Manfred Leuchter - Accordion

Music:

Member Since: 9/20/2006
Band Website: sparito.de
Band Members: Band members

Trio:

Afra Mussawisade (percussion)
Florian Zenker (guitar)
every now and then: Kinan al Azmeh (clarinet)

Quartet:

Antoine Pütz (Acoustic Bass Guitar)
Steffen Thormählen (Drums)
Sebastian Pottmeier (Soprano-, Alto & Baritone-Sax)

Guest Player (Trumpet. Flugelhorn)
Guest singer on "ZINA": Lena Chamamyan (Syria)

"Hewar" / Syria:
Kinan al Azmeh (Clarinet) Essam Rafea (Oud) Dima Orsho (Voice)

Sounds Like:Confronted with Manfred Leuchter´s music for the first time, one could be forgiven for presuming that the world of music is hard to fathom. Oriental rhythms underpinning jazz jams, exotic instruments vying with accordion? Could this be the dreaded ..World Music..?

An appalling title, thought hopefully forgotten, only to be resurrected by fantasy impaired journalists intent on finding a label for Manfred Leuchter´s work. World Music; it used to an analogy for ..ethnicicity... Sundry tribal sounds thrown into a pot over a cool drum groove, mixed up with the producer´s latest sitar carpet and, barely audible in the background, the last of the High Street Indios puffing pitifully away on on their pan pipes.

Times change. And for that reason, to appreciate the wonders of the, finally, legitimate artform we used to call World Music, you need to do two things: 1. Throw this battered label onto the scrap heap and 2. turn to the unique work of Manfred Leuchter. Things don´t all get thrown into one pot to create some sort of half tasty stew here; rather, this is a recipe of love.

The spice is oriental .. and used with knowledge and an adoration of music. Leuchter´s accordion is carefully matched to the eastern sound spectrum, with no denial of the European and jazz accordion traditions. Here, the music cultures mix and mate without devouring each other.

Could this be the reason why Manfred Leuchter is enjoying wide acceptance in this part of the world? His successful tours have ranged from India to Syria which, on his last visit to Damascus, led to recordings with his own band together with Arab musicians. These sessions make up the lion´s share of ..ZINA.., Leuchter´s new album release.

The band plays with self-confidence while never overwhelming their Arabian counterparts on oud, riq or quanoun. Special guest is Lena Chamamyan whose almost extraterrestrial voice fits perfectly to Leuchter´s compositions. Styles meet not just in passing, but create a new musical universe.

Almost ungrudgingly,

Götz Alsmann

(Transl.: Grant Stevens)

P R E S S R E V I E W S

"Leuchter tells fairytales. As sensitive as Sheherazade, as terrifying as Cicero, a virtuoso who promotes the accordion to the status of a Stradivarius."
(Limburgs Dagblad)

"With masterly musical cascades, diaphanously-woven tapestries of sound and skilful arrangements, Leuchter ventures into adventurous collages and conjures up unbounded tonal pictures full of tension and suspense."
(Schwäbische Zeitung)

"Leuchter plays as he thinks: with boundless liberty, but constrained by consistent discipline, amuses, but never without sincerity"
(AZ)

DELIGHTFUL. That was the unanimous verdict of the Chennaiites who happened to watch Manfred Leuchter and his team...
(The New Indian Express)

... his interpretation of ..And I Love her.. is a tribute to Lennon & McCartney
(NRCHandeslblad)

Record Label: Luxaries
Type of Label: Indie