Ottmar Liebert

Last updated
Ottmar Liebert
OttmarLiebert 20180913.jpg
Liebert in 2018
Background information
Born (1959-02-01) 1 February 1959 (age 65)
Cologne, West Germany
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1989–present
Labels
Website www.ottmarliebert.com

Ottmar Liebert (born 1 February 1959) is a German guitarist, songwriter and producer best known for his Spanish-influenced music. A five-time Grammy Award nominee, Liebert has received 38 Gold and Platinum certifications in the United States, as well as certifications in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. His debut album Nouveau Flamenco (1990) was certified Platinum in the United States.

Contents

Early life

Ottmar Liebert was born 1 February 1959 in Cologne, West Germany, to a Chinese-German father and a Hungarian mother. As a child, he spent most of his time travelling throughout Europe and Asia with his family. He began playing classical guitar at 11, and studying flamenco guitar at 14, after he "found a Flamenco LP in the bargain bin at a local supermarket." [1] After performing rock music in his native Germany, he moved to the United States and settled in Boston for a few years, performing in various rock clubs. [2] In 1986 Liebert settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he began looking to create a new musical sound. [3] [4]

Liebert cites musical influences such as "Carlos Santana, Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp and Jeff Beck, others were horn players like Miles Davis," although he cites "others yet were fine artists who taught me about space and brush strokes and dynamics and contrast." [1]

Music career

A Lester DeVoe owned by Ottmar Liebert Lester DeVoe guitar.jpg
A Lester DeVoe owned by Ottmar Liebert

In 1988, Liebert founded the first incarnation of his band Luna Negra (black moon). That year he recorded a self-produced album titled Marita: Shadows and Storms. [5] The initial thousand copies were sold in the gallery of Santa Fe artist Frank Howell. When the record found its way to radio stations and began generating a response among listeners, Higher Octave Music picked it up and released a remastered version titled Nouveau Flamenco (1990). [5] The album eventually sold double-platinum in the United States.

Liebert followed up his debut with several successful albums that continued and expanded his sound, including Borrasca (1991), Solo Para Ti (1992) and The Hours Between Night + Day (1993), [5] all three earning Gold certification. Liebert's international success continued with ¡Viva! (1995) and Opium (1996), both of which earned Platinum status in the United States and Latin America.

Liebert has recorded with Luna Negra since 1989. Personnel in the band have changed regularly since then, with the only constant being bassist Jon Gagan.

Since 1990, Ottmar Liebert has released a total of 25 albums including live releases, Christmas CDs, 15 CDs of original music, a DVD, and various remixes. He has received 38 Gold and Platinum certifications in the US as well as certifications in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

In 2006, Liebert contributed his song "This Spring Release 10,000 Butterflies" to the album project Artists for Charity - Guitarists 4 the Kids, produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged kids in need. [6]

Nouveau Flamenco

Liebert describes his musical style as "Nouveau Flamenco." In a 2004 interview, Liebert explained that once he was signed to a record label, he was required to come up with a name for what he was doing. Although there are flamenco elements to his music, it's nothing like traditional flamenco, being based on melody and using much simpler forms. As this music couldn't be considered jazz, rock, or classical, he felt that flamenco was the closest word to use that people could identify with. [7]

Liebert drew some criticism with his adoption of the term, especially since according to critics, none of his works to date followed traditional flamenco palo forms. It was also perceived by some as a marketing ploy and an attempt to associate his music with the then burgeoning school of "Flamenco Nuevo", where acknowledged flamenco artists had started to rejuvenate and reinvent flamenco through the introduction of influences from Latin America (e.g. the Rumba rhythm) and even jazz music. Paco de Lucia was one such critic. [8] [9] Despite Liebert's citing Paco as an influence, [9] Paco described Liebert's music as "una degeneración, una caricatura del flamenco" (literally, "a degeneration, a caricature"). [9] However, Paco later seemed to appreciate Liebert's music, with Paco's record company even mentioning him in promotional materials. [9]

Personal life

Since 1986 Liebert has lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In May 2006 Liebert was ordained as a Zen monk by Dennis Genpo Merzel at the Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. [3] [10]

Awards

Discography

Studio albums

YearAlbumCertificationCharts, awards and nominations
1989Marita: Shadows & Storms
1990 Nouveau Flamenco
  • Platinum - US
  • 14× Platinum - US Latin
  • Platinum - New Zealand
  • Gold - Canada
  • Gold - Mexico
1990Poets & Angels: Music 4 the Holidays
No.TitleLength
1."Deck the Halls"3:09
2."Angels We Have Heard On High/High on Hope"4:05
3."Poets & Angels"3:13
4."Little Drummer Boy/Luna Negra Beat"4:30
5."1st Nowell"5:04
6."Shepherd's Nite Watch"3:04
7."Away in a Manger/Island X'mas (4 Bok Yun)"3:40
8."Festival (Of 7 Lights)"2:52
9."Jingle Bells"3:41
10."O X'mas Tree (4 Anna + Barthelomaus)"2:07
11."Starry Nite (March Of Kings)"4:52
12."Morning Glory"2:29
13."Silent Nite"3:08
14."We 3 Kings (Of Orient R)/Santa Fe X'mas"3:19
15."O Holy Nite"4:57
  • 2× Platinum - US Latin
1991Borrasca
No.TitleLength
1."Isla Del Sol"3:44
2."August Moon"4:11
3."In The Hands Of Love"4:43
4."Dancing Under The Moon"4:38
5."Twilight In Galisteo"5:03
6."La Rosa Negra"4:25
7."Borrasca"3:34
8."Bullfighter's Dream"3:43
9."Thru The Trees/Cloudless Sky"3:57
10."La Aurora"4:08
11."Driving 2 Madrid (B4 The Storm)"4:08
12."The Storm Sings"3:59
13."Night In Granada"3:52
14."1st Rain/Cry Of Faith"4:32
15."Bajo La Luna Mix"6:19
  • Gold - US
  • 4× Platinum - US Latin
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
1992Solo Para Ti
  • Gold - US
  • 2× Platinum - US Latin
  • Gold - Canada
1993The Hours Between Night + Day
  • Gold - US
  • 2× Platinum - US Latin
  • Gold - Canada
  • Gold - New Zealand
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
1995Euphoria
No.TitleLength
1."Lush (La Calypso Mix/Edit)"4:53
2."Havana Club (The Latin Mix)"5:19
3."Lone Rider A"6:45
4."Slip"4:36
5."Havana Club (The Suspended Mix)"6:59
6."Lone Rider B"6:04
7."Lush (La Calypso Mix)"9:35
  • Gold - US Latin
1995¡Viva!
  • Platinum - US Latin
1996 Opium
  • Platinum - US Latin
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
1997Leaning Into the Night (Inclinado en la Noche)
  • Gold - US Latin
1999Innamorare: Summer Flamenco
  • Gold - US Latin
2000Nouveau Flamenco: 1990-2000 Special Tenth Anniversary Edition
  • Platinum - US Latin
2000Christmas + Santa Fe
2001Little Wing
2002In the Arms of Love: Lullabies 4 Children + Adults
2003The Santa Fe Sessions
20033 is 4 Good Luck [N 1]
2003Euphoria: Nouveaumatic
2004La Semana
2005Winter Rose: Music Inspired by the Holidays
2005Tears in the Rain
2006One Guitarnominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
2008Up Close
2008The Scent of Light
No.TitleLength
1."Up Close: Beginning"6:40
2."Streetlight (Marseille, August 1999)"7:41
3."Silence: No More Longing (Utah, May 2005)"11:04
4."Firelight (Granada, February 1992)"8:37
5."Morning Light (Kham, October 2006)"5:12
6."The River: Writing in Water (India, November 1978)"7:59
7."Candlelight (Xiao Rem, February 2008)"9:37
8."Three Days Without You"6:49
9."Moonlight (Köln, April 2007)"5:11
10."Up Close: Embrace"5:37
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
2010Petals on the Path
2011Santa Fe
2012Dune
2014three-oh-five
2015Waiting n Swan
2016slow
2018The Complete Santa Fe Sessions
No.TitleLength
1."Borrasca"1:37
2."Isla del Sol"3:57
3."Barcelona Nights"4:37
4."Reaching Out 2 U"5:42
5."Havana Club"4:21
6."Dancing Under the Moon"4:56
7."Snakecharmer"7:17
8."Sao Paulo"5:55
9."Song 4 Pablo"4:07
10."Turkish Night"5:50
11."2 the Night"3:43
12."La Rosa Negra"3:32
13."Heart Still/Beating"5:12
14."Santa Fe"3:32
15."Morning Arrival in Goa"6:27
2019Fete

Compilations

Singles

Produced albums

Videos

Other compilation appearances

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RIAA certification</span> Sales certification from the Recording Industry Association of America

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) operates an awards program based on the certified number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards. Certification is not automatic; for an award to be made, the record label must first request certification. The audit is conducted against net shipments after returns, which includes albums sold directly to retailers and one-stops, direct-to-consumer sales and other outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomatito</span> Musical artist

José Fernández Torres, known as Tomatito, is a Spanish roma flamenco guitarist and composer. Having started his career accompanying famed flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla, he has made a number of collaborative albums and six solo albums, two of which have won Latin Grammy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alejandro Sanz</span> Spanish musician (born 1968)

Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz, is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year three times. The singer is notable for his flamenco-influenced ballads, and has also experimented with several other genres including pop, rock, funk, R&B and jazz.

<i>Nouveau Flamenco</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Ottmar Liebert

Nouveau Flamenco is Ottmar Liebert's first album, released in May 1990, written in a subgenre of flamenco known as new flamenco, fusing pop music forms and call-response structure together with flamenco elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paco de Lucía</span> Spanish flamenco, classical, jazz guitarist & musician (1947–2014)

Francisco Sánchez Gómez, known as Paco de Lucía, was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz. Richard Chapman and Eric Clapton, authors of Guitar: Music, History, Players, describe de Lucía as a "titanic figure in the world of flamenco guitar", and Dennis Koster, author of Guitar Atlas, Flamenco, has referred to de Lucía as "one of history's greatest guitarists".

Oscar Lopez is a Chilean-Canadian guitarist, whose signature style blends Latin and jazz styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Cook</span> Canadian guitarist

Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strunz & Farah</span>

Strunz & Farah is a guitar duo with an eclectic sound that has been described as a cross between world fusion and flamenco.

Armik, is an Iranian-Armenian American New Flamenco guitarist, producer and composer. Several of Armik's albums have reached Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart. A child prodigy, born in Iran of Armenian descent, at seven years old he pawned his watch for a classical guitar, which he hid and practiced on in the basement. By the age of nine, Armik had completed formal music lessons as well as a rigid instructional regimen. At the age of 12, he was a professional recording artist. He launched his solo career in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Young & Rollins</span> Musical artist

Young & Rollins is a guitar duo, consisting of Daniel Young and Lawson Rollins, that performs and records original music which draws upon an eclectic mixture of salsa music, Latin jazz, blues, samba, bossa nova, flamenco, and classical styles. Their music can be broadly described as a melding of Nuevo Flamenco, World Music, and Latin Music genres. Daniel Young and Lawson Rollins began collaborating after meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1998. They came from different musical backgrounds - Rollins started out as a classically trained guitarist before moving into Latin American and flamenco guitar styles, while Young holds a degree in jazz from The New School in New York City.

Luis Villegas is an American guitarist who released an album called Cafe Olé in 1996, which was nominated for the Best New Album award at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999. Villegas's style combines new-age music, flamenco, and jazz. He is known for using a technique of playing fast, intricate lines by using the fingernail of his right index finger in place of a guitar pick. He also had a small role as a member of a band in the film Collateral starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. He is currently a member of the group Heavy Mellow, along with founder Benjamin Woods and percussionist Mike Bennett.

"Samba pa ti" is an instrumental by Latin rock band Santana, from their 1970 album, Abraxas. In English, the title means "Samba for You." It was released as a single in 1973. The song charted at No. 11 in the Netherlands, No. 43 on the German charts, and No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart, Santana's first single to chart in the United Kingdom.

Willie & Lobo was a musical duo composed of William Robert "Willie" Royal, Jr. (violin) and Wolfgang Hubert "Lobo" Fink (guitar). Their music, characterized as New Flamenco and World Music, is a blend of Gypsy, Latin, Celtic, Flamenco, Middle Eastern, Rock, Jazz, Cuban Swing, Tango and Salsa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel de la Bastide</span> Musical artist

Miguel de la Bastide is a Trinidad-born Flamenco composer and virtuoso guitarist who first appeared on the scene in 1996 on the CD compilation Flamenco: Fire and Grace under the record label Narada Productions that placed him alongside some of Spain's most prominent guitarists, including Paco de Lucía, Tomatito and Rafael Riqueni to name a few. Since then, he has appeared on numerous other Flamenco and Nuevo Flamenco compilations. He is the only guitarist from Trinidad and Tobago that has had success recording in the flamenco genre and is also a recipient of the Chalmers Award and Toronto Arts Council Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javier Limón</span> Musical artist

Javier Limón is a record producer, singer and songwriter born and raised in Madrid, Spain. Limón has worked with several artists, mainly from Spain, since he incorporates elements of flamenco rhythm to his work. Besides his work as producer has also dabbled as an interpreter and has released three studio albums, Limón, Son de Limón and Mujeres de Agua. Since 2003, Limón has done recordings in Israel, Bogotá, Bristol, Paris, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, New York City and Morocco. In 2004, Limón was awarded the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year for his work on Lágrimas Negras by Diego El Cigala and Bebo Valdés, Cositas Buenas by Paco de Lucía, El Cantante by Andrés Calamaro, El Pequeño Reloj by Enrique Morente, Niño Josele by Niño Josele and Tributo Flamenco A Don Juan Valderrama by Various Artists. Javier Limón serves as the Artistic Director of the Berklee College of Music's Mediterranean Music Institute, which operates in Valencia, Spain as well as Boston, Massachusetts.

Pavlo Simtikidis, often called simply Pavlo is a Greek-Canadian guitarist who plays, "a Mediterranean sound mixing the folkloric styles of Greek, Spanish and Latin music with pop sensibilities." Born in Toronto, Canada, he is the son of Greek immigrants, George & Freda Simtikidis, of Kastoria, Greece. His albums Pavlo and Fantasia certified Gold in Canada, and album Fantasia was nominated in 2001 for a JUNO Award for Best Instrumental Album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester DeVoe</span> American luthier

Lester DeVoe is an American elite flamenco and classical guitar luthier who designs guitars for Latin music. He has been cited as " among the most in-demand flamenco guitar makers alive today".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leda Battisti</span> Italian singer-songwriter

Leda Battisti is an Italian singer-songwriter.

<i>Opium</i> (Ottmar Liebert album) 1996 studio album by Ottmar Liebert

Opium is a studio double album by German-born guitarist Ottmar Liebert and his band Luna Negra. The album's first disc is called "Wide-Eyed" and features an upbeat, nuevo flamenco sound, reflective of Liebert's previous work. The second disc is called "Dreaming" which features a mellower, ethereal sound. Opium was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best New Age Album. The album was inspired by a postcard that Liebert received from his paternal grandfather, who had worked on the South Manchuria Railway. Opium was produced by Ottmar Liebert, along with his brother, Stefan Liebert.

<i>Canción Andaluza</i> 2014 studio album by Paco de Lucía

Canción Andaluza is the final studio album by Spanish musician Paco de Lucía, released on April 29, 2014 through Universal Music Spain. It was released posthumously after his death on February 25, 2014. Produced by de Lucía himself, it features collaborations with fellow Flamenco singers Estrella Morente and Vicente Castro "Parrita", and Venezuelan salsa musician Oscar D'León.

References

Notes

  1. This limited edition mini-disc was only sold at 2003 shows and with Trilogy online (In the Arms of Love, The Santa Fe Sessions, Nouveaumatic).

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Ottmar Liebert Interview". Guitarhoo.com. April 15, 2004. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  2. "Biography". Ottmarliebert.com. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 Schnieder, Wolf (September 2010). "Ottmar Liebert". Cowboysindians.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  4. Russell, Lawrence. "Ottmar Liebert". Culturecourt.com. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 754. ISBN   1-85227-745-9.
  6. "Slang Productions - Guitarists 4 the Kids". Slangproductions.com. September 11, 2006. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  7. "WBUR". Archived from the original on 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  8. "Last Night: Musician and Zen Monk Otto Liebert Brought His Nouveau Flamenco to Dosey Doe" by Lisa Strain, Houston Press, November 19, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Music Notes: Ottmar Liebert’s Flamenco Revolution" by Steve Houk, Washington Life Magazine, October 20, 2018.
  10. Batista, Lisa. "Behind the Scenes with Ottmar Liebert". Jfmpresents.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  11. 1 2 Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 165.
  12. 1 2 "Discography Ottmar Liebert". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 1 September 2022.