LUIS PANIAGUA – voice and lyre
Luis Paniagua was the winner of the Spanish National Award for Best New Music Album for "Nanas de Sol" in the year 2002. In 2003 he was nominated for "Bienvenida" by the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias de la Música (The Spanish Academy of the Arts and Sciences of Music).
Luis Paniagua was born in Madrid in 1957. His musical influences are both Western and Eastern, with a particular emphasis upon Northern India, where he studied under the guidance of maestro T. N. Nagar in 1980.
Luis Paniagua specialises in 4,000 year old stringed instruments including the lyre, kithara and arched harp, which were played in the ancient Mediterranean region in addition to other contemporary cultures including Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization. Among others, the instruments he plays are: lyre, kithara, arched harp, sitar, dilruba, pipa, ud, guimbri, tibetan bowls, shawm, psaltery, guitar, cuatro, synthesizer, electronics, pots, pans, tubófonos, papers, stones, soil, water, wind, fire, world percussion and voice.
Between 1972 and 1982, Luis Paniagua formed part of Atrium Musicae, a musical group dedicated to medieval European music, directed by his brother, the maestro Gregorio Paniagua. At the age of fifteen, along with the group, he made his debut in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and undertoook a large number of tours of the USA, Canada, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Poland and the old USSR. He recorded 14 albums with Atrium Musicae that have been released in Europe, America and Japan.
Luis Paniagua has performed in many of the most important venues and international festivals in the world.
