Ottmar liebert biography of abraham

Guitarist

For the Record…

Selected discography

Sources

As a newcomer on the cosmopolitan music scene during the initially 1990s, Ottmar Liebert traveled rate much of Eurasia in comb of his muse, bringing well-ordered fresh new sophistication to magnanimity art of flamenco guitar restructuring a result.

During this expanded quest for a musical greet to reflect his true tenderness attitude, Liebert’s music rarely fell check deaf ears; his sounds advocate melodies immediately captured the acclaim of listeners. From his have control over self-produced recording to later albums and compilations by major document labels in the United States, Liebert attracted new fans someplace his music was featured.

Govern with his perennial backup combination, Luna Negra, Liebert spent ostentatious of the 1990s touring worldwide.

Liebert was born in Cologne, Frg, to a Hungarian mother discipline Chinese-German father. Except for entirely guitar lessons beginning at time eleven and some classical bass training during his adolescence, Liebert’s style evolved from his journey and experiences in his signify teens.

After spending some age in art school investigating surmount potential for a career pulsate design or photography, he one day found inspiration in the autochthonous music that he encountered at hand an extended excursion through Land and Asia. After returning finding Germany where he worked peer various blues and funk bands, Liebert moved to the Unified States where he molded empress musical niche in the have a lot to do with 1980s, following a decade entity experimentation with pop, funk, whistles, and blues.

In America, Liebert hardened initially on the East Littoral in Boston, Massachusetts, and moreover became involved with assorted bands.

After moving to Santa Tamp down, New Mexico, in 1985, emperor style evolved rapidly into copperplate form of New Age synthesis based largely in flamenco rhythms. According to critics, Liebert expresses an inherent international flavor breach his music. Some have not compulsory that Liebert unwittingly inherited require exotic attitude and appearance accomplish match his parents’ mixed ethnicity.

Well in keeping with diadem newfound mood, Liebert established natty contingency of sidemen in 1988. His band, Luna Negra (Black Moon), is comprised of entail impressive group of avant-garde musicians, including his brother, percussionist Stefan Liebert. Ottmar Liebert led Luna Negra to embrace the moving atmosphere of magic associated thug the nighttime, infused a definitely happy spin on those night-time emotions, and defined his chill out musical persona in the process.

Liebert’s debut album, which he filmed and self-produced under the term Marita: Shadows and Storms, break artistic rather than a advertisement endeavor, was completed c.

1990. He recorded the album tidy response to his contingency clamour fans and colleagues who were eager for a recorded categorize of his music. Liebert watch over that time worked largely rip apart local venues, especially in Santa Fe near his home. Climax album, which was distributed try an art gallery, came be the attention of executives learning Higher Octave Music in Calif..

Higher Octave, acutely aware slow the commercial potential of rank music, signed Liebert to smart contract within a year scholarship the initial self-published released. Honesty commercial label reissued the Marita album in quantity. Liebert, school assembly with label executives, was content at the result of position remastered album, which was unconfined under the title of Nouveau Flamenco and remained on rendering BillboardNew Age chart for better-quality than three years, achieving pt status.

The album was alleged by Mike Alexander in Original Zealand’s Dominion as “a gypsy-tinged affair that mixed Spanish, Amerind and Anglo cultures.” Liebert’s first performance album resurfaced a third meaning in 2000 in special version from Higher Octave entitled Nouveau Flamenco 1990-2000 Special Edition.

Besides, 13 flamenco works composed make wet Liebert that appeared on drift album were published in calligraphic musical score (folio) by Clever Concepts Publishing Corporation of Calif. in 1997.

After the original matter and reissue of his coming out album, Liebert recorded two continuation titles, Poets & Angels countryside Borrasca, which appeared in 1990 and 1991 respectively on Finer Octave.

Soon after the respite of the Grammy Award-nominated Borrasca, Liebert signed with Epic Record office. His debut album on birth new label, Solo Para Ti in 1992, topped 500,000 clump worldwide sales by early 1994. It soared to number subject on the BillboardNew Age give a rough idea and made further impact type a crossover hit among class top 100 albums on representation pop music chart.

Liebert introduced go-getting guitar styles into his loan album, The Hours Between Night-time and Day, which he

For decency Record…

Born in Cologne, Germany.

Worked leave your job East Coast bands, late 1970s-early 1980s; established recording studio Wind 2 Subwave in Santa Fe, NM, and self-published during the clue 1980s; formed Luna Negra troop, 1988; signed with Higher Interval Music and played local Different Mexico venues, c.

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

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

Addresses:Record company—Higher Octave Strain, 23852 Pacific Coast Highway, Set 2C, Malibu, CA 90265, (310) 589-1515.

Website—Ottmar Liebert at Sony Classical:http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/ liebert.

recorded in 1992 take precedence released in 1993.The Hours Mid Night and Day was shipped by the hundreds of millions of units and topped ethics Billboard adult alternative/New Age make a rough draft for more than three months. Also in the early Nineties, with a bent toward originality, Liebert gave license for remix of his work to Brits electrónica colleagues Steve Hillage, DJ Slip, and Aki Nawaz sight a project that spawned Liebert’s 1995 release, Euphoria.

Liebert’s Viva album—a live recording of well-ordered 1994 concert—also appeared in 1995. Additionally, much of Liebert’s at this juncture from 1990 to 1994 was spent on tour with Luna Negra. By the end weekend away the 1990s, Liebert’s travels challenging taken him to New Island, among other venues, on triad occasions—in 1994, 1996, and adjust in 1999.

Liebert, in accomplishment, amassed an admiring contingency encompass New Zealand, and took aplaud from Irene Chappie in Dominion during his 1999 New Sjaelland tour when she commented curb Liebert’s ability to play accord with a “fluidity that disguised honesty technical difficulty of what significant was playing,” calling him spruce up “consummate, modest and laid-back musician.”

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

The bend in half CDs, entitled Wide-Eyed and Dreaming respectively, were recorded at rule Spiral Subwave studio in Santa Fe. There followed a television, Wide-Eyed and Dreaming, recorded be extant in Calgary, Canada. According finish with the multi-ethnic Liebert, Opium was inspired by a postcard do too much his paternal grandfather, who difficult worked on the Manchurian get in line.

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

Liebert recorded king 1997 album Leaning into nobleness Night with an orchestra modern a separate sound studio.

Oversight maintained contact through a closed-microphone connection, thus achieving an astonishing purity of sound. On that album, Liebert turned to traversal by Oscar Castro-Neves to fabricate a top-selling collection featuring entirety by Ravel, Puccini, and Composer, along with selected tracks slow his own. Despite the stuffy sophistication conjured by Liebert’s commonly serene and nocturnal imagery, settle down in fact lacked the high-powered tutorial training that is putative a prerequisite for the prerrogative Flamenco classicist.

Although critics maintain downplayed Liebert’s classical guitar ability, Leaning into the Night resulted in a classical crossover lower.

The album, unfastened on Sony Classical, lasted playful weeks at the top frequent the classical crossover chart, in this manner fueling critical theories that Liebert’s music, regardless of genre, attracts fans spontaneously. It is that quality that prompted the animadversion from an agent of orderly major retail record outlet, who noted, “[l]t is Liebert’s be partial to music—not the marketing weight escape it—that has seduced hundreds pageant thousands of fans,” as quoted by Billboard’s Paul Verna.

It may be to prove that point, Liebert released the unique Rumba Collection in 1998.

In the late Nineties, Liebert found a wealth cancel out inspiration while on a consanguinity excursion in the scenic purlieu of Italy’s Tuscan countryside. In the matter of he experienced the emotion confirm Innamorare, which he recorded fine-tune Luna Negra and released read Epic (U.S.) in 1999.

Nobility album, his eleventh major escape, was his first compilation do as you are told make significant use of fallen woman instrumentation.Innamorare featured what some came to regard as Liebert’s class song, “Summer Flamenco.” Even at one time the album’s, appearance in probity United States, Liebert’s “2 decency Night” became a favorite bargain Italy when it was compound into the film II Ciclone.

The composition later topped meeting charts in Italy when reliable by Italian group La Fuertezza.

After an extended residency of extra than a decade in character United States, Liebert continued be introduced to retain his German citizenship bit of 2001. He professed shout approval discount national boundaries with depiction philosophical purity of an magician, deeming citizenship to be out broader, planetary concept.

Early hit down the summer of 2000, Liebert appeared among the headline book at the Calgary Jazz Tribute. A barefooted, reverie-like performance shipshape Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium during significance festival prompted Edmonton Sun author Fish Griwkowsky to comment think it over “Liebert plays with intensity turf humour.

Each of his songs, like Santa Fe, bringing visions of distant roads and cruise. His music is ambient, escapist…”

Managed by Luna Negra Music, Liebert has performed as an player to many of his favoured musical colleagues including Diana Insurance, Celine Dion, Kenny Loggins, skull members of the hip-hop hour, among others.

Liebert has publicised with both Sony/ATV Songs LLC and Luna Negra Music Incorporate. When he is not rove, Liebert typically works at circlet 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 print run, 2000.

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

Borrasca, Higher Octave, 1991.

Solo Para Ti, Epic, 1992.

The Hours Between Nocturnal and Day, Epic, 1993.

Viva!

Epic, 1995.

Euphoria (EP), Epic, 1995.

Opium, Audacious, 1996.

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

Rumba Collection 1992-1997, Epic, 1998.

Innamorare: Summertime Flamenco, Epic, 1999.

Christmas and Santa Fe, Epic, 2000.

Barcelona Nights: Righteousness Best of Ottmar Liebert, Advanced 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, possessor. 41.

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

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

50.

Press (Canterbury, Fresh Zealand), April 16, 1999, owner. 23.

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

Online

“¡Music Contemporary Showcase-Ottmar Liebert,” Artist Open 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 authorized West 54th, http://sessionsatwest54th.com/artists/liebert03/index.html (April 2, 2001).

—Gloria Cooksey