METRONOM 70s. Cornel Chiriac in Security documents

Contents / 5
Preface / 7
From the author / 9
I. Nelu or Cornel Chiriac / 11
II. Short foray into the ambiance of those years / 16
III. The long line of Cornel 's hobbies / 21
* Cornel - "composer" and drummer / 21
* Cornel - theater actor / 22
* Cornel - „plastic artist” / 25
* Cornel - „photographer” / 27
* Cornel - „philatelist” / 28
* Cornel - „poet” / 29
IV. Cornel's periods: / 34
* "Satisfaction" / 34
* "Let's be grotesque" / 36
* "Bizarre" / 37
* Cornel „rebel” / 39
V. Jazz is our life or "Some people like jazz" / 44
VI. "Une voix du Kloakan" and "Jazz ‑ Cool": the story of a manuscript and non-clandestine magazine / 63
VII. Jazz club at the Student House in Bucharest / 93
VIII. Source "F": travel by intercepted correspondence / 97
IX. Agents and their informative notes: "Foundries" / 114
X. The personal file of agent Nelu / 143
XI. Radio Bucharest 98.3 FM: "Let's rediscover Cornel Chiriac", a show by Sorin Mihai Savin / 152
XII. Assumptions and certainties related to the assassination of Cornel Chiriac / 160
XIII. The origin of the name of the show "Metronome" / 167
XIV. Legends about Cornel Chiriac / 170
XV. Cornel Chiriac's employment at Radio and not only / 175
XVI. Interview with Gerlinde Schuster (Linda), Cornel's fiancée / 181
XVII. Interview with Florina, Cornel Chiriac's sister-in-law / 195
XVIII. Imaginary conversation with Cornel Chiriac / 198
XIX. People I knew / 205
* Janci Körössy / 205
* Marius Simi Popp / 209
* Cristian Mac Colan / 210
* Johnny Raducanu / 217
Epilogue / 221
Testimonies / 225
Name index / 230

In September 2014, Plastic People Of The Universe, the Prague rock group linked to Vaclav Havel and Charta ’77, performed in Bucharest, and in a month an edition of the show “Mysteries and conspiracies” dedicated to Cornel Chiriac was filmed on TVR 2. Two echoes of music with an anti-communist message from years ago. Coincidentally, between the two events I met Mircea Udrescu, to write these lines. In my turn, 14 years ago, I made my first documentary show "Remix" about Cornel Chiriac for TVR 2, not at all easy, because the character was still immersed in the underground.
Cornel Chiriac, one of Romania's unique and unrepeatable characters, has undoubtedly marked our recent history. As a music editor at Radio Bucharest, he contributed to the promotion of generic music entitled young (jazz, then rock), broadcasting - when the policy of the communist regime allowed it only within strict limits - musical events, including from the free world. Moreover, Cornel Chiriac helped Romanian musicians, as much as he could, to get informed - see the "Jazz ‑ Cool" samizdat, articles published in the country or abroad - and promoted them in all possible ways (Radio Bucharest, the club jazz from the Student House ...). When he could no longer do so in the country, he took refuge in Germany, from where he continued his mission - this time without constraints - from the microphone of the "Europa Libera" radio station. In a short time, Cornel Chiriac became not only an avid commentator of young music for a whole world, but also a true symbol of the idea of ​​freedom, in a face-to-face struggle with the communist regime. His trajectory, retrospectively speaking, is confused since life with the legend. Being not only contemporary but also in connection (sometimes of close friendship) with Romanian personalities, but also international ones (from Mihail Andricu, George Balan and Janci Körössy to Willis Conover and Noël Bernard - you have a few episodes of kinogram) gives him today a the aura of a guru, which the Securitate could not ignore or tolerate.
In the third book about Cornel Chiriac, his good childhood friend Mircea Udrescu continues his recovery, retrocession and clarification of his "life and work". This time from another perspective, that of the Securitate documents in the CNSAS archive. In the spirit of other such works, the tracking, interception and raiding machinery used by the Securitate is revealed. The book has sometimes harsh, sometimes ridiculous accents, as every man employed in the "holy place" system. I am convinced that not all the documents regarding Cornel Chiriac could be researched; probably some of them are still secret.
hanks to this volume, we now know more about how the famous show "Metronom" by Cornel Chiriac and Geo Limbasanu appeared, about Cornel's departure from the country ... The names of the "casting" agents are not revealed, I am not even interested as they did not concern the author either. Appreciate the impressive work of consulting documents, decrypting and interpreting them, remaking a puzzle whose final image, even if not yet fully known, continues to fade, to transpire. Fans will be happy to learn more about Cornel Chiriac the man - bohemian, adored by so many people, with passions, excesses, introverts. The cultural society of Bucharest in the '60s and' 70s is revived, all in a unique balance of orality and dry documents (sometimes with the corresponding humor - let's call it black or sad?), Culminating with Chiriac's informant file: attempt (subject to failure from the start) to distort his image of lucid conscience, protesting against the regime. Unfortunately, after four decades, his assassination remains another enigma. Otherwise, the rock period, so rich in shows and listeners, remains a tribute to the book. However, it is to be appreciated the completion of some chapters from the previous volumes; as the distribution of books was limited, I am equally pleased with their reiteration, providing the necessary information both to his old fans scattered around the world, and to today's young people, lost in the media. And through this new book by Mircea Udrescu, that terrible child in the shadow of music, Cornel Chiriac, emerges, again, in the light.

Doru Ionescu,
TVR journalist