Biography

Dorin Liviu Chubby Zaharia (Romanian pronunciation: [doˈrin ˈlivju zahaˈri.a]; September 25, 1944 – December 3, 1987) was a Romanian musician, composer, poet, essayist, and philosopher.

A "completely unclassifiable", "nearly mythical figure", Zaharia was an autodidact in all he undertook (he studied for about two years at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, and another two at the Faculty of Philosophy, without completing any of them).Nicknamed "Chubby" (sometimes spelled as Ciabi) by his peers in the Popa Nan neighborhood because of his propensity to imitate Chubby Checker, Zaharia was the lead singer of Olympic '64, arguably one of the first Romanian bands interested in mixing Romanian folklore music with the popular music of the 1960s. Together with the other band members he composed the rock suites Decameronul focului alb ("The White Fire's Decameron", 1969) and Karma Kaliyuga (1971), but both are now considered lost, as no recordings have survived.

Zaharia was interested in Indian philosophy and mysticism, and he became the spiritual leader, the "shaman", of a group of friends, the so-called Group of Seven (consisting of Ioan Petru Culianu, Dorin Liviu Zaharia, Şerban Anghelescu, Dumitru Radu Popa, Victor Ivanovici, Silviu Angelescu şi Paul Drogeanu). Zaharia was used as a model by Ioan Petru Culianu in two short stories, Oglinda ovală ("The Oval Mirror",1970) and Istoria III ("History III, 1971).