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Garagem Aurora . Telebossa

 

staubgold 143
2016. cd . dl . lp

The waiting has paid off: With only their second album Telebossa have succeeded where others often need a life’s work - namely the creation of their own musical language. While Chico Mello and Nicholas Bussmann were still exploring the Bossa tradition through role models such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso, and Joao Gilberto on their debut album from 2011, their mixture of Brazilian style elements and New Music has now become a model in its own right.

This time support has been provided by one of the greats: The wise old Van Dyke Parks who in the past has explored new horizons with Brian Wilson and Randy Newman, and now collaborates with such diverse artists as Joanna Newsom and Skrillex. “Discover America”, Van Dyke Parks’s mission statement from the 1960s (and the title of one of his rare solo albums), is now emblazoned on Telebossa’s flag: A testament to Bossa Nova’s “detour” through the USA which led to its inclusion in the canon of music history.

A new mode of expression and new instruments: Cello and guitar have disappeared from the Telebossa sound to be replaced by vocals and player piano. And throughout, it is Chico Mello’s delicate, fragile voice in the best Bossa Nova tradition which maintains the connection to the musical homeland of Brazil. However, the main theme of the album is also the classic conflict / cooperation between man and machine: A juxtaposition of the almost inhuman perfection of the woodwind ensemble “Aventure”, and Winfried Ritsch’s pleasantly warm piano robot, “Der Automat”, programmed with unprecedented delicacy by Bussmann. And in the middle of it, the singer Chico Mello alongside Nicholas Bussmann’s cool-technoid electronics.

The texts of the “metaphysical engineer” Fernando Pessoa, who described the entanglements of technology, metaphysics, and corporeality at the beginning of the 20th century, perfectly complement the physical-mechanical musical interplay. “Garagem Aurora” - a soundtrack for the dawn of technology. The two Berliners Bussmann and Mello have landed a major coup at only their second attempt - way beyond hype, ingratiation, and eclecticism for the sake of eclecticism. In short: Telebossa have arrived.

Telebossa

CHICO MELLO was born in Curitiba, Brasil, in 1957. He studied music and medicine in Curitiba and composition in Sao Paulo with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter and in Berlin with Dieter Schnebel and Witold Szalonek. Important encounters with Latin-American and European composers in the "Cursos latinoamericanos de musica contemporanea".

Performances (among others) at Donaueschinger Musiktage, Inventionen Berlin, Pro Musica Nova Bremen, Klangaktionen Neue Musik Munich, Festival International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, Festival Musica Nova Sao Paulo, Bienal de Musica Contemporanea Rio de Janeiro, Musica Viva Munich. Scholarships at H. Strobel foundation of SWR Baden-Baden and several times of the 'Senator für kulturelle Angelegenheiten'. Studies at Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris.

Mello works in the fields of experimental and improvised music as well as in theatre and performance. Collaborations (among others) with Silvia Ocougne, Arnold Dreyblatt, Dieter Schnebel, Martin Supper, Berthold Tuercke, Burkhard Schlotthauer, Daniel Ott, Wandelweiser Komponisten Ensemble.

Concerts in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Uruguay, Argentina, the US, Russia and Poland. Conductor of the ensemble "ContempoSonoro", Curitiba. Curator of the "Escuta" festival, Rio de Janeiro (1998, 2000) and the department of New Music in "Oficina de Música de Curitiba" (2002).

NICHOLAS BUSSMANN, musician, composer, curator. Lives and works in Berlin. Began as a cello player. As many others he put his instrument for a while aside and went for the new possibilities the computer and electronic devices offered. Repetitive structures or patterns of daily life are often a starting point of his work. The representation of emotions in music is another topic.

The video "Etuede in buergerlichen Gefuehlen" 2009 and the opera "Barnes Dance" for 7 singers, 4 drummers and a joker 2010 are outstanding works. With Martin Brandlmayr (Kapital Band 1), Chico Mello (Telebossa) and Lindy Annis exist long term collaborations. Curates regularly the Grand Prix d'Amour in Berlin and occasionally for other venues: Maerzmusik, Haus der Kulturen der Welt etc. He toured in Europe, Japan, Northern and Middle America and published about a dozen CDs. Teaches occasionally at the UdK Berlin.

www.telebossa.com