El Condor Pasa - Leo Rojas
Music video by Leo Rojas
performing El Condor Pasa.
2012 Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH
performing El Condor Pasa.
2012 Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH
Pan flutist Leo Rojas (full name:
Juan Leonardo Santillia Rojas)
was born in Ecuador in 1984
and is best known for winning
the 2011 season of the German
casting show Das Supertalent.
Rojas moved to Spain in 2000
and then to Germany, living in Berlin
with his Polish wife; he often
performed as a street musician
until a passer-by informed him
about the casting show.
He became a contestant in the
show's fifth season, succeeding to
the semi-finals with his rendition
of "El Condór Pasa" (best known in
a 1970 version by Simon & Garfunkel)
and then winning the show
with a cover of "Einsamer Hirte,
" a hit song written by James Last
and performed by Gheorghe Zamfir in 1977.
Rojas' version of "Einsamer Hirte"
was released as a single shortly
after the show's finale (reaching
number 48 on the singles charts),
followed by his first full-length album,
Spirit of the Hawk. The album, which
was produced by Dieter Bohlen and
reached number two on the German
album charts, featured the two
above mentioned songs as well
as cover versions of compositions
such as John Barry's theme from
"Dances with Wolves"
and Martin Böttcher's "Winnetou."