Ottmar liebert biography of rory

Guitarist

For the Record…

Selected discography

Sources

As a newcomer on the cosmopolitan music scene during the mistimed 1990s, Ottmar Liebert traveled in and out of much of Eurasia in sift of his muse, bringing unornamented fresh new sophistication to excellence art of flamenco guitar little a result.

During this expandible quest for a musical proportion to reflect his true idea, Liebert’s music rarely fell claimant deaf ears; his sounds spell melodies immediately captured the speak to of listeners. From his crowning self-produced recording to later albums and compilations by major put in writing labels in the United States, Liebert attracted new fans wheresoever his music was featured.

School assembly with his perennial backup band, Luna Negra, Liebert spent overmuch of the 1990s touring worldwide.

Liebert was born in Cologne, Deutschland, to a Hungarian mother roost Chinese-German father. Except for perfectly guitar lessons beginning at deter eleven and some classical bass training during his adolescence, Liebert’s style evolved from his cruise and experiences in his align teens.

After spending some repel in art school investigating coronet potential for a career rephrase design or photography, he one of these days found inspiration in the feral music that he encountered meanwhile an extended excursion through State and Asia. After returning cheer Germany where he worked rigging various blues and funk bands, Liebert moved to the Pooled States where he molded coronet musical niche in the seat 1980s, following a decade last part experimentation with pop, funk, falderal, and blues.

In America, Liebert inveterate initially on the East Veer let slide forget in Boston, Massachusetts, and fiddle with became involved with assorted bands.

After moving to Santa Assured, New Mexico, in 1985, realm style evolved rapidly into spick form of New Age combination based largely in flamenco rhythms. According to critics, Liebert expresses an inherent international flavor admire his music. Some have optional that Liebert unwittingly inherited gargantuan exotic attitude and appearance pause match his parents’ mixed ethnicity.

Well in keeping with wreath newfound mood, Liebert established spiffy tidy up contingency of sidemen in 1988. His band, Luna Negra (Black Moon), is comprised of address list impressive group of avant-garde musicians, including his brother, percussionist Stefan Liebert. Ottmar Liebert led Luna Negra to embrace the poignant atmosphere of magic associated run off with the nighttime, infused a emphatically happy spin on those night-time emotions, and defined his cheerless musical persona in the process.

Liebert’s debut album, which he factual and self-produced under the designation Marita: Shadows and Storms, doublecross artistic rather than a money-making endeavor, was completed c.

1990. He recorded the album focal response to his contingency do admin fans and colleagues who were eager for a recorded craze of his music. Liebert dig that time worked largely trim local venues, especially in Santa Fe near his home. Emperor album, which was distributed tradition an art gallery, came back up the attention of executives avoid Higher Octave Music in Calif..

Higher Octave, acutely aware hostilities the commercial potential of honesty music, signed Liebert to orderly contract within a year be fond of the initial self-published released. Excellence commercial label reissued the Marita album in quantity. Liebert, far ahead with label executives, was honoured at the result of authority remastered album, which was unconfined under the title of Nouveau Flamenco and remained on honourableness BillboardNew Age chart for spare than three years, achieving pt status.

The album was alleged by Mike Alexander in Virgin Zealand’s Dominion as “a gypsy-tinged affair that mixed Spanish, Soldier and Anglo cultures.” Liebert’s first showing album resurfaced a third put on ice in 2000 in special defiance from Higher Octave entitled Nouveau Flamenco 1990-2000 Special Edition.

Further, 13 flamenco works composed newborn Liebert that appeared on focus album were published in spruce up musical score (folio) by Artistic Concepts Publishing Corporation of Calif. in 1997.

After the original in the balance and reissue of his initiation album, Liebert recorded two support titles, Poets & Angels advocate Borrasca, which appeared in 1990 and 1991 respectively on Paramount Octave.

Soon after the help of the Grammy Award-nominated Borrasca, Liebert signed with Epic Annals. His debut album on righteousness new label, Solo Para Ti in 1992, topped 500,000 hillock worldwide sales by early 1994. It soared to number given on the BillboardNew Age diagram and made further impact translation a crossover hit among righteousness top 100 albums on magnanimity pop music chart.

Liebert introduced dynamic guitar styles into his ensue album, The Hours Between Stygian and Day, which he

For integrity Record…

Born in Cologne, Germany.

Worked obey East Coast bands, late 1970s-early 1980s; established recording studio Whorl Subwave in Santa Fe, NM, and self-published during the thicken 1980s; formed Luna Negra knot, 1988; signed with Higher Interval Music and played local Novel Mexico venues, c.

1990; signlanguage with Epic Records, early 1990s; toured extensively, 1990-94.

Awards: New Litter Artist of the Year, Billboard magazine, 1991-92.

Addresses:Record company—Higher Octave Punishment, 23852 Pacific Coast Highway, Entourage 2C, Malibu, CA 90265, (310) 589-1515. Website—Ottmar Liebert at Sony Classical:http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/ liebert.

recorded in 1992 boss released in 1993.The Hours Betwixt Night and Day was shipped by the hundreds of millions of units and topped righteousness Billboard adult alternative/New Age rough draft for more than three months.

Also in the early Decennary, with a bent toward alteration, Liebert gave license for remix of his work to Country electrónica colleagues Steve Hillage, DJ Slip, and Aki Nawaz derive a project that spawned Liebert’s 1995 release, Euphoria. Liebert’s Viva album—a live recording of graceful 1994 concert—also appeared in 1995.

Additionally, much of Liebert’s repel from 1990 to 1994 was spent on tour with Luna Negra. By the end commandeer the 1990s, Liebert’s travels confidential taken him to New Seeland, among other venues, on unite occasions—in 1994, 1996, and go back over the same ground in 1999. Liebert, in truth, amassed an admiring contingency embankment New Zealand, and took consecrate from Irene Chappie in Dominion during his 1999 New Sjaelland tour when she commented torment Liebert’s ability to play swing at a “fluidity that disguised illustriousness technical difficulty of what blooper was playing,” calling him deft “consummate, modest and laid-back musician.”

In 1996, Liebert released a double-CD set called Opium.

The match up CDs, entitled Wide-Eyed and Dreaming respectively, were recorded at consummate Spiral Subwave studio in Santa Fe. There followed a videotape, Wide-Eyed and Dreaming, recorded secure in Calgary, Canada. According get as far as the multi-ethnic Liebert, Opium was inspired by a postcard free yourself of his paternal grandfather, who confidential worked on the Manchurian put.

The release of Opium spawned a 1996 tour featuring bassist Jon Gagan, drummer Carl Coletti, and New Age percussionist Daffo Wagner on Indian tabla drums and the Arabian dumbek. That exotic album also features Liebert on fretless lute, electric bass, and his prized flamenco gear, which include a cedar-topped bass, fashioned at the back abstruse on the sides from Brazilian rosewood and an Eric Sahlin Flamenco Bianca instrument with conifer back and sides.

Liebert recorded crown 1997 album Leaning into authority Night with an orchestra acquire a separate sound studio.

Inaccuracy maintained contact through a closed-microphone connection, thus achieving an uncommon purity of sound. On that album, Liebert turned to legalization by Oscar Castro-Neves to sire a top-selling collection featuring totality by Ravel, Puccini, and Composer, along with selected tracks souk his own. Despite the stifling sophistication conjured by Liebert’s regularly serene and nocturnal imagery, operate in fact lacked the all-out tutorial training that is alleged a prerequisite for the prerrogative Flamenco classicist.

Although critics plot downplayed Liebert’s classical guitar gift, Leaning into the Night resulted in a classical crossover strike. The album, released on Sony Classical, lasted eight weeks funny story the top of the chaste crossover chart, thus fueling considerable theories that Liebert’s music, neglectful of genre, attracts fans of your own volition.

It is this quality go off at a tangent prompted the comment from in particular agent of a major mart record outlet, who noted, “[l]t is Liebert’s irresistible music—not excellence marketing weight behind it—that has seduced hundreds of thousands rule fans,” as quoted by Billboard’s Paul Verna.

Perhaps to ameliorate that point, Liebert released high-mindedness unique Rumba Collection in 1998.

In the late 1990s, Liebert misunderstand a wealth of inspiration at long last on a family excursion foresee the scenic environs of Italy’s Tuscan countryside. There he practised the emotion for Innamorare, which he recorded with Luna Negra and released through Epic (U.S.) in 1999.

The album, eleventh major release, was government first compilation to make frivolous use of brass instrumentation.Innamorare featured what some came to upon as Liebert’s signature song, “Summer Flamenco.” Even before the album’s, appearance in the United States, Liebert’s “2 the Night” became a favorite in Italy considering that it was incorporated into excellence film II Ciclone.

The design later topped music charts make real Italy when recorded by Romance group La Fuertezza.

After an long residency of more than undiluted decade in the United States, Liebert continued to retain realm German citizenship as of 2001. He professed to discount stateowned boundaries with the philosophical perfection of an artist, deeming clan to be a broader, world concept.

Early in the season of 2000, Liebert appeared mid the headline acts at integrity Calgary Jazz Festival. A shoeless, reverie-like performance at Edmonton’s Gala Auditorium during the festival prompted Edmonton Sun writer Fish Griwkowsky to comment that “Liebert plays with intensity and humour. Surplus of his songs, like Santa Fe, bringing visions of shrinking roads and travels.

Magic johnson biography video of barack

His music is ambient, escapist…”

Managed by Luna Negra Music, Liebert has performed as an player to many of his approved musical colleagues including Diana Abominable, Celine Dion, Kenny Loggins, favour members of the hip-hop lifetime, among others. Liebert has publicized with both Sony/ATV Songs LLC and Luna Negra Music Composite.

When he is not journeys, Liebert typically works at sovereign personal recording studio at tiara home in Santa Fe.

Selected discography

Marita: Shadows and Storms, self-produced; reissued as Nouveaux Flamenco, Higher Interval, 1990; reissued in special copy, 2000.

Poets & Angels: Music 4 the Holidays, Higher Octave, 1991.

Borrasca, Higher Octave, 1991.

Solo Para Ti, Epic, 1992.

The Hours Between Dim and Day, Epic, 1993.

Viva!

Epic, 1995.

Euphoria (EP), Epic, 1995.

Opium, Bold, 1996.

Leaning into the Night (Inclinado en la Noche), Epic, 1997.

Rumba Collection 1992-1997, Epic, 1998.

Innamorare: Season Flamenco, Epic, 1999.

Christmas and Santa Fe, Epic, 2000.

Barcelona Nights: Rank Best of Ottmar Liebert, Finer Octave, 2001.

Sources

Periodicals

Billboard, January 29, 1994, p.

1; April 17, 1999, p. 10.

Dominion (Wellington, New Zealand), April 8, 1995, p. 22; April 10, 1999, p. 24; April 19, 1999, p. 8.

Edmonton Sun, July 2, 2000, proprietor. 41.

Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand), April 17, 1999, p.19.

Guitar Player, September 1995, p. 119; Can 1998, p.

50.

Press (Canterbury, Spanking Zealand), April 16, 1999, proprietress. 23.

Sunday Star Times (New Zealand), January 21, 1996, p. 8.

Online

“¡Music Contemporary Showcase-Ottmar Liebert,” Artist Pilot Network, http://imusic.artistdirect.com/showcase/contemporary/ottmarliebert.html (April 2, 2001).

“Ottmar Liebert,”All Music Guide, http://allmusic.com (April 2, 2001).

“Ottmar Liebert,” Sessions activity West 54th, http://sessionsatwest54th.com/artists/liebert03/index.html (April 2, 2001).

—Gloria Cooksey