea
Dan Andrei Aldea
Dan Andrei Aldea is a Romanian rock multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, best known for his work with the band Sfinx, but also for his solo career....
decided to defect, and consequently requested political asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
. He never returned to Romania, even after the revolution in 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, claiming disappointment with some of the political events in the early 90s. He built his own recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and started working there as a producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, arranger and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
.
Meanwhile, in 1982, a new singer and guitarist was brought into the band, Sorin Chifiriuc
Sorin Chifiriuc
Sorin Chifiriuc is a rock, new wave and blues guitarist and vocalist.Affectionately called Kifi by his fans, and a graduate of the Bucharest Music Conservatory, he is also known for his unconventional behaviour on stage....
, who had just quit his own musical act, called Domino. Together with three keyboard players (of which, Sandu Grosu had been with them since 1974 as the band's sound engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
), Sfinx released their last album, which was untitled (except for the band's name, which was featured on the cover). This led some to take it as an eponymous album, while others called it for its blue cover, Albumul albastru ("The Blue Album", 1984). The style was very different from the previous records and ventured into some new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. As keyboardist Doru Apreotesei admitted in a recent interview, the producer forced the band to release the album right after the compositions were done, so they didn't have much time for rehearsals. The band later discovered that live renditions sounded much better than the studio version, as the members had not been accustomed to the songs well enough half a year before.
Into Sfinx Experience (1990 on)
The band's activity declined in the late 1980s, when new members (which now changed very often) started playing commercial-oriented music, as a consequence of the invitations the band received from discothèques abroad. Sfinx split into two different acts after 1989: "Bibi" Ionescu kept the original act's name, while Mişu Cernea formed Sfinx Experience. While Sfinx never performed again, the latter is still working today with a new line up (of which, Crina Mardare and Zoia Alecu previously played and sang in the 1985 Sfinx), except for the drummer, Mişu Cernea.Notable band members
- Corneliu "Bibi" Ionescu (electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
) - Octav Zemlicka (vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s) - Idu Barbu (keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
) - Cristian Valica (drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
) - Petre Iordache (French hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
) - Sergiu Zagardan (drums)
- Toni Niculescu (keyboards)
- Adrian IvaniţchiAdrian IvanitchiAdrian Ivaniţchi is a Romanian folk musician and guitarist. He was one of the founding members of Coral, one of the first Romanian beat music groups...
(guitars) - Marian Toroimac (drums)
- Dan Andrei AldeaDan Andrei AldeaDan Andrei Aldea is a Romanian rock multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, best known for his work with the band Sfinx, but also for his solo career....
(vocals, guitars, keyboards, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, recorderRecorderThe recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
) - Silviu Hera (guitars)
- Doru Donciu (flute)
- Mişu Cernea (drums, vocals)
- Sandu Grosu (sound engineer, later keyboards)
- Dan Bădulescu (guitars, vocals)
- Nicolae Enache (keyboards)
- Sorin ChifiriucSorin ChifiriucSorin Chifiriuc is a rock, new wave and blues guitarist and vocalist.Affectionately called Kifi by his fans, and a graduate of the Bucharest Music Conservatory, he is also known for his unconventional behaviour on stage....
(vocals, guitars, vocals) - Doru Apreotesei (keyboards)
- Edwin Surin (keyboards)
- Mircea Romcescu (guitars)
- Florin Ochescu (guitars)
- Cristi Rus (guitars, vocals)
- Mihai Coman (keyboards, vocals)
- Doru Caplescu (keyboards)
Studio albums
- Lume albă ("White world", 1975)
- Zalmoxe ("ZalmoxisZalmoxisZalmoxis , is a divinity of the Getae, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories IV, 93-96...
", 1978) - Albumul albastru ("The blue album", 1984)
Single discs and EPs
- Şir de cocori/Languir me fais ("Cranes' Pack/I yearn of you
[ fr.French languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...] ", 1972) - Coborîse primăvara/Ziua ta/Fiii soarelui/Peste vîrfuri ("Spring fell/Birthday/Sons of sun/Over crests", 1974)
- Focuri vii/'49-'50 ("Flames alive/'49-'50", 1980)
- Din nou acasă/Zmeul/Fetele albine ("Home again/The Kite/Little bee girls", 1980)
Compilation albums
- Formaţii rock nr. 4 ("Rock bands no. 4", 1979) - the disc belongs to the Formaţii de muzică uşoară series and it features two songs by Sfinx: Drumul ("The Path") and Lumină şi culoare ("Light and colour"). Lyrics for both songs were written by Cristina M. Ioan.
- Club A (1981) - this is a live album comprising a number of hitsHit singleA hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
from various Romanian bands of the time, all recorded while performing in the Architecture Students' Club, Bucharest. Sfinx are featured with their 1980 number, Focuri vii.
Sfinx with Dida Drăgan
Around 1975, Sfinx had a short collaboration with Romanian singer Dida Drăgan. She hadn't yet had her disc debut, so her then-husband, Petre Magdin, offered her two compositions of his own. At that time, the Sfinx lineup was still that of Lume albă. Aldea wrote new arrangements for the two songs by Petre Magdin. Eventually, in 1975, a single disc called Glas de păduri|Trepte de lumină was released with vocals by Drăgan and Sfinx as the backing band.Other recordings
Of the many songs by Sfinx considered lost (i.e., played mostly in concerts, and never recorded properly in a studio or, in some cases, never recorded at all), some survived on some unofficial recordings. However, those were not included on official discs or CDs. A quasi-chronologicallyChronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
ordered list of the most notable recordings would include:
- Îmi place muzica ("I like music", 1966) - one of the earliest successes of the band. Sfinx were invited to the Romanian TelevisionRomanian televisionRomanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
, where they played this song together with a few covers (of which, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
). - Purgatoriu ("Purgatory", 1972?) - instrumental piece recorded (Lo-fiLow fidelityLow fidelity or lo-fi describes a sound recording which contains technical flaws such as distortion, hum, or background noise, or limited frequency response...
) at the Bulandra TheatreBulandra TheatreThe Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, Romania was founded in 1947 as Teatrul Municipal; its first director was Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, one of the leading Romanian stage actresses of her generation...
in Bucharest, shortly before Toroimac would leave the band. For a couple of years, Sfinx wrote and played music for stage from time to time. (Dan Andrei Aldea, however, was much more faithful to the world of theatre and had some notable projects in parallel to working with Sfinx.) - Scufiţa roşie ("Little Red Riding HoodLittle Red Riding HoodLittle Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....
", 1980) - this was the only non-disc song which was featured on a CD (as a bonus track), that is, the Zalmoxe re-release in 1993. The song doesn't have a guitar part (only in the solo, where a discreet mutedPalm muteThe palm mute is a playing technique for guitar and bass guitar executed by placing the side of the picking hand below the little finger across all of the strings very close to the bridge and then plucking the strings with the fingers while the damping is in effect. This produces a muted sound...
electric guitar is doubling the harmonica - both played by Aldea), but a piano resembling the Aldea style heard on Zmeul. - Pasăre sură ("Leaden bird", 1982?)
- Întoarcerea ("The Return", 1984?) - this song is often mistaken for a track on Albumul albastru. It resembles very much the style of the album, but it was recorded outside it.
- "Cantecul blazonului", the blazonBlazonIn heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
song, from 1970, kept in Radio RomaniaRadio Romania InternationalRadio România Internaţional is a Romanian radio station owned by the Romanian public radio broadcaster Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune that broadcasts abroad.According to the Romanian law nr...
archive
External links
- Listen to recordings by Sfinx (stream)