Grigoraș Dinicu

Grigoraș Ionică Dinicu was a Romanian violin virtuoso and composer of Roma ethnicity. He is most famous for his often-played virtuoso violin showpiece "Hora staccato" (1906) and for making popular the tune Ciocârlia, composed by his grandfather Angheluș Dinicu for "nai". It is rumored that Jascha Heifetz once said that Grigoraș Dinicu was the greatest violinist he had ever heard. In the 1930s he was involved in the political movement of the Romanian Roma and was made honorary president of the "General Union of the Romanian Roma". Other well known compositions are: Hora mărțișorului, Ceasornicul and Căruța poștei.

3 April 1889

Born on the same birth day (3 April): Alexander Macomb (general) • Arturo Prat • Boris Miljković • Charles Wilkes • Clairette Oddera • Cobie Smulders • Criss Oliva • Elisabetta Brusa • Emmett Johns • François de Roubaix • Harold Vick • Igor Svyatoslavich • James Smith (boxer) • Leona Lewis • Marlon Brando • Stan Freeman

Born in the same month (April 1889): Adrian Boult • Albert Jean Amateau • Arnold J. Toynbee • Gabriela Mistral • Herbert Yardley • K. B. Hedgewar • Ludwig Wittgenstein • Vicente Ferreira Pastinha