In their vibrant homeland of Brazil, Hamilton de Holanda and Diogo Nogueira are leading members of a new generation of musicians. The former is a virtuoso on the Brazilian mandolin, famous for his innovative ten-string technique with which he breathes new life into the traditional Brazilian choro genre. The latter is a gifted singer-songwriter who has his own TV show and carries special blood in his veins: he is the son of the legendary samba composer and singer João Nogueira. De Holanda and Nogueira first played together in 2009 when they were invited to perform in Miami. They immediately decided to record an album but it took until last year for Bossa Negra to be released. The thirteen songs were inspired by the classic album Os Afro Sambas (1966), recorded by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes. The roots of De Holanda and Nogueira’s rich, powerful sound lie even further in the past: it is a fusion of European music that the Portuguese took to the colonies and African slave rhythms.
