Damian Draghici, 47 yrs, Bucuresti, Romania
Damian Drăghici is a famous Roma musician with a successful career in political life. He was born in 1970, in Bucharest, in a family of musicians. The child began to study various instruments, including the pan-pipe, and at the age of 15 he had already performed with the Bucharest Radio Orchestra.
Damian Drăghici emigrated to Greece, where he was discovered and rewarded with a full scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA). In 2006, he received a Grammy Award, is the leader of Damian & Brothers, has 18 recorded albums and signed the “Pirates of the Caribbean 3” soundtrack.
In 2007 and 2008, Damian Drăghici was appointed Ambassador for the Roma minority. The artist has obtained the Order of Arts and Letters in Knighthood in France.
Proud of its Roma origin, Damian Drăghici seems to be more than a volcano of ambition and talent, able to break the impossible in any giant project he proposes. “We become what we want to become,” says the artist.
Between 1980 and 2011 he recorded 18 albums, playing jazz music at the pan-pipe. He was an invited guest on the ” Winter Solstice ” album, released in 2006, a Grammy Award. He sang with Joe Cocker, James Brown, and Cyndi Lauper at the European Night Tour of Proms Tour held between 2004 and 2006. In May 2011, he starred alongside Nigel Kennedy at the ‘ ‘Classical meets Jazz’ ‘from the Constitution Square in the capital.
From 2006 to 2009, he has run the Damian & Brothers project, which has combined musical events with anti-discrimination messages. In the project, he has released two albums on the market and has held over 600 concerts.
In 2007, he was the ambassador of Romania to the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, a position also held in the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008), both within the European Commission. In 2011 he was the Ambassador of Romania to the Year of Young Volunteers. From 2006 to June 2012, he was president of the Bright Light Foundation, advocating for the social inclusion of Roma.
In November 2012, French Ambassador to Bucharest, Philippe Gustin awarded him the “Order of Arts and Letters” in Knighthood.
Currently, he is MEP and represents the interests of the Roma in the Parliament of Europe.
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