By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times
Ottmar Liebert
A project by Ottmar Liebert can be as international as a United Nations committee meeting.
Liebert, who will be performing with his band Luna Negra on May 24 at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808, www.st94.com), has been multi-national since he was born.
The talented musician grew up in Köln, Germany with a Hungarian mother and a German-Chinese father. He gained world-wide fame playing Spanish music (flamenco).
Liebert’s music also has other world music influences such as his 2105 album “Waiting n Swan,” which mixes elements of the Tangos Flamenco rhythm with Reggae beats.
The most recent album by Liebert, an ordained Zen monk, is titled “Slow.”
“I made ‘Slow’ because I had done ‘Waiting n Swan’ and I wanted to do something different,” said Liebert, during a phone interview last week from Santa Fe, New Mexico where he has lived since 1986.
According to Liebert, “Sometime in 2015 I decided to record by myself, without the band, and that I wanted to create slow music.
“For my new album, I wanted to raise my guitar against the sound of billions of smartphones beeping with the latest news, mentions, likes, and comments, keeping us in a state of constant alarm.
“This is the beauty of instrumental music. Like the description of a tree in a book that requires your imagination so that it can take form in your mind, instrumental music can take on different shapes and colors, depending on your experiences.”
“Slow’ is a musical antidote for the sped-up world in which we are living in 2017.
“Everywhere you go, people are staring at their phones and getting alarms,” said Liebert. “This is the information overload we’re getting
“I also discovered that there has been scientific research into how slow music can relax listeners’ heartbeats and lower their blood pressure.
“All the sounds on ‘Slow’ were made with only one guitar and one microphone. Some of the sounds were made by reversing the attack. For the bass guitar lines, I played at half-speed to make it an octave lower.
“I’ve had my own studio since 1994. Working by myself in the studio felt like I was writing a diary. I’m not so much a guitar guy. I’m more interested in people.
“Some of the songs had been floating around for quite some time while others were relatively new. When I started this project, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”
Liebert released his debut album “Marita: Shadows and Storm” in 1989. Since then, he has released more than 30 well-crafted albums of instrumental music.
“With ‘Waiting n Swan,’ I was showing how different cultures combine to make what we assume to be one entity,” said Liebert, who put together the first incarnation of his band Luna Negra (Black Moon) in 1989.
“I wanted to see what would happen if I played Tangos Flamenco rhythm and Reggae at the same time. It worked seamlessly. Reggae and Tangos Flamenco — not to be confused with the Argentine Tango — are deeply connected.
“Tangos has a lilt and features the same avoidance of beat one that Reggae and Salsa have, and to my ears it always sounded very different from other Flamenco forms.
“Some people believe the Caribbean rhythm was brought to the Spanish port Cadiz by sailors from merchant vessels, and that the catchy rhythm soon traveled to Andalusia, where it blended with local musical styles and became Tangos Flamenco.”
“The word ‘tangos’ itself might be derived from the onomatopoeia ‘tang’ which resembles ‘the sound of the drum,’ while in some parts of South America the word ‘tangosa’ refers to Africans dancing to the beat of drums.
“The deep roots of these three rhythms, Tangos, Reggae and Salsa, of course, lie in Africa. With the title, ‘Waiting n Swan’ — the word ‘waiting’ refers to the song ‘Waiting in Vain’ and the phrase ‘n Swan’ is Caribbean creole meaning ‘and so on’.”
Fans will hear music from both albums in Liebert’s show at the Sellersville Theater.
“We’re doing one band version of a song from the ‘Slow’ album,” said Liebert. “We have 30 albums out so we play songs from the very first one – and from the whole catalogue.”
Video link for Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra – https://youtu.be/7A_ZKM4boxI.
The show at Sellersville will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $33 and $45.
Chastity Brown
On the same night, Chastity Brown will be serving up a hearty helping of her intense, emotional music at the World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com).
Brown is touring in support of her new album “Silhouette of Sirens,” which was just released on May 19 on Red House Records.
Raised in Union City, Tennessee, Brown, who is now based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, grew up playing the saxophone and drums in church before she started to write and sing her own songs.
“My father was a musician who played jazz and blues,” said Brown, during a phone interview last week from a tour stop in New York City.
“He played piano and trombone. My sister, who is four years older, played classical piano and my brother played tenor sax. I had access to a piano when I was eight and I played around with my brother’s sax.
“When I was 12, I told my mother I needed a sax. Later, I played sax in my high school marching band. Then, I saw someone play classical guitar.
“I said – oh my god, I need an acoustic guitar. I’m going to die if I don’t get one. In my sophomore year in high school, my mom bought me an acoustic guitar – with the stipulation that I had to practice.
“In my junior year, I learned the basic chords and scales in high school. After that, I realized I could play and sing and do it anywhere.”
Influenced by her background, Brown’s music embraces the political, covering topics of identity and belonging.
According to Brown, “What I’ve realized is that the personal is political. Just by me being a bi-racial, half-black, half-white woman living in America right now is political. Just being a person of color, a queer woman of color, for that matter, is freaking political.”
Brown melds folk, pop and soul on “Silhouette of Sirens” — weaving together a poet’s lyrical ear and a soul-laid-bare quality.
“I started making this album four years ago and finished two years ago in July,” said Brown. “I was writing these songs – half by myself and half with my writing partner Robert Mulrennen.
“Then, I realized it didn’t fulfill what I was looking or sonically. It was too perfect. All the musicians were recording separately and then I’d add my vocals at the end. It was missing the element of playing live. I’m a live musician.
“So, I had to scrap that six months of recording and start over with my band in the studio. I also had to scrap some of the songs and start writing again because I had lost my way.
“The song ‘Lost’ is about that. It’s the worst thing ever to feel lost from your craft. It took me a couple months of playing, singing and writing at home.”
Brown had four previous studio albums – “Do the Best You Can” in 2007, “Sankofa” in 2009, “High Noon Teeth” in 2010, and “Back-Road Highways” in 2012.
“‘Do the Best You Can’ was the first record I made in Minnesota,” said Brown. “‘Sankofa’ was a solo project I did. It was like the first layer of an onion. It was really cathartic. The vibe of the new album is melancholy – with some sexy and fun surprises.”
Video link for Chastity Brown – https://youtu.be/cCdp9oqadYQ
The show at the World Cafe Live will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.
