The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi folks,

I got an e-mail from Christiaan Oyens yesterday with the good news that his new CD is now available through CD Baby: Christiaan Oyens - Adeus Paraíso

This is Christiaan's biography from the CD Baby page:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>A renowned composer and producer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this is acoustic lap steel player Christiaan Oyens’s first solo album. Influenced by players like Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Ben Harper, Egberto Gismonti, Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges, Adeus Paraíso (Goodbye Paradise) is a soulful and inspired album with richly textured compositions.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Dutch parents and raised in Brazil, Christiaan started his musical career as a drummer. When he turned 19, Christiaan moved to Los Angeles, California where he pursued his drumming studies. One day while strolling through Santa Monica he walked into McCabe’s Guitar Shop and heard a show by multi-instrumentalist David Lindley. Christiaan instantly fell in love with the acoustic (Weissenborn) Hawaiian lap steel guitar Lindley was playing. Many years later, back in Brazil where he was producing albums and touring as a drummer he decided to invest in these guitars. After playing and recording his lap steel guitars with artists like Milton Nascimento, Zelia Duncan and Lulu Santos, Christiaan decided to release his first solo album.

Adeus Paraiso was conceived as guitar duets with Christiaan playing both the regular and the Weissenborn guitars. Many altered tunings were used with these instruments. The result is an innovative album with some brilliant and truly original slide guitar playing. From the Hawaiian flavored “Adeus Paraiso”, the elegant bluesy textures of “Negrume”, the exotic Brazilian rhythms of “Novas Possibilidades Lindas” to the quasi-classical “Ninutchka”; the diverse atmospheres of these compositions defy categorization. There is also a heart-felt rendition of the traditional “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor”, as well as Christiaan singing his original “Trem do Horizonte" with special guest Milton Nascimento. The CD includes a multi-media track where Christiaan explains his passion for the Weissenborn Hawaiian guitar as well as it’s history, plus a video clip of the song “Ninutchka”.

This record has something for fans of acoustic guitar, lovers of good music and people who appreciate intense performances. For more information, check out Christiaan’s website.</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Christiaan's website, which is a great source of Weissenborn information, is http://www.christiaanoyens.com.br .

Here is a previous post about Christiaan's music: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/009352.html

I'm looking forward to listening to the album!

Cheers,

Fred

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www.myspace.com/fredkinbom

www.frockmusic.com
www.myspace.com/ilikerecords

Thanks for the heads-up, I've been looking forward to this one!

Has anyone else got this CD? I think the first 5 copies that CD Baby asks all "new artists" for sold out straight away once the word was out. For those of you who want to buy a copy, Christiaan posted another batch to CD Baby last week, so it should be available to order again soon.

I got my copy last Friday and I really like it. I haven't had time to listen to it closely enough to write any form of review just yet though. The standout track for me after the first few listens is "Novas possibilidades lindas" - a very beautiful piece of music on solo (?) Weissenborn - followed closely by "Ninutchka" and the rest of the stretch of tracks from 6 to 12. A lot of beautiful musical moments in there. For me, the strength of Christiaan's music are those "suggestive" moments that are hard to put your finger on, if you know what I mean. (OK, Fred, stop writing now.)

Being so new to lap steel, I hardly feel qualified to comment on playing originality and technique, but for me the thing that matters is the music.

------------------
www.myspace.com/fredkinbom

www.frockmusic.com
www.myspace.com/ilikerecords

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Fred Kinbom on 15 August 2006 at 06:34 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Fred Kinbom on 15 August 2006 at 06:43 AM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Fred Kinbom on 15 August 2006 at 06:45 AM.]</p></FONT>

G'day Fred and forum folks.

I too have tried to order the CD but looks like it is popular. I am waiting on an email to inform when the CD is back in stock. Looking forward to a good listen. Plenty of lap slide ideas to learn from this fabulous artist.

Cheers

Alan

Fred,

I bought a couple copies. The pricing they had when it was in stock was something like 1 copy for $20 or if you buy more than 1 they were $10 each. Being good with math I bought 2 for $20 rather than 1.

I agree that the standout track is the haunting "Novas Possibilidades Lindas". I also like his take on "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor". The title song is a lot of fun... maybe a soundtrack for the meeting of Hawaiian and Brazilian Cowboys. I also like the opening track "Negrume" which must be inspired by listening to Kelly Joe Phelps. Sounds like one of Kelly's songs slowed down.

Other songs keep growing on me. I think this will be one that I enjoy more and more over time. Some of it is very original sounding and some not but the good feeling is there throughout.

David,

I wish I'd have noticed the 50% discount on 2 copies before I ordered.

Alan - then I could have sent one to you for free!

------------------
www.myspace.com/fredkinbom

www.frockmusic.com
www.myspace.com/ilikerecords

Christiaan Oyens' CD is back in stock at CD Baby now: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oyens

------------------
www.myspace.com/fredkinbom

www.frockmusic.com
www.myspace.com/ilikerecords

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Fred Kinbom on 30 August 2006 at 08:21 AM.]</p></FONT>

Can anyone tell me how to get the video to play?

Lynn