Ottmar Liebert: Sometimes silence speaks volumes

It’s been two years since we last saw flamenco guitarist Ottmar Liebert in Tucson, and he was sitting on the stage of Rialto Theatre with his Luna Negra band in front of a full house of fans.

We watched the Grammy-nominated guitarist pick and strum for 90 glorious minutes, creating a soundscape that transcended genres, from Latin-influenced to Euro-classical, folk and rocking flamenco.

When the German-born, New Mexico-based musician comes back Tuesday, Aug. 29, he will draw from his early career influences and perform from his his 2016 record “Slow,” which he said lives up to its title. In liner notes, Liebert said the album, which is just him on solo guitar, was his way of blocking out the loud noises of today’s world.

“Love whispers while hate screams, and I decided to whisper so softly. I wanted to raise my guitar against the sound of billions of smartphones beeping with the latest news, mentions, likes, and comments, keeping us in a state of constant alarm,” he wrote of the album. “I made all of the music on this album with one guitar and one microphone.”

Liebert, 58, elaborated on those liner note comments in an email interview from his New Mexico home late last week. Here’s what he had to say.

On “Slow,” there’s some interesting emotional strains, from an almost regretful resignation of “Elegy,” a suspenseful nail-bite of “Stumbleweed,” and some incredible drama built into “Butterfly Dream” before it segues into this beautiful melody. What was your inspiration when you wrote this?

“ ‘Elegy’ moves between a stately sad, and yes, perhaps regretful feel — the 4/4 rhythm in the beginning — but then it moves to something that sounds more celebratory and hopeful, when it switches to 10/8. The song was written in reaction to hearing that Prince died. So the sad part switches off with the faster sounding (although same tempo) celebratory part.

“‘Butterfly Dream’ originated as a solo performance for the album ‘One Guitar’ in 2006. The title came to me as I recorded the piece and thought of a friend, who was at the time participating in a weeklong Zen meditation retreat in Holland during which she received the title ‘Sensei’, which means teacher. The funny part is when I sent her the music and told her that the music and title came to me during the week that she was meditating in the Netherlands, she told me that for much of that week she had had dreams of butterflies, and she couldn’t figure out why.

“‘Butterfly Dream’ is also the piece from the new album we will perform live in concert. The trio version is really lovely, I think, and audiences seem to be moved by it.”

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Pop artists tend to only play a cut or two from new albums when they perform live, but I imagine in your genre, with no words involved, that’s a little different, right? Will we hear several tracks off this record when you’re here?

“We like to switch up the tempo a little, but we will do one piece from ‘Slow.’ We will also perform three songs from the (2015) reggae/tangos flamenco album ‘Waiting n Swan’, and a bunch of stuff from the past, including a bossa nova piece from the album ‘The Hours Between Night + Day’ called ‘Fullmoonbeachwalk’ that we haven’t performed in years.

Over the years, you have become a regular to Tucson and you’ve probably developed some local routines. Where can we expect to see you get coffee?

“Shot in the Dark on East Broadway has long been a hang for us, and we keep returning to it. Sometimes I’ll go across the street to Cartel for a cortado, though. I tend to walk a lot in the early mornings and have frequented a lot of different coffeehouses whose names I don’t remember.”

Your favorite restaurant?

“We have been coming to Tucson for many years and have eaten in many of the restaurants on Congress Street, but one we keep returning to is Cup Congress inside the Hotel Congress. It’s close to the Rialto and it’s good food. I also like to pick up grocery items at the co-op on North Fourth Avenue.”

Where are you likely to stretch your legs, i.e. hiking and that sort of thing?

“We are usually tethered to the tour bus, but I’ll explore a five-mile radius from there on foot.”