Radio Bossa

Banda Brasileira’s debut album is titled “Radio Bossa” due to its nature of compilation of international hits rivisited on a bossa tip, based on a concept by Naples based producer Carlo Gentiletti, with a 20-year sound engineer background, who gives the evergreens on the album the bossa, samba, batucada treatment. The collaboration between Neapolitan and Brazilian musicians has been the core of the Banda Brasileira project, who define themselves as an ‘open band’, where mere contributors can become long-time members if they wish and if they have ideas to bring. On their album different artistic talents are involved: the only female voice, Michela Montalto, former vocalist for great Neapolitan singers like Eduardo De Crescenzo and Peppino di Capri; Mimì De Maio, singer-songwriter and label manager (he collaborates with Brazilian singer Alexandre Leao); Guitarist Arlen Azevedo and drummer Enzo Pinelli, with years of experience on the Naples scene and collaboration with guitarist Toninho Horta; percussionist Robertinho Bastos, last in line of seven generations of drummers, who worked with Tullio De Piscopo and Sergio Caputo; percussionist Carcarà Lemos, capoeira instructor, with collaborations with Gilberto Gil, Nanà Vasconcelos and Carlinhos Brown. Other musicians have been working with Italian TV, like violinist Raffaela Viscardi or multi-instrumentalist Gianfranco Campagnoli, trumpet teacher, already member of national and international orchestras, who performed with Diane Schuur and Mario Biondi. Trombone player Roberto Schiano worked with James Senese and Edoardo Bennato. Pianist and arranger Pino Tafuto worked with Gino Paoli; bassist Roberto Giangrande with Pino Daniele and Daniele Sepe; pianist Francesco Villani with Alex Britti and Rossana Casale. Among the classics reproposed by Banda Brasileira are: Smooth Operator by Sade, Streetlife by Randy Crawford and The Crusaders, Cosmic Girl by Jamiroquai, Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega and Nothing Compare To U by Prince and Sinead O’Connor.