DESCRIPTION:
"I see music as fluid architecture."----Joni Mitchell
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MARTIN BOETTCHER
Martin Böttcher (born June 17, 1927, Berlin) is a German composer, arranger and conductor. In 1950, Böttcher, who liked to work on new sounds, recorded the first trick guitar pieces in Germany in the style of Les Paul. In 1954, Böttcher left the music stand and turned to manuscript paper. His talent did not escape the attention of the German film industry, which was just gaining new momentum at that time.
Thanks to producer Artur Brauner, Böttcher made his cinematic debut in 1955, composing the music for the military satire Der Hauptmann und sein Held. His second film score turned out to be a milestone in German film history. Die Halbstarken directed by Georg Tressler and starring Horst Buchholz, met with tremendous success. Mr. Martin's Band comprised the top German jazz musicians, among them Horst Fischer, Fatty George, Bill Grah, Ernst Mosch and Hans 'James' Last.
Böttcher also composed for Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann's 'Father Brown' movies. Max, der Taschendieb (1962) contained the track "Hawaii Tattoo" (recorded by "The Waikikis"), which Böttcher had written under the pseudonym of Michael Thomas. Within a short time, this theme became famous all over the world and even received attention in the American Billboard charts.
Martin Böttcher found his greatest success in the 1960s composing the score for ten of the Karl May films, the first being Der Schatz im Silbersee with the famous "Old-Shatterhand-Melodie". The films starred, among many others, American actor Lex Barker and British actor Stewart Granger. The audience was enthusiastic about the wistful melodies, the fanfare-like music accompanying attacks, and the cheerful hillbilly tunes. Martin Böttcher's main themes from these films reached top positions in the German charts and sold thousands of records. The music for the Karl May films is a landmark in German film music history. The success of these films, accompanied by Böttcher's music, made possible the "Spaghetti Westerns" with the music of Ennio Morricone. With the German film industry declining at the end of the 1960s Martin Böttcher increasingly focused on working for German TV, which benefited from his talents in many films and series produced for TV.
On January 25, 2004 Martin Böttcher was awarded in St. Moritz the German Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) for his lifetime achievement.

O CANGACEIRO (THE BANDIT)
Written by Alfredo Ricardo do Nascimento for the film with the same name, which was released in 1953.

MHO
My favourite rendition of this famous "film" theme - another good example of a "soundtrack" piece that became more popular than the movie itself.
Making use of the same (large) orchestra with which he recorded all the "Winnetou" music, Boettcher arranges the song in such a way, that it sounds like a "basic (American) western theme". Note the elegantly added string accents here and there which make a fine contrast with the sound of the male voices - the chorus having an important - even dominating role as far as the presentation of the main melody is concerned. "My kind of music !" ;-) Enjoy !