Nelson Latif Quartet

The quartet 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.

The quartet has performed in several countries and it recorded its first album in Seoul with the Korean singer Kim Jun. The band members are Nelson Latif on cavaquinho and acoustic guitar, Bosco Oliveira on acoustic guitar, Marinho Andreotti on double bass and João Arruda on percussion.

Frevo

Choramundo

Five musicians, ready for musical adventures, joined forces in Choramundo to create an eclectic mix of instrumental styles and to play together in search of a thrilling new sound. Deriving ideas for new compositions from diverse world music styles such as flamenco, choro, raga and kaseko and then combining them with virtuosic jazz improvisations. MIxing authentic instruments such as the Brazilian cavaquinho and the 8 string guitar, the Indian bansuri and the Spanish cajon with modern instruments such as electric guitar, double-bass and drum-set. Combining the music from their homelands and the many countries they visited during extensive touring in South and North America, Europe and South-East Asia.

Line-up:
Praful (saxes, flute, bansuri)
Nelson Latif (cavaquinho and 7 string acoustic guitar)
Joeri de Graaf (electric and 8 string guitar)
Pablo Nahar (double bass and bass guitar)
Olaf Keus (drums, cajon)

Praful is a native German who chose Amsterdam as his home base in the late 80's. Over the last 2 decades he has immersed himself in Jazz, Dance, TripHop, Latin and West African Music, and especially in the music of Brazil and India . He has recorded and shared the stage with numerous artists and bands: Project 2000, Bayuba Cante, Société – tous les Couleurs, Dave Koz, Gerardo Rosales, ElectroCôco, Lilian Vieira (Zuco103), Jonathan Butler, Maneesh de Moor, Deva Premal and Miten, Marc Antoine, Nippy Noya, Armando Peraza, Ravi, Jazzjuice, Good Move, Hardsoul, DJ Maestro and many more. For "Project 2000" he received the Dutch Heineken Crossover Award.

Nelson Latif, cavaquinho and guitar player, formed his musical identity in the legendary jazz scene of 1980's São Paulo. With roots in choro and jazz, Latif merges Brazilian styles and a classical guitar technique with diverse musical influences. In his melodic phrasing one hears bebop and Brazilian syncopations, and in his virtuosity the energy of flamenco.

Joeri de Graaf, guitar player in a new generation of Dutch musicians, studied in both Europe and Brazil. His playing is influenced by Jazz, Latin and Classical music. His craftsmanship on both the electric and acoustic 8-string guitars offers numerous possibilities to Choramundo's arrangements and its variety of sound.

Pablo Nahar was born in Paramaribo, Suriname. He is the co-founder of the legendary "Suriname Music Ensemble" and was a pioneer in the development of "Paramaribop". While living in New York he studied composition & arranging with Frank Foster. In 1997, in Amsterdam, he founded the quintet "Surfive" as a platform to further explore Paramaribop. Lately he has been touring with its new incarnation, the quartet "4Sure".

Olaf Keus was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and started playing percussion and drums at an early age. He has gathered musical experiences from the far corners of the world and become a drummer with a touch of Cuba, Africa, Brazil, New York and Amsterdam. He spent six years with the late saxophonist and singer Rosa King; they recorded 3 albums and toured the world several times. Guest artists such as Jan Akkerman, Alex Britty, Luther Allison and Hans Dulfer were included. Olaf also performs with Diana Miranda, Macleim, Ramon Valle, Nippy Noya, Deborah Carter and Michelle David.

Trio Baru

Guitarists Fernando Corbal, Bosco Oliveira and Nelson Latif have played together as Trio Baru for five years. Each player has a different background: Latif in the Brazilian choro, Bosco in the Spanish flamenco, and Corbal as a soundtrack composer for theatre, cinema and television. They share a love for Brazilian music and a classical guitar training. In their last concert, Alma Brasileira, they used a variety of string instruments and played their own compositions as well as works from the great Brazilian composers Villa-Lobos, Jacob do Bandolim, Egberto Gismontti and Baden Powell. All songs were 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.

Fernando Corbal started his professional career in 1982. Since then he has been playing, composing, conducting and producing soundtracks for theatre, radio, television and cinema. He was awarded the Candango award for best original score at the XII Festival de Brasília do Cinema Brasileiro, the Concorrência Fiat 90 award and also the Sesc de Música Instrumental award. Corbal studied at the Universidade de Brasília-UnB with Cláudio Santoro and Emílio Terraza. He also founded Grupo Naipe, one of the first successful instrumental groups from Brasília, and started a studio and label called CDpolo.

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 Ahmed 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

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.