Edmond Deda – composer, conductor, pianist, lyricist and teacher, born on April 23, 1920 in Bucharest. Reding music in Bucharest (1932-38) and London (1938-39), he founded the Conservatory of Pop and Jazz Music in Bucharest (1941), whose director he was until 1948, as well as the pop group Edmond Deda (1945), with which he toured both at home and abroad. Based in Bucharest, he was pianist (1954-58) and later conductor and artistic director (1968-72) with the Ion Vasilescu Theatre, conductor at the Constantin Tănase Variety Theatre (1960-66) and singing teacher at the Popular School of the Arts (1961-62, 1966-67).

Edmond Deda is the author of such musical shows as De la Bach la Tom Jones [From Bach to Tom Jones] (1969), Mini Jazz cu Maxi Haz [Mini-Jazz, Maxi-Fun] (1970), the musicals Jocul de-a vacanța [Let’s Play Holiday] (1974) or O noapte de vis [Dream Night] (1985). He also wrote a number of pop music songs: Mă mai gândesc la dumneata [I Still Think of You] (1968), Of, inimioară [Oh My Heart, My Little Heart] (1971) or Inimă nu fii de piatră [Don’t Be Mean, Oh My Heart] (1972) as well as the music for four films, Caravana prieteniei [Friendship Caravan] (1958), Nu vreau să mă însor [I Don’t Want to Get Married] (1961), Mini-Tehnicus (1970) and Agentul straniu [The Bizarre Agent] (1975).

A 5-time laureate of the Cerbul de Aur [The Golden Stag] Award among other accolades, Edmond Deda died on September 29, 2006, in Bucharest.

Petre Fugaciu