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Mathias Borgmann
Mathias is a performer as well as a composer, producer
and arranger. His passions are not limited to any particular
style or period: he can become equally excited by Gregorian
Chants as by the loudest and hardest Rock! Thus, as a performer,
he dedicated himself to both classical nylon string guitar
and electric guitar. He strongly believes in the role of
music to feed the human soul, to express what can't be
said with words, pictures or sculptures. He is still fascinated
by its unique capability to make emotional and atmospheric
statements in time through movement and sound. "Music
still has the role of being the path towards state of minds
and evolutions of the soul; twentieth century music all
too often limited itself to mere expressions of those,
confined to the personality of the composer and his or
her views. This attitude totally neglected the constructive
powers and spirituality of music, which I feel are vital
for our times and need to be reconfigured to replace the
constant pleonasms about the torments of humanity! Try
this without being reactionary..."
History
Mathias was born in Luxembourg in 1965. He was surrounded
by music from the start: his mother, a musician herself,
listened all day long to Bach, Mozart, the Beatles and
to the Rolling Stones (a mixture that seemed to have had
some impact on him). Playing music and singing songs with
his parents and three sisters was much preferred to watching
TV. He vividly remembers lying awake at night "making
up imaginary symphonies and inventing melodies and themes
that didn't exist yet "- he was composing all the
time without knowing what he was doing! There was too much
respect and awe for the great masters to allow him to think
it was possible to be a composer. Still the most important
part in his childhood games was to provide a new soundtrack
in his mind for each game, like in films.
He became a member of the city's Academy Choir when he
was six years old. This formed his polyphonic hearing and
understanding of harmonies to a great extent. Luxembourg's
music academy,"le Conservatoire", has a french
and italian tradition of teaching music, which means the
students are taught reading and writing music before actually
learning to play an instrument (something that has shaped
his own, very different view as how to teach music).
His first instrument was the classical guitar, which
he started studying with Cary Greisch. He was thirteen
now, his favourites were Genesis, Yes, Jimi Hendrix, John
McLaughlin, Led Zeppelin and so forth... he got bored to
death by the likes of Carulli, Carcassi and Aguado which
unfortunately are forced upon every aspiring classical
guitarist! So he decided to be as "fast" as possible,
meaning "jumping" as many academic years as possible
to be able to play the "cool" stuff: Villa Lobos,
Brouwer, Baden Powell etc. He founded his first band when
he was sixteen, "Playground", which was followed
by "Halfworld": All these were strongly influenced
by King Crimson and Robert Fripp. He got a so called First
Price (the final grade) in classical guitar, harmony, analysis
and ensemble music in1984. He then moved to Strasbourg
to the Conservatoire National, studying with Bernard Fieschi,
himself an ex pupil of Alexandre Lagoya. He also started
Jazz with Bernard Stroeber, later the musical director
of the ONJ (Orchestre National de Jazz) of France, having
simultaneous lessons with Gabriel Feodorow (guitarist of
Magma and Gong at the time) and Philip Catherine.
During this period he formed his first international
band, "Infusion" (this means" herbal tea" in
french) with musicians from Morocco and France. He also
became (the only white) member of an african band from
Cameroon, still one of his fondest memories. There is nothing
like african rhythms in its complexity and richness, but
it reaches everybody's tummy!
He had started his professional career by then (1988),
playing in a very successful showband in Luxembourg; touring
with them he got to know many other countries, and learned
a lot about the musicians' trade. He had also become the
guitar teacher in an academy in the south of the country,
did many studio sessions where he learned recording and
producing. He had started masterclasses with Gonzalez Mohinho,
himself a pupil of Andres Segovia, and continued improving
his composing skills at the Royal Academy in Liege (Belgium).
In 1992 he moved to London, to seek new life forms and
civilizations...
Now
...because many projects he started then are still going
on today. He has a Jazz and Fusion band called "Meander" (founded
in 1994, with sax player Ingrid Laubrock and Davide Mantovani
on bass) with two albums out so far. Mathias is currently
trying to blow new life into this project.
Another album which is available is "Match"'s
Mad Cake Dizz Ease, which he wrote and produced for soul
singer ChiChi. He is the guitarist of italian soul act "Salvo",
and every now and then he plays Bossa Nova duos with the
brazilian legend Ife Tolentino (guitar and voice).
After having studied film music on a four terms course
with Amit Sen in the last year, he accepted the challenge
to write for other people, trying to respect their wishes
whilst staying faithful to his tastes and beliefs. He has
written the music for two films (that are "out there"..)
so far: "Tassilo", a 15 min short film about
an animator, and the 30 min documentary "St Petersburg" about
mentally retarded people and the work of volunteers in
Russia. He is also looking for a publisher for his sightreading
method that he conceived for guitarists and bass players,
knowing that they're usually illiterate. He definitely
found a remedy for this regretful fact! So, if you're reading
this, and you're a publisher: it's a hit! A second method
he wrote is designed for guitarists who compose: "All
about voicings and finding your own chords."
Works
A sample of Matt's work can be found below. Select your
preferred format and size:
Secret Dance of the Monks
Today on the Moon
Teach Me How to Fly
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