Roger Whittaker performs a medley of his German language songs during the dress rehearsal of a German folk music TV show in Chemnitz, Germany, on Jan. 12, 2007.

He is a hybrid himself, the offspring of a German father and an Ecuadorian mother. He grew up in a German-speaking community in Virginia, exposed to multiple languages and styles of folk music.

An acclaimed six-string bass guitarist, Hillmann's distinct style is rooted both in German folk music and iconoclastic American jazz artists such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. That international ...