Composer of anti-communist anthem dies at 46

A COMPOSER who inspired Romanians in their struggle against the former communist regime has died aged 46.

Cristian Paturca was heralded as one of Romania's most prominent democracy activists when he wrote Imnul Golanilor or The Hooligans' Hymn in 1990.

The anti-government protesters were branded as "hooligans" by then-president Ion Iliescu. The communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu collapsed in 1989 in a revolution where more than 1,300 people died.

One line from the song, "better dead than a communist," became part of Romania's post-1989 vocabulary. The word "golan" now means a pro-democracy activist as well as a hooligan.

Writer Dan Voina compared the Hooligans' Hymn to the French national anthem La Marseillaise saying: "It had an important role necessary in popular revolts for the solidarity of protesters, pushing them toward a common goal,"