You'll recognize the brilliance of musician Germán López as soon as you hit play. His musicianship is spectacular and his sound is vibrant and exciting, perhaps at first surprising but then uncannily familiar. López is originally from the Canary Islands in Spain, where folks enjoy their cup of coffee with a touch of cinnamon ("canela") and lemon (“limón”). Canela y Limón is also the name of López’s arrestingly beautiful album, played in duet with the Andalusian guitarist, maestro Antonio Toledo. You’ll find the hallmarks of cinnamon and lemon in Lòpez's music as you listen: spicy and sweet, robust and sharp. It’s a recipe for music that transports you to a simpler, kinder, more joyful world.
With a style that embraces Spanish Flamenco, West African traditional, modern American jazz and pop, and rhythms uniquely native to his home country, Germán López has already established himself as a rising star in Europe. His delayed ascent in the US might be attributable to the relative obscurity of his chosen instrument, the timple. A five-string, long-necked instrument originating from the Spanish archipelago, the timple is recognizable in performance as a cross between a classical guitar and the ukulele. López’s masterful method of playing the instrument heightens its resonance and precision for a magical and immediately accessible sound.
With an upcoming album featuring guest spots from a host of international all-stars, including the Cameroonian Grammy-winning bassist Richard Bona and the Mexican singer-songwriter Lila Downs, López is likely to soon join other global contemporary musical geniuses, such as Jake Shimabukuro or Rodrigo y Gabriela, on the worldwide festival circuit, making this your best chance to enjoy his “entrancing” musicianship and “delicately rippling notes” (Huffington Post) in an intimate concert space.
Germán López was born in Gran Canaria in 1982. His career started when he was accepted at the early age of seven to study piano, jazz and music theory at the Conservatory of Music in Las Palmas, Spain. By the time he was ten, López began regular public performance, notably collaborating with legendary timple virtuoso José Antonio Ramos, who focused Germán's interest in the timple and other traditional Canary Island instruments. As of today, López is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living players of the timple. He has thus far released four studio albums: Timplissimo (2006), Silencio Roto (2009), De Raíz (2013) and (with guitarist Antonio Toledo) Canela y Limón (2016). López has recorded and shared the stage with Richard Bona, Sidiki Toumani Diabate, Mestisay, Taburiente, Totoyo Millares, Luis Morera, Sergio Alzola, Pancho Amat and The Philharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria.
Halie Loren is an international, award-winning jazz singer/songwriter. Raised in Alaska, this Oregon-based artist brings a fresh and original perspective to time-honored musical paths, channeling her innate understanding of connectedness across musical boundaries to forge bonds with diverse audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. A lover of global cultures and music, her repertoire is a multi-lingual one, including songs in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Korean as well as her native English. She’s released eight albums to-date, garnering several national and international awards as well as significant critical and chart success along the way, with her albums consistently charting at #1 in Billboard/Japan Jazz Charts, iTunes (Canada and Japan) and Amazon Music. Canary Island timple virtuoso Germán López, and Alaska-born singer-songwriter Halie Loren were first connected by their shared booking agent. But since then, they have developed an organic project out of mutual admiration: Halie Loren has frequently used diminutive guitarists in her songs, and Germán had often heard Halie Loren's music play on the radio (as Halie Loren has a vibrant listening audience in Spain).
During the height of the COVID pandemic, when both of them faced canceled tours and loss of livelihood, Germán López and Halie Loren also shared an impulse to imagine a better world in the wake of events taking place in June of 2020 – a way to imagine an end to systemic racism, war, and of course the pandemic itself.
They decided to record a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" – sparse, thoughtful, and delicate. There are some who could misidentify this version as romantic; but that would be mistaking its intimacy for romance.
The single reached quite a few people on Spotify, and their fans reached out to both sides in appreciation for their co-recording it. It was an example of one of the positive outcomes of the pandemic – border-crossing collaborations that never would have been prioritized otherwise.
Having then worked together virtually to create this special project, but actually having never performed on stage together – this new concert collaboration reflects a desire of so many to bring these two artists together.
Their upcoming concert will also feature Spanish guitar maestro Antonio Toledo, where the trio will perform beloved classics like "A Mi Manera" (“My Way”), which Halie Loren recorded on her last studio album, FROM THE WILD SKY). They also plan to perform some surprises pertaining to each of their original compositions, as well as traditional Spanish music.
They come from opposite parts of the world: Alaska is about as far from the Canary Islands as one can imagine. But Germán López and Halie are beautifully matched, at once reflecting their shared connection in tandem with the sea.