Anca Parghel
| Anca Parghel | |
|---|---|
Anca Parghel c. 1999
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anca Simion |
| Born |
September 16, 1957 Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Romania |
| Died | December 5, 2008 (aged 51) Timișoara |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1984–2008 |
| Labels | Electrecord, Blue Flame, Amadeo, Polydor, Koala, Nabel, Prima Club, Intercont, Miramar, Acoustic, Nrg!a/Roton |
| Website | www |
Anca Parghel (September 16, 1957– December 5, 2008) was a Romanian jazz singer, composer, arranger, pianist, choir conductor and music teacher. As a jazz vocalist, she excelled in scat, vocal percussion and improvisation. Her voice had a four octave range, this being one of the reasons she was compared with Yma Sumac in the Romanian music press. She had an exceptional ability to interpret songs in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.
Born in Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Romania, to a poor family, she began singing at the age of three and performed onstage as a prodigy child. She also sang in the local church choir.
She left home at age 14 to enroll at the Music High School in Iaşi. Anca Parghel attended the Iaşi Music Conservatory, from which she graduated in 1981, having as primary instrument piano, and secondary bel canto. However, since jazz was not exactly popular nor officially encouraged in this part of the world living behind the Iron Curtain, she studied jazz on her own from tapes and vinyl albums that were hard to find. At the age of 18 she married painter Virgiliu Parghel (divorced 2001), with whom she had two sons, Ciprian and Tudor, who became jazz musicians themselves.
Anca Parghel taught music in Suceava (Bucovina, Northern part of Romania) at the local Arts high-school before turning to a professional singing career (c. 1988-1989). She lived in Bucharest in the first part of the 1990s, before moving to Brussels in 1997. She was a Professor of vocal jazz at the Brussels Royal Conservatory and Lemmens Conservatory in Leuven (1997–2002). She lived in Brussels for eight years before making a return to her home country around 2005. Her Conservatory diploma dissertation work was about the improvisation of Charlie Parker. As a music instructor and choir conductor, she taught many generations of aspiring singers and professional musicians, and led many workshops across Europe in Bucharest, Chisinau, Brussels/Namur, in Germany and England.
She was a gifted jazz pianist and frequently played "one-woman shows" where she accompanied herself in the crooner's tradition. She composed her own jazz songs, including original poetical lyrics as in the Primal Sound album, and frequently arranged music for Big Band orchestras, frequently performing with the Romanian Big Band conducted by Ionel Tudor in Bucharest. She toured extensively in Europe, mostly playing in local jazz clubs in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland.
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