Pipe Solo Salsa. 2012. Cali - Colombia

Esta produccion 'Sin Compromiso'; cuenta con la participacion de musicos verdaderamente talentosos de varios paises como los Cubanos el experimentado Angel Bonne y Roberto Pulido, el Venezolano Luis Fernando Borges, Suiza, Alemania, Italia, Serbia. 

 Como dice El Zorro; 'Para mi sin compromiso significa: sin miedo al que dirán,sin prestar atención a nada negativo,a que me digan si tengo el permiso o no de componer esta música. Es hacer simplemente, lo que me gusta y expresar lo que siente mi corazón. 

 Es por eso que he querido mezclar estilos. En busca de nuevas definiciones, con la intención de poner a gozar al mundo. He aquí el resultado de una producción llena de virtuosismo y sin compromiso. Gracias a la redificación global, pude trabajar con músicos de casi todo el mundo como: Cuba,Venezuela, Italia, Serbia, Alemania y Suiza.

 A los que le estoy muy agradecido de su aporte y sus maravillosas interpretaciones. Muchas Gracias. Como les decía, esta producción contiene varios géneros musicales, por ejemplo: timba, funk, jazz, pop...etc. esta unión de géneros es a la que puedo denominar. Música latina de hoy'.

Timba.com:

Playing outside the box This is hardly a newsflash for the serious timbero, but Martin Lehrner, better known as "El Zorro", has released his 5th CD this time titled "Sin Compromiso". The name indicates that he made this album according to his own exacting standards and without compromise. El Zorro must be the most prolific European timbero, although he might prefer to classify himself as simply "contemporary latin". In any case, I have finally had time to sit down and listen to the CD without distractions and am happy to tell you all that El Zorro continues to push the boundries. His arrangements venture outside the box with exciting fusions.

The album begins with a "guaguancó-funk" and songs range from ballads, to reggae, to mambo, to timbaton and timba-funk. The lyrics are a combination of his own as well as songs written by singer Roberto Pulido and collaborations between El Zorro and Roberto. El Zorro's musical fusions are really powerful. For example the title track is listed as timba-funk and it is heavily funky. A very dancable tune, it even has a "Guitar Hero" moment. I expect that this album easily crosses over in clubs that play Latin as well as other genres. It has something for everyone. El Zorro continues his collaboration with excellent musicians. In addition to Roberto, lead vocalists are El Zorro, Ángel Bonne, Luis Fernando Borjas and Leonardo Columbie. The female coristas Yudelkis Lafuente Acea, Arlety Valdés Cana and Sarah "La Pescadora" Fischer give the CD a unique sound in this male-dominated genre. El Zorro himself plays trombone, sings coro and plays piano and keyboard on all but three of the songs. He is truly a complete musician.

"Sin Compromiso" was released by CME music last month and is also available at iTunes. For El Zorro's own comments see his website. Michelle "la timbera mayor"

Descarga.com:

What a great timba-funk, jazzy, pan-Caribbean pop dance album! This DJ Alert should be on the short list of Must-Haves. With singers Roberto Pulido, Angel Bonne and Fernando Borges, "Sin Compromiso" is a true international effort, with musicians from Cuba, Venezuela, Germany, Italy, Serbia and Switzerland. And it works, big-time. El Zorro proves, once again, that this music the music of the world. Once listen, and you will feel it too.

This one might be the feel-good release of 2010.

Very Highly Recommended. Bruce Polin

Jazz ´n´ More:

El Zorro? Dahinter würde man im ersten Moment kaum einen Schweizer vermuten. Und dass sich der Zürcher Posaunist Martin Lehner auf seinem neuen, fünften Album ausschliesslich der kubanischen Musik (Timba) annimmt, mag Skepsis hervorrufen. Diese schwindet jedoch bereits mit den ersten Takten des Openers "Mata La Rata": Perkussion, ein schreiender Hahn, ein überaus fetter Bläsersatz, tighte Drumbreaks und treibende Coro- Gesänge lassen den Puls sofort s teigen und sorgen für beste Stimmung. Das Album heisst nicht zufällig "Sin Compromiso": Lehner geht kompromisslos ans Werk. Seine multinationale Truppe wird von drei fantastischen Leadsängern aus Kuba und Venezuela angeführt, während die Instrumentalisten aus der Schweiz, Italien, Deutschland und im Fall der Violinistin (!) Milicia Lazic aus Serbien stammen. Stilistisch sind die Kompositionen Lehners schlicht Contemporary Latin Music mit Elementen aus Funk, Jazz, Pop und Reggae. Der Timba-Funk "Aleluya" klingt wie eine Latin-Version von "Tower Of Power".

Neben atemberaubenden Rhythmen und überzeugenden Arrangements sorgen die Balladen für angenehme Abwechslung. Insgesamt ein sehr gelungenes, authentisches Album mit einem einzigen Wermutstropfen: dem Drumcomputer.

SolarLatinClub:

Recuerdo la primera vez que escuche El Borracho por alla en el 2003, la cancion de este caballero suizo que venia en su primera produccion musical La Vida Entera (2003) para el sello Bembe. Bueno, ese tema es hoy por hoy uno de mis preferidos en la Timba. Creeria que el Richard Martin Lehner vuelve a sus raices con este nuevo album que titula, me imagino que muy concientemente Sin Compromisos. Sera que fue el cambio de label ? se siente mas libre... bueno, escuchando el track Sin Compromiso me diria que si... Excelente fusion, no es timba, no es Reggae... es algo propio, es la gozadera del Zorro y desde ahora la nuestra. Esto seguramente prendera la fiesta en Cali.

topten playlist, Salsa.ch

Die neuste Produktion von Michael Lehner (El Zorro) ist einmal mehr eine Gemeinschaftsproduktion von kubanischen und europäischen Musikern. Während andere immer in den gleichen musikalischen Mustern hängen bleiben, sucht Zorro nach neuen Wegen. Die CD ist umschrieben mit "Musica Latina de Hoy" und das trifft voll zu. Ich habe schon einige songs ab der CD gespielt und da war immer Party! (Stil: Contemporary Latin Music)

by DJ Saltho

DJ Pepe

El Zorro is back!! Great Album - Música cubana contemporanea!!

Salsa.it:

Come esplicato nel titolo e nella dichiarazione scritta da El Zorro nel booklet, questo cd (i cui brani sono stati tutti composti dallo stesso Martin Richard Lehner e che è il quinto in ordine di uscita) non contiene compromessi d' ordine musicale e – a mio parere – specie dall' ottica un po' provinciale o comunque spesso standardizzata della musica latina come viene per lo piu' proposta in Italia – in maniera particolare in riferimentio alla ballabilità che per molti brani mi pare un po' ostica.Vero è che El Zorro ci ha abituati nelle passate produzioni alle Fusion, che però rimanevano a mio parere piu' vicine a cio' che attiene alla timba 'classica'. In questo album è preponderante la fusion con funky: "Mata la rata" (rumba guaguanco/timba/funky) brano che parte col famoso motivo di "Triller" di Michael Jackson; "Sin compromiso", "Aleluya", "Mira como ando", "Noviembre" (tutte timba/funky….o forse piu' funky che timba). Troviamo poi il reggae nel brano "Farandulera", una balada/pop (assai riuscita!) ne "Otra vez", ritmi afro cubani anche questi mezclati alla pop music in "Todas la estrellas". "Mambo como no" è invece un mambo a volte "classico" (non manca il "Dilo!" del Maestro Prado) in altri passaggi vicino alla timba. La timba meno contanimata è la track n' 11 "H2O" (che contiene un ottimo assolo di sax) nonche' la 6 "Nunca" (timba tendente al romantico sottolineata dal violino) ma incredibilmente (rispetto ai classici cd cui siamo abituati) il pezzo piu' orecchiabile e immediatamente ballabile è la bonus-track "Culo gordo* che nell' album viene presentato come rock/reggaeton ma a me pare francamente il classico TimbaTon da pista. Un album, per concludere, per cultori della musica cubana (e non del ballo "a lo cubano"), oppure interessante per quei dj's che vogliono esplorare e proporre ritmi che si stacchino dal dejà vù.

A cura di: Roberto Rabbi

planettimba.com:

El Zorro – Sin Compromiso | New album | 2010 As we stated before, El Zorro was working in his new album, well, now is out on sale through Prodland, the new album is full rhythms like latin pop, funky,jazz, timba, etc. merged in one album titled "Sin Compromisos". "Sin Compromiso" means, No Commitment, " Through the advantage of global network, I was able to bring together musicians from different countries and continents such as Cuba, Venezuela, Germany, Italy, Serbia and Switzerland. I'm very fortunate and thankful to have been able to work with all these gifted artists. " he stated in his website elzorro.ch. there is still musicians who are still exploring and experimenting with other fusions and martin lehrner is one of them, can be risky but the courage of doing it in exploring and experimenting is important to gain new listeners, and not only change of music style to be alive, in this dificult times, where the music industry is having a big problems because of the piracy,and this is good reason to buy this album !

Posted on 12 August 2010 by Franz

SALSA Y TIMBA

Esta es la ultima aventura musical del Zorro quien estaba trabajando su nuevo disco, lanzado al mercado a través de Prodland, el nuevo álbum completo, como es una mezcla de ritmos entre los que se destacan latin pop, funky, jazz, timba, etc fusionaron en un disco titulado "Sin Compromisos". "Sin Compromiso "significa, ninguna comisión, un emocionado Zorro agradecido a sus seguidores a nivel mundial y a Cuba por la inspiración y ser la musa de su música "a través de la ventaja de la red global, tuve la oportunidad de reunir a músicos de diferentes países y continentes , como Cuba, Venezuela, Alemania, Italia, Serbia y Suiza. Soy muy afortunado y agradecido de haber podido trabajar con todos estos artistas con talento.

"Él dijo en su página web elzorro.ch.todavía hay músicos que siguen y están explorando y experimentando con otras fusiones y lehrner martin es uno de ellos , puede ser arriesgado, pero el coraje de hacerlo en la exploración y la experimentación es importante para ganar nuevos oyentes, y no sólo el cambio de estilo de música que se vivo, en tiempos esta dificil, donde la industria de la música está teniendo un gran problema debido a la piratería, y esto es una buena razón para comprar este disco!

Salsafrance.com:

Interview with "El Zorro"

"El Zorro" is a musical project founded by two musicians : the swiss composer Martin Richard Lehner and the Cuban trombonist Gustavo Carlos Duran Anaya, a.k.a. "El Buda" (El Zorro -the fox- was the nickname given by the Cubans to Martin because of his ability to understand Cuban music). We thought we had found European timba. We were wrong : "El Zorro"'s music is much more than that.

- Who is Martin Richard Lehner ? What are Don Diego's occupations when he is not el Zorro ?

Don Diego's full-time occupation is kissing lovely and young women... just kidding. I work part-time as leader of the Jazz department at the Conservatory in Zürich. The rest of the week I work as a composer and arranger for different customers and for my musical projects. My last order was to arrange 35 tunes for a musical show. I love this kind of work, and my dream would be to work as an independent multimedia artist. I'm very interested in video, graphical work and of course in music. But there is a lot of competition in this business, and it isn't easy to earn enough money to keep my family "alive". Therefore I will keep my part-time job.

- You wrote the songs in El Zorro project. Your songs have a special flavor. How would you define it ?

Nearly all songs are original songs written by myself. There are 2 songs form Gustavo and 1 song from Roberto (note : Roberto Pulido). In the beginning the musical style was straight Timba, but every next CD-production took more influence from Funk, Jazz and Pop music. Music must live and music has to change, develop, if not, it will be dead. So, I'm not interested to write every time just the exact same thing. My feeling is to do just those things that are creative and new for me.

- Your friend Gustavo seems to have helped you a great deal to discover Cuban music "from inside". What part of him is El Zorro ? Many guest stars sing in El Zorro albums : Mayito Rivera from Los Van Van, and most important Angel Bone. Is it thanks to Gustavo ?

Gustavo was a very important person in the whole El Zorro project. He has organized all the musicians for the recordings and conducted also the studio sessions in Cuba. He is a well known trombone-player in Havana and he knows most of the Cuban singers personally. Through his connections and his belonging to these different kinds of music communities, we were able to win all these singing stars.

- Tell me more about the band members...

There are two aspects ; one is the band here in Switzerland and the other are the recordings in Cuba. My band here is a bit smaller for economic reasons. Actually the band has 2 Cuban singers (Roberto and Michel) and the rest of the band, 8 musicians, are swiss professional musicians with extensive experience in Latin music. Most of them went several times to Cuba to study Cuban music. The CDs were recorded with some of the best Cuban musicians and without economic limits in Havana.

- There are few timba bands in Europe. Some of them are from Switzerland : Picason and Palatimba too. Is it only coincidence or do you have some explanation ?

Picason is the oldest Timba band here in Switzerland. They are the pioneers and helped make this music more popular. One reason is that Switzerland doesn't really have it own music. Okay some yodeling, but seriously, forget this. "Swiss" isn't an ethic origin. We are formed from different nations and we have a high rate of immigrants. So, I like to say that we are not held in a tight corset of some special type of music like in other countries. This really helps to be open and nosy to other kinds of music.

- Your music is not only timba music. Why did you make this choice ? Are you going on exploring afro-cuban music in your next album ? Do you have anything to reveal about it ?

Like I said before, I'm very interested in mixing styles, in creating new sounds. I've just finished the recordings for my 5th album. I used to record all the stuff in Cuba, but this time it's different. Cubans are the best for timba music, but my musical style has changed, and I'm always looking for the best musicians for the recordings, and that's why I decided to record just some takes in Cuba and the rest here in Europe. My new CD is called "Sin compromiso" (Without compromises). Without compromises means, don't worry what is allowed or not, let's do only what you really want to. Creating, defining and mixing styles, with a strong desire of creative experiment. The result is an album of uncompromisable quality. Through the advantage of global networks, I was able to bring together musicians from different countries and continents such as Cuba, Venezuela, Germany, Italy, Serbia and Switzerland. I'm very fortunate and thankful to have been able to work with all these gifted artists. So, what do we call this music now ? Timba, Funk, Jazz, Pop ? It doesn't fit into any existing box, that's why I'd like to simply call it : Contemporary Latin Music. If you are curious about Martin's last words, you can visit "El Zorro" MySpace, where the teaser of "Sin Compromiso" is available.

Many thanks to Martin for his kindness and his time.

Interview by Juanito from Salsa France.