| Norbert Fimpel grew up surrounded by music. First he took guitar and musical theory lessons. After that, picking up his grandfather’s clarinet, he studied this instrument for 5 years. Finally he bought his first saxophone at the age of 22. He played for 10 years with renowned Argentine singer/songwriter Alejandro Lerner, touring South America many times. In 1998 he met Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) and toured South America with him. In 2000 he took part in Roger Hodgson’s European “Open the door” tour. In 2004 Norbert was part of the mega production “Night of the Proms”, performing 62 shows in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany, playing with Roger Hodgson, James Brown, Joe Cocker, John Miles, Cindy Lauper and Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet). Since 2005 he’s been part of Joe Cocker’s band, playing in more than 400 shows in over 30 countries. On his debut album Norbert plays tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, as well as chromatic harmonica and some percussion and keyboards. Soulful ballads got mixed with Latin rhythms and funky grooves, all of them played with passion and feeling. Musicians from Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, USA, Poland and Spain took part in this project. Norbert wrote all songs except “Forever friends”, co-written with producer/songwriter CJ Vanston and “Angel”, written by Sarah McLachlan. | ” |
| “ | An excellent collection of well-known romantic tunes played by a popular orchestra. | ” |
 Onmyo-za is a band that is difficult to categorize. The band members themselves introduce their music as "Yokai Heavy Metal," with yokai (creatures from Japanese folklore) being the subject matter for many of their songs. This however, does not give full scope to the wide range of styles that the band performs, including pop, rock, ballads and their own special matsuri (traditional Japanese festival) style compositions that end every concert performance. Admittedly their music is deeply influenced by orthodox heavy metal, but there are also many aspects of traditional Japanese music woven throughout their compositions... Tracklist: 01. HOMURA NO TORI 02. HOUYOKU-TENSHOU 03. KIRIN 04. YOUKA NINPOUCHOU 05. NUE 06. SOUGENBI 07. ROKUROKUBI 08. OMOKAGE 09. HOSHI NO YADORI 10. MAIAGARU | ” |
| “ | Buenos Aires, Argentina has often been described as "the most European city in Latin America" (with Montevideo, Uruguay running a close second). So considering that tango originated in such a Europe-influenced city, it isn't surprising that it made its way across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe -- which has some fine tango groups. One of them is Quadro Nuevo, a Germany-based outfit that has been combining tango with a variety of European influences. Of course, tango had European influences to begin with, but with Quadro Nuevo, that passion for different types of European music is even more evident and even more overt. And there is certainly an abundance of European influences on Cinй Passion, a 2000 recording that finds the group putting its spin on songs from European and American movies. Tango is combined with everything from Italian music on "Un' Ora Sola Ti Vorrei" (from the Billy Wilder movie Avanti) to French chanson on "Plus Fort Que Nous" (from the 1966 French film Un Homme et une Femme, aka A Man and a Woman) to Spanish flamenco on Paco de Lucнa melodies that were used in the 1984 thriller The Hit. Quadro Nuevo acknowledge tango's pre-Astor Piazzolla era with their thoughtful arrangement of singer Carlos Gardel's theme from the 1935 movie El Dнa Que Me Quieras -- a theme that was revived 71 years later in 2006, when Penelope Cruz performed the song in Spanish director Pedro Almodуvar's Volver. However, Quadro Nuevo don't use a vocalist, and they don't perform "El Dнa Que Me Quieras" in a 1930s-like fashion; their instrumental version has a strong Piazzolla influence (when Gardel died in 1935, Piazzolla was only 14 and had yet to become well known). Full of surprises, Cinй Passion is not only excellent, it is also one of Quadro Nuevo's most essential albums. |
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