ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER
VOX

“Hey you, yes you….” - With a soft, inviting whisper, world-renowned, Grammy Award winning electro-acoustic harp legend Andreas Vollenweider beckons his millions of fans worldwide into the symphonic, multi-ethnic world of Vox, his highly anticipated debut on Kin Kou Records, the Savoy Label Group's newly formed label for world music artists.
Likening his first release since the 2001 greatest hits collection, “The Essential Andreas Vollenweider” to a new movie for the mind, a new journey for the imaginary traveler, the Zurich-born instrumental artist, who has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, including five that have sold multi-platinum in the U.S. since his 1979 debut, “Eine Art Suite XIII Teilen” creates a stunning celebration of the human voice that fulfills his lifelong passion for singing.

Vox is the centerpiece of a year-long rollout of Vollenweider projects, including the recent release of a Greatest Hits package for the U.S., “The Magic Harp,” which includes a career-spanning CD and a bonus DVD with never-before-seen concert, interview and documentary footage. Kin Kou also recently began re-issuing 24-bit remastered editions of his back catalog; each release includes extra tracks and a bonus DVD with exclusive footage. In anticipation of the release of Vox, Vollenweider has already performed concerts in Slovenia, Serbia-Montenegro, Italy, Germany and Poland, in anticipation of a fall tour of the U.S. PBS will also be airing a Vox concert that was filmed in Zurich's renowned Music Hall last December.

“If I look at the world how it is today, we people have been much too quiet for much too long,“ he says. 'This is a good time to raise the voice, which can be used not only as a beautiful musical instrument, but also for speaking up and expressing what we feel both in our personal environment and far beyond. I’ve always wanted to sing, ever since I can remember. It took me a lifetime to get to this point, where I could liberate this dream. Playing instrumental music, I have always seen myself as a storyteller. Music always transports messages, consciously or coincidentally. My father was a musician as well, and from him I learned that music is not only entertaining, acoustic decoration, but also a way to communicate. The vocal experiences on Vox are a natural extension of that long-held belief.”

Easing into the funky ambient jazz groove of Vox's opening track “Hey, you! Yes, you” - Vollenweider clearly vocalizes the concept of the far reaching, eclectic project: Come in here and have no fear I'm gonna hook you through this gate of sound. Yet his rich vocals, beautiful harp melodies and first-time recorded performances on piano and Spanish guitar are just the start of an adventure that seamlessly unites the legendary highlights of his incredibly wide, stylistic spectrum.

True to the collaborative spirit of Cosmopoly, his last full-fledged studio recording in 1999 (which featured all-star contributions from Carly Simon, Bobby McFerrin, Milton Nascimento and South African piano master Abdullah Ibrahim), Vox includes the contributions of numerous vocalists and musicians including Vollenweider's longtime drummer Walter Keiser, saxophonist /clarinetist Daniel Kueffer, percussionist Andi Pupato, Turkish multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kizilcay (who played with David Bowie for more than 13 years), Indian bansuri bamboo flutist Sjuay Bobade, cellist Martin Tillmann and Chinese Erhu (violin) player Xiao Jing Wang.

Guest vocalists include Hedreich Nichols (who appears on multiple tracks), South African natives Khululiwe Sithole and Khanyo Maphumulo (introducing the message of the world beat jazz song Wake Up and Dance) and Susan Hendricks (who sings in Zulu). Expanding from vocal intimacy into a truly universal sweep, “Wake Up And Dance” was built around the original crowd voices heard at the March 2003 One Million People Peace March. Vollenweider dedicates the song to the millions of people who are quietly but effectively laying hands on this earth every day.
The 13 tracks of Vox also give voice to numerous members of the Vollenweider family. Andreas' niece Zoe makes her recording debut on the soaring and anthemic romantic jazz-pop tune, “Innocent.” Oldest son Jonathan Vollenweider (age 17) performs the beat box and breath percussion on “Wake Up and Dance” while middle son Sebastian adds a hypnotic quality to this track with his didgeridoo playing. Daughter Noemi (13) and the Beewis School Choir contribute their full steam voices to the second movement of the song.

As on all previous 11-studio albums, Vollenweider's song titles are representative of a building storyline that collaborates with the listener’s vast imagination. The inspirational symphonic ballad, “Pilgrim” is followed by a haunting and exotic opening of “Seven Doors,” which blends scat vocals with some of Vollenweider's most poignant harp playing. “Enchanted Rocks” offers an offbeat conglomeration of urban and industrial sounds, booming distant drums and a classical backdrop, while “These Hearts of Gold” is soothing and melancholy. “The King & The Fool” achieves another unique musical juxtaposition, pairing a 1940s flavored female vocal chorus with a trippy wall of cacophonous sound. Vollenweider dips into the swirling, brassy and percussive waters of Africa on “Sons of Sysiphos” before returning home to a mystical, cello-driven chamber music-flavored ambience on “Paper Walls.” “Ripples in the Lake of Time” find the harpist perfectly at home playing a classically-influenced piano, while “Silver Moment” and “What If It Wasn't A Dream” tie multiple textures and moods (funky, mystical, classical, pop, rock, soul) together beautifully to create appropriately emphatic end statements.

Although Andreas Vollenweider's music has always been synonymous with the “new age” label that music companies used as a marketing tool in the mid-1980s, the Swiss harpist quickly transcended the need for alternative record sales when “White Winds” (1983) and his global breakthrough, Grammy-winning 1986 album, “Down To The Moon” became a crossover sensation on Billboard's pop, jazz and classical charts. More than simply creating music that simultaneously exuded tranquility and intense, cosmopolitan-minded movement, he was also responsible for developing the electro-acoustic harp, producing a signature sound that eventually reached worldwide cult status.

Born in Zurich in 1953, the musician--whom some fans and critics claim single-handedly released instrumental music from its marginal existence -- spent his early years absorbing the city's fine arts scene, courtesy of his father Hans, one of Europe's leading organists. After quickly learning guitar, flute and other instruments, Vollenweider developed a passion for the harp, which he modified to suit his needs; not only did he construct a damper to expedite more rhythmic playing, he also broadened the harp's tonal range by electrifying it. Launching his recording career with 1979’s “Eine Art Suite in XIII Teilen,” his uplifting funky beats, exotic pan-cultural influences and vibrant improvisations quickly became a sensation in Europe. Vollenweider performed his first show at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1981, and his global career took off shortly thereafter, when he signed with CBS Records and released “Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall…” in 1982.

After several years of international touring with “Down To The Moon,” Vollenweider pushed the artistic envelope even further on 1989’s multi-cultural, multiple genre “Dancing With The Lions,” for which he also directed and produced two award-winning videos. Following the double album collection Trilogy, “Book of Roses,” 1992 marked the first time he included symphonic orchestral elements on a recording. Cementing his reputation as a musical citizen of the world, the harpist in 1993 participated in a benefit show for Chernobyl's children in Moscow's Red Square, and received a World Music Award in Monaco.

His vast and inspiring artistic growth and global reach throughout the ‘90s included his first ever album with vocals (Eolian Minstrels, featuring Carly Simon and Eliza Gilkyson), concert duets with Pavarotti and Bryan Adams at a 1994 Pavarotti & Friends event in Italy, his first concert appearances in Latin America (1995) and a recording featuring symphonic orchestras from all over the world (1998’s “Kryptos”). Vollenweider returned to free improvisation and intimate musical dialogues with his 1999 masterwork, “Cosmopoly,” whose world music vibe included collaborations with Bobby McFerrin, Milton Nascimento, Carly Simon, Abdullah Ibrahim, 74 year old Armenian dudek legend Djivan Gasparyan, Galician bagpipe and whistle virtuoso Carlos Nunez and the American blues trombone master Ray Anderson. “Cor do amor,” collaboration with Nascimento, was nominated for the first Latin Grammy.

Over the past few years, Vollenweider has continued to enchant audiences worldwide, from Brazil and Bali (the international conference song of convergence) to Athens (the old Olympic Stadium, where he performed the theatre piece, “Socrates ñ Dawn of Civilization” with actor Rod Steiger), Hungary, England and Johannesburg, South Africa (the North Sea Festival). He has also collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer on the score to “Tears From The Sun,” and other films.

“Very early in my life, I felt as if there were a haunting sound vision that led me to experiment with lots of different instruments,” he says. “Once I discovered the harp, and the sound I was looking for, I was ready to go out into the world. It was an incredible time of openness when people were interested in uncommon and unknown things, and we benefited from that spirit. After such a long process of recording ‘Vox,’ we are looking forward to playing live again. When the lights go out, still to me after all these years it's an intensely magical moment.”