The singularity of Telebossa’s music is the result of a stunning interplay between musical cultures and the incessant exploration of Samba, Jazz and Chamber Music. In this music, Bossa can seem at times very distant while the Donaueschinger Musiktage (where compositions by Chico Mello have been performed) and Kapital Band 1 (Nicholas Bussmann’s most recent band project on the Mosz label) can be very close. Both Bussmann and Mello are at home in South America and Europe in equal measures. They combine Brazilian heritage such as Noel Rosa’s “Seculo do Progresso” seamlessly with Minimal Music, Improv and Electronica. On their debut album, they have achieved the difficult feat of transporting the spirit and the soul of their live performances into a studio and capture it in a fantastically produced recording. It’s comprised of seven moving songs, which tell stories about love and sorrow, about homesickness and wanderlust, about the Kotti (the Kottbusser Tor in Berlin) and the Copacabana.

“My first encounter with the music of Telebossa was a plain mp3 file attached to an e-mail from Nicholas Bussmann, which left me curious and sceptical simultaneously. How could it be that two Berlin-based experimental musicians (which is how I had regarded them up until then) could play a Brazilian music, which was equal to that of Bossa Nova’s protagonists like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Caetano Veloso or Joao Gilberto? What was the source of this irresistible, always deeply melancholic and disarmingly authentic flair, which transported me at once from wintery Berlin to the tropical humidity of Rio de Janeiro? When I experienced Chico Mello und Nicholas Bussmann in performance for the first time, I was simply gobsmacked and all my questions were answered by the first few bars of their music: These two musicians simple live their music! 54-year-old Mello, who with his guitar and his singing is at the center of the performance, is simply a Samba bombshell on stage, smilingly and winkingly enchanting the audience with the self-confidence and the effortlessness of a master musician. Next to him sits Bussmann with eyes wide awake, giving Mello a solid musical basis with his elegant, virtuoso and rhythmically accentuated play on his cello, while musically cheering him on. Hats off!”

Markus Detmer (Labelmanager Staubgold)


Telebossa are:
Chico Mello – guitar & voice
Nicholas Bussmann – cello & electronics

guests:
Hanno Leichtmann – drums & electronics
Werner Dafeldecker – double bass