{ "ok" : true, "artist" : { "name" : "Gilles Zimmermann", "page" : "gilles_zimmermann", "description" : "viola da gamba creating new world music", "location" : "Egling an der Paar, Germany", "bio" : "Gilles Zimmermann is a composer and multi-instrumentalist dedicated to the viola da gamba. He creates an original form of contemporary improvised music, using elements from medieval, world, jazz, contemporary music, as well as various popular music, with no boundaries.\n\nGilles plays acoustic and electric viola da gamba over laptop and Live Ableton. Apart from Western culture (Bach, Satie, Ravel, Monk to Hendrix and Frank Zappa), his musical sources are European (from Ireland to the Balkans through Andalousia), and Arabian, Indian and African.\n\nAfter nearly 18 years of blues/rock/jazz guitar and bass, Gilles lived 8 years in London, then moved to Bavaria and changed to the viola da gamba in 1993. It took him some years to (re-)gain the same level as on the guitar. The viola da gamba changed his vision of music completely. Though he does like some of the Baroque music for the viol, this music is not his world and he wants to show all the facettes of this wonderful instrument in all sorts of other musical contexts.\n\nGilles Plays with open-minded, mostly oriental musicians (Persian, Indian, Arabian). The album The Missing Link features modern viola da gamba with Indian and French musicians. Music comes from the muses, not the museums!\n\nYou can also find out more about Gilles on his website.", "photo" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/img/gilles_zimmermann.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/gilles_zimmermann/", "albums" : [{ "sku" : "gzimmermann-missinglinknv", "name" : "The Missing Link (vocals removed)", "artist" : { "name" : "Gilles Zimmermann", "page" : "gilles_zimmermann" }, "release_date" : "2026-10-21", "genres" : ["World","Classical","Renaissance"], "vocals" : "vocals removed", "moods" : ["mysterious","reflective","exotic","meditative","nostalgic","elegant"], "uses" : ["documentary","period drama or history","art or gallery","meditation or yoga","podcast background","emotional storytelling"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["viola da gamba","world traditional instruments","vocalizations","acoustic ensemble"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "A reflective, exotic blend of viola da gamba and world traditions, ideal for documentaries, period dramas, and meditative or artistic projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Gilles%20Zimmermann/The%20Missing%20Link%20(vocals%20removed)/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/gzimmermann-missinglinknv/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/gzimmermann-missinglinknv", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=gzimmermann-missinglinknv" },{ "sku" : "gzimmermann-missinglink", "name" : "The Missing Link", "artist" : { "name" : "Gilles Zimmermann", "page" : "gilles_zimmermann" }, "release_date" : "2015-02-27", "genres" : ["World","Classical","Renaissance"], "vocals" : "vocals", "moods" : ["mysterious","reflective","exotic","meditative","nostalgic","elegant"], "uses" : ["documentary","period drama or history","art or gallery","meditation or yoga","podcast background","emotional storytelling"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["viola da gamba","world traditional instruments","vocalizations","acoustic ensemble"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "A reflective, exotic blend of viola da gamba and world traditions, ideal for documentaries, period dramas, and meditative or artistic projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Gilles%20Zimmermann/The%20Missing%20Link/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/gzimmermann-missinglink/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/gzimmermann-missinglink", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=gzimmermann-missinglink" }] }, "license" : { "music_license" : "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 1.0)", "music_license_url" : "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/", "listening" : "Stream the free previews, or buy an album for $8 to download it in MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, OGG or WAV. 100% of the price goes to the musician.", "non_commercial" : "Non-commercial projects may use the music under CC BY-NC-SA 1.0: credit the artist and Magnatune, and share alike.", "projects" : "Magnatune members may use any Magnatune music in their projects, commercial or not (videos, films, podcasts, games, apps, websites, adverts), including work for clients, under the Magnatune Project Licence. Projects released while a member stay licensed for good; new projects need an active membership. Credit is required. TV or radio broadcast, cinema, and background music in shops, restaurants or on-hold lines are not included: license those from the musician. Membership: $10/month, $99/year or $299 lifetime; agents can buy one themselves with MPP at /api/member-pass ($10 month, $99 year, $299 lifetime, one-off).", "projects_status" : "available", "projects_signup" : "https://magnatune.com/member/signup", "royalty_free" : "Membership is royalty-free licensing: no per-video, per-download or per-view fees, for every project created and released while a member.", "youtube" : "YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, podcasts: members may use the clean songs in monetized videos. Members register their YouTube channel (the set_youtube_channel MCP tool, or their account page) so YouTube's Content ID doesn't claim their videos. The free versions carry a spoken Magnatune voice and are non-commercial (CC BY-NC-SA), so they're not for monetized channels or client work.", "details" : "https://magnatune.com/info/licensing", "how_to_credit" : "Name the artist and \"Magnatune\", with a link to the album's web_url." } }