Neco Novellas
12 July 2008 | Mississippi | 21:45 - 22:45 |
Line-up:
Neco Novela (vocals, acoustic guitar); Isabel Novela (vocals); Remko de Landmeter (flute); Jasper van Damme (sax); Nelson Novela (electric guitar, backing vocals); Gideon van Gelder (piano); Isildo Novela (bass, backing vocals); Tuur Moens (drums).
About Neco Novellas
After his classical guitar studies, the African
singer-songwriter Neco Novela toured Europe and ended up in the
Netherlands to continue his studies at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
Born Anselmo João Johanhane, the artist distinguishes himself from
most of his colleagues in world music due to his classical western
education. "The music I make with my band goes beyond what people
call world music nowadays," he says. "We rather call it universal
music or Novellas' Music for the World." Novela, who prefers to be
called by his nickname Neco, keeps saying 'we' because he is not a
solo artist. He is part of a whole band that includes his two
brothers and his sisters, who are the vocalists. The music on his
new album New Dawn Ku Khata is an inventive, lively mix of world,
classical and jazz music.