Carlos Nunez has inherited the rich and ancient tradition of Galicia, the world's undiscovered Celtic region on the northwestern coast of Spain. Galicia's green hills and valleys, its cliffs, its old chapels and stone crosses, its castles, its mists and ancient forests, its legends… will make the visitor wonder whether he is in Spain or Ireland.
Carlos's career started at age 8 when he chose his instrument, the gaita or Galician bagpipes. At 13 he was invited to play as a soloist with the Lorient Symphony Orchestra in Brittany. It was there, that he met Paddy Moloney, who invited him to play with The Chieftains not long after that, in 1989 in the soundtrack to "Treasure Island" starring Charlton Heston. Since then he has recorded as a guest on The Chieftains best-selling album "The Long Black Veil" with Sinead O'Connor and Ry Cooder. He has also toured with them in Europe, Japan, Australia, and especially the USA.
Not even the highest marks on the Baroque recorder achieved in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid have swayed him from his native tradition. Now considered one of the best pipers in the world, Carlos Nunez has achieved a level of virtuosity previously considered the exclusive property of Scottish of Irish musicians.
Carlos has certainly the quality demanded by concert hall audiences but he is also a crowd pleaser with all the energy needed for outdoor rock auditoriums. As Paddy Moloney puts it: "Carlos is an absolute genius who sometimes steals the show, he brings the house down - so we'd better watch out!"
-from Brotherhood of Stars
He also appears on The Chieftains' album Santiago, a collection of Galician music crossed with the flavor and fervor of The Chieftains. It shows the wonderful similarities between the Celtic and Spanish music of Galicia, which is very Celtic itself. Carlos plays with Paddy Moloney in the wonderful song "Dueling Chanters" on the Galician Bagpipes (Gaita) with Paddy on the Irish Uilleann Pipes. It's a lovely CD and I highly recommend it.
If you saw it, later this past year Carlos performed with his band in the wonderful show Gael Force. They performed a song off of his album titled "Dancing with Rosina". They put on a beautiful display and in the middle of it Carlos danced with two fellow band members almost like a mini chorus line, then donned his pipes and piped up a storm! His way of playing is amazing. I would never have guessed pipes could be played so fast and with such energy as he did on that show. He is rightly called one of the greatest pipers in the world!
A Short Discogrophy
Brotherhood of Stars (page coming soon)
Santiago (The Chieftains)