Ion Dumitrache (16 December 1950 – 2 April 2021), artistically and commonly known as Nelu Ploieșteanu, was a Romanian lăutar, singer and

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

r of lăutărească music. He was born on 16 December 1950 in

Ciorani Ciorani is a commune in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. As of 2011, its population was 6,720. It is composed of two villages, Cioranii de Jos and Cioranii de Sus; the former is the administrative centre. The commune is located in the southe ...

, in the (now in the

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/km². It is Romania's third mos ...

), in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Already at age 6, he played the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, and at age 17, he played music for money for the first time on a piano at a wedding. He moved to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in 1970 and worked for 6 months at the Ion Vasilescu Magazine Theater. His artistic career expanded in 1979 when Dumitrache went on a

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After this, more tours to countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain followed. He went on a final international tour in Germany in 1996 and, after that, he stayed in

. Dumitrache released a total of 30 albums during his lifetime. He also collaborated with famous actors such as

Gheorghe Dinică Gheorghe Dinică (; 1 January 1934 – 10 November 2009) was a Romanian actor. Career Dinică showed an early interest in acting, being part of different amateur theater troupes since he was 17. In 1957, he entered The National Institute of Thea ...

Ștefan Iordache Ştefan Iordache (; 3 February 1941 – 14 September 2008) was a Romanian actor. Iordache was born in Calafat. In 2006, he was voted the best actor in Romania. He died, aged 67, in Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = A ...

and sang for the

Ceaușescu family Nicolae Ceaușescu, who led Romania from 1965 to 1989, served as General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party. Ceaușescu had a large family, several members of which wielded influence in Communist Romania. Below are given outlines of his immed ...

and for the former

Presidents of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

and

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservatism, conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions ...

. Ion Dumitrache was married to Elena Dumitrache, with whom he had four daughters and one son. The latter was Mihăiță Dumitrache, who suffered from

spastic quadriplegia Spastic quadriplegia, also known as spastic tetraplegia, is a subset of spastic cerebral palsy that affects all four limbs (both arms and legs). Compared to quadriplegia, spastic tetraplegia is defined by spasticity of the limbs as opposed to s ...

and died on 21 April 2018 at the age of 32. Dumitrache sang publicly for the last time on 8 March 2021, in

Slănic-Moldova Slănic-Moldova, formerly Băile Slănic, is a town and a spa resort in Bacău County, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the s ...

. After this, he was hospitalized at the

Floreasca Hospital Floreasca Hospital ( ro, Spitalul Clinic de Urgență București Floreasca) is a major hospital in Bucharest, Romania. The hospital is specialized in providing emergency medical care. History The Floreasca Hospital is the first institution in Roma ...

in Bucharest after being diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and died there on 2 April. His family claimed that the hospital had mistreated Dumitrache and left him "like a dog", saying they intended to sue the hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ploiesteanu, Nelu 1950 births 2021 deaths People from Prahova County 20th-century Romanian male singers 21st-century Romanian male singers Romanian fiddlers Lăutari and lăutărească music Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania