Salt Lake City Weekly

02007-11-08 | Interview, News, Ottmar, Performance | 9 comments

Salt Lake City Weekly – Independent Guide To News, Arts & Entertainment
Music | Monk Funk: Guitarist Ottmar Liebert likes you close.

There’s a spaciousness, an intensity to the sound of One Guitar that evokes deserts and mountains. But there’s also at times an almost aching sense of concentration, of focus on a note, on the plucking of a string, the source of which might just as well come from his long-standing commitment to meditation.

And

He wants listeners who view instrumental music as no more than background music, to “dive into it and give it your own translation.”

Some translation is already provided through titles such as “Night Traveling Raindrops,” the track’s chorus a gorgeous re-creation of listening to the rainfall. It was named by a German fan from Bavaria. “This Spring Release 10,000 Butterflies” was a Liebert title. He wrote that song for Genpo’s dharma successor Diane Hamilton. When they met a few months after he finished it, she said she’d been dreaming of butterflies all the previous month.

Read the whole piece here.
Monk Funk. Nice. Other interesting interview titles here.

9 Comments

  1. Carol

    More people know how to let your music in all the time. Wonderful!

    Reply
  2. Will

    A very well written article and the great thing about your music is exactly the listeners translation. We make our own stories, prayers, dialogs, lyrics. You empower your listener with freedom of imagination and creation.

    Reply
  3. Molly

    i have all your albums and i must say, ONE GUITAR is at the top of my list…i don’t think any of the other albums take me in like it does. i can’t wait until your next ~one~. ;-)

    Reply
  4. Boris

    I like: spaciousness.

    And: an almost aching sense of concentration. That’s an interesting choice of words.

    Oh, and I blushened a bit, but no-one saw it since it’s late at night here and I’m sitting alone in front of my laptop with the notes of a sweet persimmon filling the air around me… :)

    Reply
  5. eddie

    “horny pony”…HAHAHAH

    Reply
  6. laurie

    nice words, good humor, well written…

    One Guitar does warrant intentional listening – it’s different every time i sit down with it… sometimes i listen to it in random order so it’s like a new playlist

    wish i could be in SLC – loved the shows this summer with LN but equally
    enjoy hearing you solo… i hope it is becoming easier for you

    have a great time

    Reply
  7. Carol

    Guess I’ll rename your music on my computer to “Monk Funk” Pretty cool!

    Reply
  8. Jacqueline

    Can you just imagine all this footage, all the worthy causes, all the hills and mountains….When are we getting a DVD?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    Reply
  9. Adam Solomon

    Horny Pony? New favorite song title EVER.

    Reply

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