Born in Intorsura Buzaului, an ancient Romanian place
in the middle of the Carpathian Mountain’a curve, today in the Covasna
district, Benone Damian is the son of a peasant family. His father played
the “caval”, a long shepherd’s pipe. Benone was fascinated by the instruments
and the music of the village fiddlers who he observed, when he was only
4, at the peasants dance on Sundays, at weddings, and at village parties.
Moved by his son’s unbelievable passion, the father bought
him a little violin. Benone tuned its strings and began to scrape upon
it. “Who tuned your violin?” asked the villages’ fiddler who refused to
believe that Benone set and tuned the strings himself.
His first recordings with folk music at the Romanian
broadcasting corporation were in 1951, prompted by his folklore teacher.
After graduating at the Music Conservatoire, he was appointed first violinist
of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic’s Orchestra in Bucharest. He performed
several times as soloist of this orchestra. He left it in 1969, and concentrated
on the folklore music which he loved more than anything else.
After his debut in Paris, in 1965, as member of a folklore
Romanian orchestra and after a successful tour in Switzerland in 1969 with
on other Romanian ensemble, Benone Damian decided to found his own orchestra.
At first it was not easy, but in 1970 he is playing in
front of his own orchestra in numerous countries: Switzerland, France,
Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany (the Federal and East-Germany), Holland, Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, then overseas, in Canada and the United States. Everywhere
he is very successful.
Benone Damian "... expresses with an extreme sensitiveness
the Romanian soul", Belgian press.
"Benone Damian; an outstanding virtuoso of the violin,
gifted with genius, making his music last long after he has gone", Swiss
press