Hamilton de Holanda is a Brazilian bandolinist known for his mixture of choro and contemporary jazz, and for his instrumental virtuosity.
Born in Rio de Janeiro he moved to Brasilia with his family as a boy. He started playing the mandolin at 5 and appeared at his first performance at six. With his brother Fernando César he formed the group Dois de Ouro and throughout his career he has collaborated with many other significant artists such as Yamandu Costa, Mike Marshall and Joel Nascimento. He has received several Latin Grammys. He has taught at the Raphael Rabello Choro academy. He plays a custom made 10 string Bandolim.
Biography
Copied from his Official Site (see external links below):
Hamilton, aged 37 and 32 years of professional career, started playing at 5. Since then, he has been regarded as a prodigy. At the age of 6, he was entitled to a performance on “Fantastico’’, the most popular Brazilian TV evening show. Nowadays, around the world, he is a transgressor of the mandolin and creator of the technique of playing the 10-string mandolin, freeing the emblematic Brazilian instrument legacy from some of its influences and genres as well as featuring a new artistic language and rejuvenating the image of the Bandolim, also known as Mandolin.
Hamilton de Holanda`s signature is identified in his solos. His way of playing, the increased number of strings and the delicacy of his picking combined with the speed solos and improvisations inspired a new generation and a new sound. Whether it is jazz, samba, rock, pop, lundu or Choro, little does it matter. Hamilton`s search is for simplicity, music focused on beauty and spontaneity, not necessarily new. In his view, there is a new world full of possibilities and his guiding principle is “Modern is Tradition”. What is important is not the past or the future, but the intersection between them both, the exact point at which they blend, right here, right now, the present moment, the “is” – here and now.
