What can I say? Two words: Ottmar Liebert. His ongoing international success is partly due to his amazingly varied origins, but can also be attributed to his very early connection and love with music, particularly, the guitar. He is German-born to a Chinese-German father and a Hungarian mother, who, at the age of 11, introduced him to his first guitar. After many years of traveling the world in search for that perfect musical genre, he decided to settle in Santa Fe, NM, where in 1989 he started his now-famous and current band: Luna Negra. He and his bandmates found inspiration and peace through a style of music known as Nouveau Flamenco, a mellow yet complicated, tranquil yet involved, simple yet deep musical genre that serves as peaceful, relaxing background music to most of life’s hustle and bustle. The show I witnessed in Portland, at The Aladdin Theater, was, regrettably, my first ever Ottmar Liebert show.
I have been a fan and a collector of his albums ever since I can remember, but had never had the chance to see him live. I knew this opportunity would let me remember how amazingly talented of a musician and composer he is, but never did I think he would move me as much as he did. The band walked onto the stage first, the lights dim, and then out walked Ottmar himself. The two hundred or so spectators lifted themselves off of their chairs and respectfully, yet enthusiastically clapped for a good two to three minutes. Ottmar’s walk from stage right to his centrally positioned chair and instruments only took a few seconds. For the entire walk to his chair, he had an immense smile on his face. His hand was raised towards the crowd and his lips were uttering a faint but obvious “Thank You.” He sat down, gave the audience enough time to recover from the excitement, and then began to play. Immediately, the stage lights dimmed and the entire theater was filled with angelic, melodic, perfectly executed music. He began with his newest material, then played his way to the older songs most members of the audience were there to hear.
The atmosphere was mellow throughout the night. Everyone: sat and enjoyed the performance; clapped exhaustively after every song; panned around, from right to left and back, taking at least one glace at each and every musician on stage; locked sight with Ottmar in the center, then clapped and cheered again. The entire length of the concert was around two hours. I can tell you right now that time truly flew by. It was an amazing experience hearing ten years worth of my near-obsession with Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra’s music, live. I like to think that he knew it was time for he and his band to perform for such an avid fan as myself . . . or maybe it’s all in my head.