Nelson Latif Trio

The trio plays both original compositions and songs from the classic Brazilian repertoire. The arrangements leave a lot of space for improvisation, while maintaining an acoustic sound, a major characteristic of Brazilian music.

Nelson Latif Trio has performed in several countries and recorded its first album in Seoul with the Korean jazz singer Kim Jun. The group members are Nelson Latif on 4 and 5-string cavaquinho / 7-string guitar, Daniel Miranda on 7-string guitar and Nema Lopes on percussion.

Calango
Balaio de Baru

Trio Baru



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Guitarists Bosco Oliveira, Nelson Latif and percussionist Rafael dos Santos make up the new line-up of the Trio Baru, a group that has been touring many countries all around the world for the last six years. The musicians have different musical backgrounds: Latif in the choro, Bosco in the Spanish flamenco and Rafael dos Santos in the regional styles of his native area, Maranhao.

In their next program Violao Brasileiro (Brazilian Guitar) they will use a variety of string instruments and play their own compositions as well as works from the great Brazilian composers Villa-Lobos, Jacob do Bandolim, Egberto Gismonti, Garoto and Baden Powell. All tunes are specially arranged in the signature style of Trio Baru.

João Bosco de Oliveira was born in Brasília in 1967, and started his guitar studies at the age of 8. He studied at Escola de Música de Brasília and the Universidade de Brasília-UNB, graduating in 1992. Bosco took part in several international guitar competitions and won four of them. He has performed in Brasília and other Brazilian cities, and always receives excellent reviews in the Brazilian press. Bosco Oliveira is the coordinator of the classic guitar department at the Escola de Música de Brasília, where he has been teaching since 1993.

From São Luiz, drummer and percussionist Rafael dos Santos is well-known for his musical diversity. He is a specialist at mixing the traditional stylles of Afro-Brazilian music with modern jazz. Rafael is a teacher at the renowned choro school Rafael Rabello, in Brasília. Besides playing with Trio Baru, he can also be seen all around Brazil as a sideman of some of the country's star singers.

Afro-Sambas
Misturada
Carioquinha
Taiane

In this ensemble two musicians come together who have dedicated their whole careers to playing Brazilian instrumental music. Two instrumentalists: Flávio Sandoval, soprano and tenor sax, and Nelson Latif, acoustic guitar, cavaquinho and viola caipira (10 string guitar).

The two "Paulistanos" have been performing on different continents for the past two decades, one in Brazil, the other in Europe. Sandoval, who worked closely with guitarist Zezo Ribeiro (producing of the CDs Acoustic Brazil I and II) in the 1990's, has rediscovered the combination of guitar and saxophone in this project. Nelson Latif, since returning to Brazil in 2001 after having taken root in Amsterdam for over a decade, has dedicated himself to the fusion of choro, his musical mother tongue, with various styles encountered throughout his career. Through concert tours and CD recordings he is introducing this fusion to audiences all around the world.

While remaining true to the phrasing and syncopations of choro, it is in their improvisations that one hears perhaps the most notable influence on both musicians: Jazz. Further participants in the show include percussionist Alexandre Biondi and contrabassist Marinho Andreotti.

The duo produced the CD Brazilian Portrait, launched in 2003 in Switzerland. Their current project "Dois no Choro" will be recorded shortly on CD.

Pelo Telefone

Nelson Latif & Ustad Zamir Khan

Latif and Khan bring together traditional music from Brazil and India . They are exploring a new field, open to all kinds of possibilities.

Zamir Ahmed Khan started to study music at the age of four with his grandfather Ustad Nazeer Khan and his uncle Faiyaz Khan. Later he studied with his maternal uncle, Hidayat Khan of Jaipur. He also was a disciple of the late Ahmed Jan Thirakwa. He is the son of sarangi maestro Ustad Munir Khan. He has been based in Amsterdam for many years, teaching, performing and recording with many of India's leading musicians. Outside India Zamir has performed with musicians such as Paco Pena, Louis van Dijk, Jan Akkerman, Han Bennink, Stephan Grapelli, Philip Catherine, among others.

Parazula

Alma Brasileira Project and Lecture Paths of Brazilian Music

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The Alma Brasileira project is created for universities, Brazilian embassies and centers of Brazilian studies around the world. It can also be adapted for conservatories and social science courses. It consists of five days of activities focused on Brazilian music. Workshops for musicians, concerts, and the lecture Paths of Brazilian Music present a wide panorama of Brazilian music and culture.

The lecture Paths of Brazilian Music focuses on the different trends in Brazilian music, using musical styles created in the 20th century as guidelines. Nelson Latif draws parallels between political situations in and outside Brazil, and their influences on Brazilian artists. This gives the audience a broad view of Brazilian music and society. The lecture is illustrated with musical examples preformed live by the Trio Baru. The lecture starts with the 1920's, with the Semana de Arte Moderna in Sao Paulo and the music scene in Rio de Janeiro , where composers Chiquinha Gonzaga, Villa-Lobos and Pixinguinha were active. It ends with an analysis of the current cultural production in Brazil, wondering if today, in a globalized world, the “anthropophagic paradigm” of the 20's could still be applied.