Carlos Núñez Muñoz (born 1971) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

musician and multi-instrumentalist who plays the gaita, the traditional Galician

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

, Galician flute,

ocarina The ocarina is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from cl ...

, Irish flute,

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...

and low whistle.

Life and career

Nuñez was born in 1971 in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

. He began playing the bagpipes when he was eight years old. In his early teens, he was invited to play with the Festival Orchestra of the

Festival Interceltique de Lorient __NOTOC__ The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by . This annual festival takes ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

. He studied the recorder at the Royal Conservatory in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and quickly gained stature as a young virtuoso. He met

Paddy Moloney Paddy Moloney ( ga, Pádraig Ó Maoldomhnaigh; 1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was parti ...

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymou ...

and performed with the band two years later, becoming referred to as the "7th member" of the band. He appeared on their Grammy-winning ''

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

'', which focused on Galician music and included other artists such as

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cum ...

and

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

. He has collaborated with

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, ...

Sharon Shannon Sharon Shannon (born 8 June 1968) is an Irish musician, best known for her work with the button accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 debut album, '' Sharon Shannon,'' was the best-sel ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, '' The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want Wha ...

Altan Altan may refer to: * Altan (name) * Altan (band), a folk music group from Donegal * Altan (album), ''Altan'' (album), a 1987 album by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy * Altan Jalab, a village in Afghanistan * Altan (river), stretch of th ...

and

La Vieja Trova Santiaguera LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

. He collaborated with

Liam O'Flynn Liam Óg O'Flynn ( ga, Liam Ó Floinn, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish uilleann piper and Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lu ...

on The Piper's Call to perform ''Muiñeira de Poio / Muiñeira de Ourense.'' His most renowned album was 1996's '' A Irmandade Das Estrelas'', which sold an unprecedented 100,000 copies, and included collaborations with Nightnoise, Luz Casal, Tino di Geraldo,

Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer, keyboard player, and composer, considered one of the most influential female vocalists in the history of Irish music. She is famed for her work with traditional Irish groups such as Skara ...

and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill,

Kepa Junkera Kepa Junkera Urraza (born 1965 in Bilbao, Euskadi, Spain) is a Basque musician and composer. A master of the trikitixa, the diatonic accordion, he has recorded more than 10 albums. Allmusic/ref> Junkera won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk ...

, Ry Cooder, The Chieftains, and

Dulce Pontes Dulce José Silva Pontes (; born 8 April 1969) is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk, and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 199 ...

. He was a key collaborator in Tamiya Terashima's

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for the film

Tales from Earthsea ''Tales from Earthsea'' is a collection of fantasy stories and essays by American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Harcourt in 2001. It accompanies five novels (1968 to 2001) set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea. . Retrieved 2012-02- ...

(''Gedo Senki''), released in July 2006. He also released an additional album, titled ''Melodies from Gedo Senki'', which included new Gedo Senki open source tracks (OST) along with new tunes by Carlos himself. On his 1999 album ''Os Amores Libres'', he collaborated with French producer

Hector Zazou Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...

. He continues to tour the world playing in large and small venues. Nuñez was in Japan in October 2011 reciting at two locations, at Sarutahiko Shrine in

Ise, Mie , formerly called Ujiyamada (宇治山田), is a city in central Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū, Japan. Ise is home to Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Shintō shrine in Japan. The city has a long-standing title – Shinto (神都 ...

and a live house in Tokyo with regular collaborator Pancho Álvarez (

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

), his brother Xurxo Nuñez (percussion) and Begona Rioboo (fiddle) working with an

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

n singer song writer

Koja Misako Koja may refer to: * Kathe Koja, an American writer, *Koja, Jakarta Koja is a subdistrict of North Jakarta, Indonesia. It is known as the location of Kampung Tugu, a historic Portuguese-influenced neighborhood in North Jakarta. Koja contains the ...

and keyboardist Sahara Kazuya. He played his first major North American tour in October 2012, accompanied by his brother Xurxo on percussion, Álvarez on guitar, fiddle player Katie McNally (in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

), and fiddle-player Sahra Featherstone and singer Eleanor McCain (in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

). He was hailed as the "Hendrix of the bagpipes". In 2010 he collaborated with the French

Puy du Fou Puy du Fou () is a historical theme park in Les Epesses in the Pays de la Loire region of western France. It receives more than 2 million visitors every year, making it one of the most popular theme parks in France. In 2019 and 2020, it is the f ...

theme park in the creation of their show "The Secret of the Lance." In January 2013 he embarked on a seven date tour of the UK with fellow pipe-player Philip Pickett and

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classic ...

ensemble The Musicians of the Globe. In 2016 he participated in the film J: Beyond Flamenco by

Carlos Saura Carlos Saura Atarés (born 4 January 1932) is a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. Along with Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be one of Spain’s most renowned filmmakers. He has a long and prolific career th ...

, the legendary Spanish film maker who reveals the energy and passion of the

jota Jota may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet; * (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet; * The name of the ...

, a waltz-like castanet dance with its origins in Saura's home province of Aragon. Around a Celtic circle, Nuñez with his bagpipe directed the Galician jota. Surrounded by musicians and dancers, he got a crescendo that ends up being one of the most energetic and magical moments of the film.

Albums

* ''A irmandade das estrelas'' (''Brotherhood of Stars'') - 1996 * ''Os Amores Libres'' - 1999 * ''Maio Longo'' - 2000 * ''Todos Os Mundos'' - 2002 * ''Un Galicien en Bretagne'' (a.k.a. ''Finisterre: the End of the Earth'') - 2003 * ''Cinema Do Mar'' - 2005 * ''En Concert'' - 2006 CD & DVD * ''Melodies from Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea)'' - 2007 * ''Alborada do Brasil'' - 2009 * ''Discover'' - 2012 * ''Inter-Celtic'' - 2014, Sony

References

External links

*
Video J: Beyond Flamenco de Carlos Saura, galician jota by Carlos Núñez

J: Beyond Flamenco Web.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez Munoz, Carlos 1971 births Musicians from Galicia (Spain) Players of Galician bagpipes Living people Bagpipe players Players of Spanish bagpipes Madrid Royal Conservatory alumni People from Vigo Spanish flautists Galician traditional music groups

Life and career

Albums

See also

References

External links