Dana Dragomir
One of the best-selling instrumental artists in Scandinavia, Dana Dragomir became a rarity in the late 20th century: a female professional pan flutist. Known as the Queen of Pan Flute, she has sold millions of albums worldwide with her innovative mix of new age, traditional folk, and pop music. She broke onto the charts in 1991 with her cover of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' "Mio My Mio," which appeared on her Top 30 debut, Fluty Romances, in 1991. Typically mixing original material with traditional folk or classical music, pop songs, and movie themes, Dragomir reappeared in the Top 40 of Sweden's album chart on and off again through 2011's 20: The Best of Me, which reached a career-high number 20. The holiday LP Frost saw release in 2014, with the occasional single appearing over the next decade or so, including a 2022 reworking of the Ennio Morricone theme "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."
The history of the pan flute dates back to Greek mythology, and by modern times, when it became the national instrument of Romania, tradition dictated that it be played only by men. A native of Bucharest, Dragomir attended the elite music schools Dinu Lipatti Music College and George Enescu National Music College for high school, and was already a celebrity in her native Romania by the age of 16. She left home in the mid-'80s, and at 21, negotiated a three-year contract to play in Las Vegas. She visited Sweden for the first time in 1986, and eventually put down roots there. Her first two albums, Från Orup till Bellman (a collaboration with organist/vocalist Merit Hemmingson) and the holiday album Julgitter, followed in the late '80s. (Dragomir had left home during the Ceaușescu regime under the condition that she would return; when she didn't, her parents lost their jobs. She visited for the first time shortly after he was overthrown in the revolution of late 1989.)
Dragomir's commercial breakthrough came in 1991, when her recording of "Mio My Mio," a song written by ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus for the 1987 film Mio in the Land of Faraway, became a hit in Sweden and propelled her second solo album, Fluty Romances, into the Top 30. She followed it with another Top 30 hit, Demiro, in 1992, and partnered with countryman and pan flute superstar Zamfir on 1995's Panflöjts Favoriter. It peaked at number 21 on Sweden's album chart. In the meantime, she gave birth to her first child with husband (and manager) Klas Burling, a radio and TV host known for bringing the Beatles to Sweden in 1963.
EMI Electrola released Dragomir's next album, 1996's PanDana, which topped out at number 41. The following year's I en Kloster Trädgård featured tracks by Andersson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and more, and was followed by 1999's Top 40-charting Pan Is Alive and Well, which included another diverse mix of pop covers, originals, and traditional selections (closing with James Horner's "My Heart Will Go On"). She went to number 22 with 2007's Älskade Svenska Visor, a set of traditional Swedish music. Dragomir then hit a career-high number 20 with the collection 20: The Best of Me, issued in 2011.
The pan flutist resurfaced in 2014 with the Christmas- and winter-themed album Frost. A handful of singles appeared over the next decade, including 2018's "Reach for the Stars" and her 2022 take on the movie theme "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," a track she'd last recorded in the '90s.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Film Soundtracks - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 11 Nov 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pan Is Alive and Well
Pop - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Älskade svenska visor - Beloved Swedish Traditionals
Pop - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 28 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frost - Pan Flute in Wintertime
Christmas Music - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 12 Nov 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dana Dragomir: "20" - The Best of Me
Pop/Rock - Released by Pandana Records on 1 May 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Dana Dragomir, Ennio Morricone
Classical - Released by Pandana Records on 11 Nov 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy New Year
Christmas Music - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 23 Dec 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pan Is Alive and Well
Pop - Released by Pandana Records on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy New Year
Ambient/New Age - Released by Pandana Records on 23 Dec 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spirit of the Light
Classical - Released by Pandana Records on 16 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Älskade svenska visor - Beloved Swedish Traditionals
Folk - Released by Pandana Records on 28 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spirit of the Light
World - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 16 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reach for the Stars
World - Released by Naxos Sweden - Pandana on 2 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reach for the Stars
Classical - Released by Pandana Records on 2 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo