Andreas Vollenweider
[8][9] In 1975, Vollenweider discovered the harp and, finding its traditional versions too limited for his own musical ideas, developed his own style, tailoring the instrument according to his needs.[10] He formed the trio Poesie und Musik together with Rene Bardet (bass) and Orlando Valentini (guitar), recording interpretations of the poetry of François Villon and Heinrich Heine, but left in 1978.[15] Vollenweider was discovered by the German record-producer and manager Vera Brandes, who oversaw the release of Behind the Gardens - Behind the Wall - Under the Tree....[16] through her VeraBra Records.[19] In 1983, he underlined his commitment to environmental issues with the EP "Pace Verde" in support for Greenpeace, which was accompanied by a video that Vollenweider directed and produced himself.[24] The shows were described as a new age experience that combined the use of lights and dry ice while Vollenweider appeared as a "white-clad figure who's poised to drive the audience wild with a harp".In 1999, he returned to free improvisation and intimate musical dialogues with his album COSMOPOLY He invited friends, including American vocal acrobat Bobby McFerrin, Brazilian cult poet and singer Milton Nascimento, South-African ethno-jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, the 74-year-old Armenian duduk legend Djivan Gasparyan, Galician bag-pipe and whistle virtuoso Carlos Núñez Muñoz, the American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, and American blues-trombone master Ray Anderson, from all over the globe to create "world music".Carly Simon joined the group, as did Mindy Jostyn, Carlos Núñez, Djivan Gasparyan, XiaoJing Wang and Walter Keiser.He began writing the "symphonic novel" Tales of Kira Kutan, which premiered at the Warsaw Film Music Festival 2001, with the orchestra Sinfonia Varsowia (Yehudi Menuhin), conducted by co-orchestrator André Bellmont.Returning to his native Switzerland, Vollenweider premiered Carte blanche at the AVO Festival in Basel, where his guests, in addition to a mini orchestra, included Abdullah Ibrahim and David Lindley.It was around this time that he collaborated with German film composer Hans Zimmer, in Los Angeles, on the music score for the movie Tears of the Sun (starring Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci).At that time, he also released his first DVD, The Magical Journeys of Andreas Vollenweider, which contained almost four hours of live concerts, documentaries, interviews.[citation needed] In 2008, during his composition of the music for, and his recording of, the album A I R, Vollenweider was a guest performer at the celebration concert for the 80th birthday of Armenian duduk legend Jivan Gasparyan.On Christmas Eve, Swiss Television broadcasts the first major documentary devoted to Vollenweider, in which filmmaker Cristina Karrer shows impressing and touching sequences recorded in October 2010 in South Africa.