Once upon a time...
One winter Ibiza night by the light of a pine fire in a lonely casa on the side of Cala Llonga´s Lost Mountain three well aged men decided after decades of musical abstinence to free their instruments from cobwebs and a patina of dust and once again storm the stage of showbiz, that had been their place of work in the last century. Over a bottle of fine malt whiskey Charles Adams, Mal Brittain and Volker Schmitz gave birth to The Lost Mountain Orchestra.
Luckily for them and their audience they dipped into the fountain of youth and discovered the lovely talents of Katie McGregor who wowed the crowd with her voice and the sound of her upright bass. First they played in a bar called 'Daffer´s' where they were stopped everytime by the police as soon as the first note sounded. Secret concerts were organized and the number of friends grew - amongst them the new mayor of the town. This helped.
The band was soon playing everywhere from night clubs to bars, from fiesta stages, intimate partys as well as Villa gigs, weddings, on boats and rocks in the sea.
2009 Charles Adams retired and went back to Louisiana to shoot aligators (or was it Florida to chase bunnies?).
Also Katie gave birth to twins and resigned from the band.
In that year the actual formation rised:
Mal (vocals & guitar) born 1957 in Swansea, Wales,
started playing guitar when he was 17 yo. He was influenced by the songwriters of the 70s like James Taylor, Carol King & Paul Simon.He cut his teeth by playing in folk clubs. Blessed with a powerful rich voice and pleasant guitar style, he progressed through solo singer/songwriter gigs at National & International Music Festivals supporting artists and bands such as Ralph McTell, Fairport Convention & Jethro Tull and has performed extensively in Europe, Canada & the USA.
Although he "cut his teeth" on the Folk/Rock circuit, Mal's love of Country Music led him to a chance meeting with Volker Schmitz on the Island of Ibiza in 2006 and after seven years of self imposed retirement from the music world together they formed The Lost Mountain Orchestra.
Mal writes the original songs performed by the LMO.
Volker Schmitz (guitars) was born 1957 in Cologne, Germany.
He grew up with music, listening to Jam Sessions with famous Jazz musicians like Niels Henning Ørsted Pederson, Eugen Cicero, Jean Warland and Francis Coppieters in the living room of his father´s house.
At 16 he had all this music running round in his head - from Chopin to Miles Davis - and just had to choose an instrument to let it out. So he started to play guitar.
Then came bands like 'Jazz meets Flamenco' with Nina Corti, Post Punk with 'Zeltinger`, he played as a guest with Cologne´s most successful band of the 90ies 'LSE' and composed music scores for german cinema and television.
On Ibiza he met Mal and decided to come back to live music after an almost 20 year break.
Santiago Bonet Bufi (violin & mandolin) born 1982 in Ibiza
He started his violin education at the age of six with his sister. After completion of his violin studies at the local Conservatory, he went on for his bachelor's degree in Violin and Chamber Music at the Balearic Music School, followed by a master in Barcelona, which he pursued coached by the prestigious Maestro Agustin León Ara. As a young musician, he took part of several youth orchestral projects in Catalonia and France, reviving and recording antique classical pieces from catalonian authors so far unknown.
Santiago has also performed with the Opera Theater Symphonic Orchestra of Menorca and the Regional Symphonic Orchestra of Vallés, besides being given the role of prime violin for two seasons at the Symphonic Orchestra of the Barcelona University. After researching the art of improvising in modern music at the Catalonian High School of Music (ESMUC), he finally joined The Lost Mountain Orchestra in 2009.
Marcela Friederichs (bass, cello, voice) was born 1966 in Bogota, Colombia.
She grew up in Puebla, Mexico - the capitol of Volkswagen. Marcela is musically influenced by regional south american folk, reaching from cumbia, vallenato, carrangueras and llaneras, over to Bossa Nova and various mexican folk styles and covering mariachi, huapango, rancheras, and northern, as well as revolution songs and dances.
Settled in Spain since 1990, she continued her education in musical and language teaching.
Diverse contributions to a variety of musical groups since 2002, going from classical to modern pop music.
2010 she joined the orchestra.
Mario Exposito Zagar (percussion) born in London 1974.
His artistic path started professionally in 1992 at the age of 18, performing as a folkloric dancer with the group “Brisas de España” for five years. For another six years he took over the percussion within the flamenco group “Quejío” among others on the island.
He also played with several DJ´s at local discotheques like AMNESIA, PRIVILEGE, SPACE.
In 2009, he joined The Lost Mountain Orchestra. He still performs with several local groups, while he studies cuban music during his frequent trips to the caribbean Island.
Claire Wakeman (bass, guitar, voice) Enfield, 1980
Claire’s professional career began in 1999 at Trinity College of Music where she studied classical guitar.
As a professional she has recorded and performed contrbuting to various music projects and playing live tours in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia covering genres from Folk,pop and rock bands.
They included performances as lead guitarist/vocals with Skandinavia, The Suffrajets, The Krak.
She has also collaborated with musicians such as Suzi Quatro, Adam Ant, Pete Doherty, Wolfman.
Claire has extended her reach musically to include working as an examiner for “RockSchool” which has taken her as far afield as Japan and Thailand and now has brought to the shores of Ibiza.
Our fantastic guest musicians:
The Lost Mountain Orchestra performs without safety net or double hull, using only in-the-moment-inspiration with acoustic instruments skillfully played, voices that touch the soul deeply and the ability to share the beautiful energy of their audience.
REAL MUSIC WILL SURVIVE THE DJ´S!
