Maria Armarghioalei known by the stage name Narghita or Naarghita (14 January 1939 – 26 February 2013) was a Romanian singer and stage performer who sang Indian film songs on tours across Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.
Armarghioalei was born in
Pufești, Vrancea. After the separation of her parents when she was three, she was raised by her maternal grandmother. At nine she moved to Bucharest and began to take dance lessons at the Palatul Pionierilor. In 1956 she joined the ballet group at the
Constantin Tănase
Constantin Tănase (; 5 July 1880 – 29 August 1945) was a Romanian actor and writer for stage, a key figure in the revue style of theater in Romania.
Life
He was born into a working-class family living in a peasant house in Vaslui, Roman ...
theatre while also taking singing lessons. At the theater she saw ''
Awaara'' a film by
Raj Kapoor which was very popular in Romania. She became obsessed with Indian music and began to learn Hindi. She began to sing, wear a Sari and record her music under the stage name of Narghita. In 1967 her show was seen by the visiting Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
who invited her to India. She spent six month in India, meeting Raj Kapoor among others. She gave radio shows and appeared on television and gave numerous performances touring across Europe. From the 1980s she was banned from making foreign tours by
Elena Ceaușescu. She then vanished into obscurity and died in anonymity and poverty in Bucharest.
References
External links
Recording of songs from 1973Another recordingBiography with photographs
{{entertainment-stub
1939 births
2013 deaths
People from Vrancea County
20th-century Romanian women singers