[1][2] Zamfir came to the public eye when he was approached by Swiss ethnomusicologist Marcel Cellier, who extensively researched Romanian folk music in the 1960s.

Largely through television commercials where he was billed as "Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute", he introduced the folk instrument to a modern audience and revived it from obscurity.

[citation needed] He changed the composition of the band soon after: Efta Botoca (violin), Marin Chisar (flutes), Dorin Ciobaru and Pavel Cebzan (clarinet and tarogato), Vasile Pandelescu (accordion), Petre Vidrean (bass) and Pantelimon Stînga (cymbalum).

[citation needed] While the Philips recordings of that time were rather conservative, Zamfir preached revolution in the concert halls with daring performances.

Zamfir put himself on the world map and since then his career became highly varied, hovering over classical repertoire, easy listening and pop music.

[5] Zamfir's big break in the English-speaking world came when the BBC religious television program, The Light of Experience, adopted his recording of "Doina De Jale", a traditional Romanian funeral song, as its theme.

[7] His 1985 album, Atlantis, contained tracks composed by Jacques Brel and Eric Satie, plus music from films and Zamfir's version of "Stranger on the Shore".

[8] The program included a world premiere of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for pan flute and string quintet arranged by Lucian Moraru, jazz standards, and well-known favorites.

[9] Zamfir played "Silent Night" at the opening of Concerto di Natale (The Christmas Concert) on 15 December 2018 at the Vatican Aula Jean Paul the II.

He was asked by Ennio Morricone to perform the pieces "Childhood Memories" and "Cockeye's Song" for the soundtrack of Sergio Leone's 1984 gangster film Once Upon a Time in America.