Constantin "Costi" Ioniță (), known as Costi (born 14 January 1978) is a Romanian singer regarded as one of the most celebrated ethnic Romanian vocalists of ''muzică orientală'' (
manele
Manele (from Romanian, ''fem.'' ''sg.'' manea; ''pl.'' manele, the plural form being more common) is a genre of pop folk music from Romania.
The manele can be divided into "classical manele" and "modern manele". The "classical manele" are a Tu ...
).
[Margaret H. Beissinger, ''"Muzică Orientală": Identity and Popular Culture in Postcommunist Romania'', in Donna A. Buchanan (ed), ''Balkan popular culture and the Ottoman ecumene: music, image, and regional political discourse''. ]Scarecrow Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
, 2007. . pp. 125-126
Career
Born in
Constanța
Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...
and a dentist by training, Costi began his musical career by singing Romanian traditional folkloric music. He however achieved fame as a member of the
pop boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...
Valahia, enjoying several hits. In 1999, he started to experiment with ''manele'', a composite
Balkanic musical style, and in 2000 he collaborated with acclaimed manele singer
Adrian Minune
Adrian Minune (real name Adrian Simionescu, born 24 September 1974) is a Romanian manele singer of Romani descent.
One major hit for the Manele Singer was at the Neversea Festival in 2019, when the swedish DJ Salvatore Ganacci honored him b ...
on ''Of, viața mea'' ("Oh, my life"),
one of the first mainstream successes of the genre in Romania. Following Valahia's dissolution in 2002, he started a solo career, concentrating on manele. In this period he collaborated with several well known manele singers. His success is considered unusual, as he is one of the few ethnic Romanians in a genre perceived as
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
. Unlike some Romani counterparts, Costi Ioniță does not use a nickname. Despite his success in manele, he also experimented with other musical styles, such as rock, dance or opera, avoiding to be identified with ''manele'' or to be too closely associated with the Romani culture.
In the late 2000s, Costi extended his act in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, achieving success in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
with the song ''Ca la Amsterdam'' ("Like in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
"), a tune included in the 2010 compilation issued by
Café del Mar
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
. He also launched several hits in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, in collaboration with local turbo-folk singers.
In July 2007, he launched a
music channel
Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from recording artists, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite, cable, or Streaming Platforms.
Music television ...
, ''Party TV'', and in October that year his company received licence for another two music TV channels, one of them, ''Mynele TV'', dedicated to promoting manele.
Since 2008, Costi has acted as producer and songwriter for the
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
girl band Blaxy Girls
Blaxy Girls was a Romanian all-girl rock band from Constanta, formed in 2007. The band consisted of lead singer Rucsandra Iliescu, bassist Cristina Marinescu, guitarist Diana Ganea, pianist Ana Maria Nanu and drummer Gela Marinescu.
The grou ...
. In 2009, he reached the finals of the Romanian selection for the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
with three songs he composed, one sung by himself, one by Blaxy Girls, and the third by another group, IMBA.
[''Costi Ioniţă are trei piese în finala Eurovision'']
Gândul
''Gândul'' (, "The Thought") is a Romanian online newspaper published in Bucharest. It was founded in May 2005 by Mircea Dinescu, who used to write a daily editorial called "Vorba lu' Dinescu", and Cristian Tudor Popescu
Cristian Tudor Popes ...
, 31 January 2009. Accessed on 22 January 2010.
In 2015, Costi became internationally known with the Faydee Sonita song "
Habibi (I Need Your Love)
"Habibi (I Need Your Love)" is a song by Jamaican rapper Shaggy with ensemble of Congolese-Swedish singer Mohombi, Lebanese-Australian singer Faydee and Romanian singer Costi. In a later specially released version targeting English language ma ...
" that was credited to
Shaggy
Shaggy may refer to:
People
*Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer
* Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse
* Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspor ...
,
Mohombi
Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo (born 17 October 1986) is a Congolese-Swedish musician, singer, composer and dancer. He grew up in Norsborg and Kista near Stockholm. Mohombi was RedOne's first signing to 2101 Records in joint venture with Universal Mu ...
,
Faydee
Fady Fatrouni ( ar, فادي فتروني; born 2 February 1987), best known by his stage name Faydee, is an Australian singer of Lebanese descent. He is best known for his 2013 single "Can't Let Go", as well his international hit "Habibi (I Ne ...
and Costi. A revamped version with a title change to "I Need Your Love" credited to Shaggy featuring Mohombi, Faydee and Costi became a hit on various U.S. dance charts and reached #66 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also peaked at #36 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. The song has also charted on many European charts including official singles charts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands and also gained great popularity in the Middle East.
Discography
Singles featured in
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
References
External links
Official Costi Music Production website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ionita, Costi
1978 births
Living people
People from Constanța
Romanian dance musicians
Romanian manele singers
Romanian male pop singers
Romanian record producers
21st-century Romanian male singers
21st-century Romanian singers