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Andreas
Vollenweider (born October 4, 1953) is a Swiss musician. His
music has been categorized as World Music, Jazz, New Age and
even Classical; two of his albums were number 1 on the
Billboard charts simultaneously in the categories Classical,
Jazz, Pop and Crossover for more than 11 weeks. His music
could be described as very dynamic and colorful. His primary
instrument is an electrically modified harp of his own
design, but he also plays a wide variety of instruments from
around the world, including the Chinese guzheng. His albums
feature many musicians performing his compositions with him,
ranging from simple solos to suites for orchestra and
soloists. His music is mostly instrumental but he has
occasionally forayed into vocal music as well.
His past
collaborators include Bobby McFerrin, Carly Simon, Djivan
Gasparyan, Luciano Pavarotti, Ladysmith Black Mambazo,
Carlos Núñez, Ray Anderson, and Milton Nascimento.
Politically,
Andreas Vollenweider is a pacifist (follower of the
principles of non-violent conflict management of Mahatma
Gandhi) who features quotes from Gandhi, among others, on
his website and is currently involved in spreading awareness
of the American war in Iraq by posting a ticker on the
current casualties, American and Iraqi, on his website. |
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