Motto: “Never forget where you came from, never forget how poor you where in hard times, never forget the many times you cried and had to fight to survive. If you do forget or abandon all those feelings you lie to yourself and lose your true identity. Be proud of your beautifully country, be proud of your language, be proud of your music, and be proud of your way of living. Only then you can be fully proud of yourself as well. I don’t speak Romanian, but I feel Romanian because of my roots and music.” – Gregor Serban Jr. For any Romanian accessing You Tube, there is a magic name, of a magic man and from a magic family, who can make us cry and laugh with his Romanian music. It’s the music of an exiled musician and a family of musicians, who always remained true to their Romanian roots. The musician’s name is Colea Serban.
I got to Colea Serban on You Tube by entering originally the words ‘Romanian music’. The computer considers him synonymous with the beautiful music of our land. We can access from You Tube Colea Serban’s three video presentations: “Sanie Cu Zurgalai” (duet with Harry de Groot), “Doina cu Puica” (duet with Kitty Knappert) and Enescu’s “Rapsodia Romana” (in association with The Netherlands Ballet Company). The orchestration is phenomenal, the presentation is classical and simultaneously virtuoso and the dances are in Moldova’s National ‘Joc’ Dance Ensemble classical folkloric ballet style. With the gracious intercession of Gregor Serban Junior (the posting master of these videos) we can also listen to several radio recordings done by the entire Serban family in Hague, Netherlands, at the address: gserban.hyves.nl/
I have asked for a discussion with Gregor Serban Jr., a wonderful musician in his own right, regarding his memories of his grandfather Andrei, his uncle Colea and his father Gregor Sr. and how Romanian music guided the lives of this family both in Romania and in the Netherlands.
For it was in the Netherlands that the musician family of the Serbans came to live in the 1930’s and which their descendants call home. The Serban family has a tradition of melting royalty with the suave or rhythmical sounds of Romanian music, from the Tsar Nicolas of Russia to the Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. The latter awarded the knighthood in the order of Orange Nassau to Gregory Serban Sr., Colea’s brother, for his genial performances of Romanian and international music.
Gregor Jr.: My father was the Ambassador of Romanian Music. He was born on August 1st in 1909 in Braila and was to become later a distinguished violin player. His father Andrei, was so happy of the birth of his first born son that he partied for 3 days and 3 nights and only after that did he go to the County House to tell the authorities he had a son. So that is why his whole life it was written in his birth certificate and passport that he was born on August 4th 1909, instead of being born on August 1st.
Colea Serban was much younger and was the little brother of my father Gregor Serban Sr. My father Gregor Serban Sr., the violin player, was awarded the knighthood in the order of Orange Nassau in the Year 1985 for his genial performances of Romanian and international music.
My father’s name was Vasile Gheorge Serban but everybody called him Gregor. On an old picture you see the title “Orchestra Vasile Serban” but for the Dutch it was too difficult to remember his name, so soon it was changed into Gregor Serban.
In 1958 Colea had a terrible accident. He learned to play piano with just one hand. Although it was only temporary, it was a serious injury. His middle finger was broken very badly and took a very long time to recover and never was 100% back and he played later on with two hands again and with 10 fingers, but not with the old strength he had before, especially in his middle finger.
On 22 October 1937 my father got very big compliments from Professor Dr. Willem Mengelberg, one of the greatest conductors of classic music in that time. In the 50’s he played for Prince Bernhard for his birthday at the Royal castle in Soestenberg. The Prince thanked him later in a personal letter.
In the War time my father changed his last name from Serban to Serbanescu to survive and stay out of hands of the Nazi regime. The Nazis were hunting for Gregor Serban, the Gipsy Romanian violinist player, but nobody knew Vasile Serbanescu and that name he never changed back until my father got sick and asked me to regain our original family name and change it back from Serbanescu to Serban. That I did in 2002 and our family name is again Serban.
Let me delve further into our family tree: There was Andrei Serban born in 1882 in Viziru and he was married with his wife Iliona Coldolban. They had 5 children: daughter Iliona (was a concert pianist and died at the age of 18 with Tuberculoses), daughter Clementina, son Gregor, daughter Coca, and son Colea. We moved to the Netherlands via Russia and Germany.
In the Netherlands my father married in 1939 with his first wife Lydia who came from white Russia and he had a son called Andrei who was named after his grandfather Andrei, the cimbalom player. Andrei Jr. is until the present time still a violin player and still plays at select restaurants in the Hague.
In 1962 my father separated from his first wife and met my mother in 1963, and then I was born on 24th of January in 1964 and named Gregor Junior. I studied also at the Conservatorium of the Hague, but the best teacher was my father. I am also, like Colea, a piano player.
Colea had a very difficult life. He loved to gamble and gambled too much and was married several times and had two sons – Grischa (died in the 80’s) and his youngest son Remko, who plays guitar and sings and is about my age, 44 years old. Colea died in 1974 after somebody drugged his champagne and he never woke up the day after and died at age 50. He was much too young and it was too early for him to leave us. He loved to live and to play.
My father Gregor died at the age of 88, 3 weeks before what was to be our last performance. We always played together. He was not only my father, but also my best friend. He died of Pancreatic Cancer. I remember his last words: “Gregor, do not forget: you do not only lose a father, but also your best friend” and until today, 10 years after he died on December 12, 1997, I still hear his voice telling me this, and I get tears in my eyes. I still miss my father.
Gabriel Gherasim: How does it feel to come from such a prestigious musical family?
Gregor Jr.: It is an honor to be a part of it, but it’s also very difficult. You have to perform on very high standards, and always practice a lot. Even my father until he died, at age 88, practiced every day minimum 2 hours. “Music keeps you young in body and brain” he said, and that’s so true.
Gabriel Gherasim: In which way did this affect your life?
Gregor Jr.: I had not many friends in my childhood because they all wanted to play outside and I had to study every day indoors. This is what I did until I got 12 years old. After that I did not touch the piano for 3 years and started again at the age of 15. I was pushed too much and it is difficult for a child to compete with the high standards in the family. But after that I loved playing again and played until the age of 33. That’s when my father died. After that I tried to play with other violin players but they were out there to make money and did not love to study. On the other hand, I have to keep up the family name reputation and performance, so I play now only alone with a bass player like Colea did. It is difficult nowadays to get work because we live in a time where there is very little space for Romanian lautari music on the European scene.
Gabriel Gherasim: What does the Romanian music mean for you?
Gregor Jr.: It means for me: life, love, and food, all in one.
Gabriel Gherasim: What does Romania mean for you?
They can reach me at e-mail: gregor.serban.junior@gmail.com.
