jimtrue.com : school : MUH1110 : Concert Review: Ottmar Liebert / Luna Negra
Posted by Jim True on October 11, 2004 9:18 AM. Last Updated October 22, 2006 9:23 PM
Disclaimer for all material noted here is at the bottom of this web page.
Ottmar Liebert/Luna Negra
Tampa Theatre, Friday, October 1, 2004
To say that Ottmar Liebert is a Flamenco guitarist would be an understatement. Flamenco is a musical style that was made popular by the Andalusian gypsies, primarily played forcefully with great improvisation on a guitar. Ottmar has taken this genre to a new level, as evidenced by his 1990 breakthrough album on the World music scene 'Nouveau Flamenco' which sold double-platinum, became the "biggest-selling guitar album of all time, redefining Flamenco music and marking Liebert as one of the most talented, influential and creative guitarists and performers to surface in years." (Luna Negra, http://www.lunanegra.com/www/ol/biography/bio_lasemana.htm)
Luna Negra consists of Ottmar with his Flamenco guitar and his good friend Jon Gagen on bass (usually electric bass, either fretless or fretted). Depending on the tour, or the album, Luna Negra can expand up to six artists or be condensed to a nice quartet, as it was this night for the La Samana concert. Two percussionists joined Ottmar and Jon, Robbie Rothchild on congas, djembe and cajon, and Ron Wagner on tablas, dumbek and just about every other percussionist instrument he could find. Ron was actually the most fascinating to watch as he would shift from the dumbek, to the a rousing tabla raga underneath the music, perhaps pick up some cowrie shells as a rattle, but always adding something underneath but never overpowering the music. Robbie primarily played the cajon, what I at first thought was a packing crate that he was using to sit on, but was actually a wooden box drum of traditional Cuban and Peruvian origins. The player does sit on the wooden box, upright, and drums a clave rhythm on the front, the sound resonating within and exiting through a hole in one side. Ottmar primarily was seated, barefoot in the center stage playing the flamenco guitar, though he did switch to an electric guitar for one set before the intermission, adding a decidedly psychedlic flavor to the tune he was playing.
As with jazz enzembles featuring improvisational performance, the main musical theme was on either a 12, 16 or 24 measure cycle in order for each performer to keep track of their location in the number when one or multiple performers were in 'improvisation mode'. There were a couple of numbers where I couldn't figure out the measure count, as either Ottmar seemed to go faster than the remaining band, or he seemed to lag behind; it wasn't until I visited the website that I found that on several of the numbers Ottmar will shift the rhythm into a different time signature than the guitars, creating a sense of 'tension, or a tugging' until the melody catches up, or the rhythm catches up.
Luna Negra played six sets before breaking for intermission, leaving Robbie & Ron to play an improvisational drum duet that was quite entertaining. During one part of the tabla improviso, Ron even accompanied himself vocally by reciting the theka, the North Indian syllabic representation of the strokes he was playing on the tablas; if it hadn't been for this course, I would have had no actual idea of what he was playing.
Unfortunately, I did not remain at the concert past the intermission. The audience in my section (which I might add had the most phenomenal view of the stage, front row balcony), decided that Ottmar being barefoot invited them all to join him in informality. They began drinking heavily, all took their shoes off and it became rather unpleasant to remain past the first half of the concert of this extraordinary musician.
Disclaimer: These are MY notes taken from classroom lectures while I'm in the classroom. While I'm perfectly happy to share my notes with my classmates and I know I take very good notes, you should still make every effort to attend the class and TAKE YOUR OWN NOTES. I will not transcribe everything the instructor says in the classroom, and I will NEVER post pre-exam reviews. My notes will not replace the value of actually attending class and taking your own class notes.I also cannot attest to their accuracy, other than they are what was provided in the lecture; you should not reference my notes as "expert opionion" by any means, and if you notice an error or omission, please do me the favor of e-mailing me with the correction and I will re-post my notes. End of Disclaimer.