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Flamenco fusion
Acoustic guitarist Ottmar Liebert isn't mired in tradition. With his mix of musical styles, he pays homage to the American melting pot.
By PHILIP BOOTH
© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 4, 2001
Ottmar Liebert, the German-born acoustic guitarist best known for a laid-back blend of flamenco, New Age and rock, is strongly attached to the concept of musical mixing and matching. That's probably not a surprise, given the reaction to his recordings by advocates of the traditional flamenco sound.
"Some people have been upset, saying that I ruined their music," Liebert says by telephone from a tour stop in Austin, Texas. "I'm of the opinion that we either integrate or we fragment. I find that integration is by far a more appealing choice. You can say, "I like my music pure and traditional and I play mine this way and you play yours that way,' but I think it's important to find a way to combine these things.
"In a way, I think that's what America is about," adds Liebert, the son of a Chinese-German father and Hungarian mother. "People of different backgrounds and cultures and beliefs have found a home in this country. I don't think integration is a process that ever ends. It's a continuous struggle, if you will. In a way, it's harder to bring seemingly very different elements together and make them work, because there's no road map for it."
Liebert puts his ideas into action with Little Wing, the guitarist's ninth and last album for Epic before he switches to his own label, Spiral Subwave Records International.
Like Water 4 the Desert (Rain Montuno) is one of several pieces that may remind listeners of the organic, stripped-down sound of his debut album, Nouveau Flamenco, originally released independently in 1988. That disc, reissued in 1990 on the Higher Octave label, went on to sell 500,000 copies. Fans of the dance rhythms and synthesizers heard on the 1995 Euphoria and 1996 Opium albums may be more interested in the new tracks Agua Fria (Cold Water), Untitled (La Noche) and The Pearl.
The guitarist for the first time offers several nods to early rock 'n' roll influences, including the Jimi Hendrix-penned title track, Led Zeppelin's Kashmir and the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black.
"I did want to sort of give people an insight into what turned me on as a teenager, when I was first playing guitar," he says. "Little Wing came out of a conversation with a friend that was playing at my house. I was saying flamenco is really the blues of the gypsies. He suggested doing steel string and flamenco and steel guitar."
Hendrix wasn't an immediate influence on Liebert. "A little later, though, I was floored," he says. "The first guitar player who had an influence on me was Carlos Santana, when I was 13 or 14. In between was Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) and the way he produced records. I think what makes Kashmir and Paint It Black such a cool fit is that they both have Arabic scales. Flamenco is really a meeting point of the gypsies and the Arabs, in Spain."
Despite his support of musical eclecticism, Liebert plans to take less of a variety show approach with his next few albums.
With his band Luna Negra, he'll continue to release discs in the Nouveau Flamenco style, while his Euphoria collective will explore a fusion of flamenco, dance rhythms, synthesizers and ambient sounds. He'll also release albums centered on his guitar playing.
"When I say "solo,' I'm not really talking about one guitar and a microphone," he says. "I've always wanted to use the computer as much as I can. I'm very excited about doing things for some of the background sounds, things where I (digitally) cut off the attack. I played with digital loops. On some of the songs, we actually went through 43 tracks of different guitar textures.
"I've given it to a couple of massage people to use it for massages, and I have given it to people with kids to see if kids would like it. We're living in pretty loud times, and sometimes you need to find ways to get extra quiet."
PREVIEW
Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra XL2 perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater. $25-$29. (813) 287-8844 or (727) 791-7400.
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