Phoenix

Phoenix (also known as Trupa Phoenix in Romania) or for a short time Sfinții ( The Saints) is a Romanian rock band formed in 1962 in Timișoara by guitarists Nicu Covaci and Kamocsa Béla. Guitarist Claudiu Rotaru, vocalist Florin "Moni" Bordeianu and drummer Ioan "Pilu" Ștefanovici completed the early lineup. The group became famous in Romania in the 1970s when it started fusing their 1960s rock and roll sound with traditional folk music, thus pioneering the "ethno rock" subgenre.

After gaining popularity in Romania during the so-called British Invasion in the mid-1960s, the group changed its style to integrate Romanian folklore elements after vocalist Florin "Moni" Bordeianu emigrated to the United States. A new LP was released in 1972 and the band represented Romania in various Eastern Bloc music festivals throughout the 1970s. The group disbanded in 1977, when they illegally fled to West Germany. Latter attempts to regroup the members, both in West Germany and in Romania after 1990, failed to achieve the original success. They have been estimated to have sold over 2 million albums in Romania.