The Lonely Shepherd, also known as ''Einsamer Hirte'' or ''Der einsame Hirte'' in German or as ''El pastor solitario'' in Spanish, is an instrumental piece by

James Last James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015), also known as Hansi, was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist (Last won the award for "best bassist" in Germany in each of ...

, first released in a recording with the Romanian panflutist

Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir (; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian nai (pan flute) musician. Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of normally 20-pipe nai, with 22, 25, 28 or even 30 pipes, to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight ov ...

Background

Originally, the title was planned for the album ''Filmmusik ohne Filme'', which was only to contain original compositions by

. This album was never released, so "The Lonely Shepherd " was published on Last's 1977 album ''Russland Erinnerungen'' (Memories of Russia). In the same year, it was also released as a single, which reached 22nd on the music charts in Germany. With this recording, Gheorghe Zamfir, who had already published a number of records, succeeded in an international breakthrough. Among other things, he accompanied James Last in his 1978 tour. "The Lonely Shepherd" has repeatedly been used as soundtrack. In 1979, it was used as the title theme for the six-part television series ''

Golden Soak ''Golden Soak'' is a 1979 Australian-British mini series about an English mining engineer who travels to Australia. It was based on the 1973 book of the same title written by Hammond Innes.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970- ...

'' (''Das Gold der Wüste''). In 1983 it was used as the love theme of a Venezuelan series called "Chao, Cristina" produced by the Venezuelan TV network RCTV and again in 1984 in the Oscar-nominated animated short film "Paradise". In 2003,

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

used the recording as soundtrack in a scene and in the closing credits of his film '' Kill Bill: Volume 1''. On the DVD, Gheorghe Zamfir is mistakenly credited as the title's producer. The title enjoys unbroken popularity up to today and is newly recorded by numerous artists. A rap version by Lamar in 1999 was quite successful, as well as a version by

Leo Rojas Juan Leonardo Santillia Rojas (born October 18, 1984) is an Ecuadorian musician. He won the fifth season of the television show ''Das Supertalent'', the German version of ''Britain's Got Talent''. Biography Rojas came from his home country t ...

, which enabled him to win the Television talent-show

Das Supertalent ''Das Supertalent'' (''Germany's Got Talent'', ''Got Talent Germany)'' is a German talent show, part of the internationally successful ''Got Talent franchise'', presented by Lola Weippert and Chris Tall. Just like in all other versions of the f ...

in December, 2011.

References

1977 songs Instrumental solo pieces Fictional shepherds Songs about shepherds Songs about loneliness Songs with music by James Last Compositions in D minor {{Song-stub