Home » Jazz Musicians » Hamilton de Holanda

Hamilton de Holanda

Virtuosic, brilliant and unique – those are some of the adjectives used to describe this musician who sets world audiences ablaze, developing a career studded with awards.

Hamilton de Holanda uses the past 14 years to establish a technique for reinventing the 10 string Mandolin. He compose 24 Caprices for the mandolin and disentangled this emblematic Brazilian instrument from the legacy of some of its influences and styles, to make it a global instrument. In the US, the press soon dubbed him the “Jimi Hendrix of bandolim”.

At the age of 38, 33 years as a professional musician, de Holanda has evolved a characteristic way of playing, a character. His phrasing, the extra strings and his powerful sound, combined to the speed of the solo passages and improvisations, are inspiring a new generation and a new sound.

His trajectory includes the double Best Instrumentalist Awards (unanimously), in the two categories of academic music and popular music, of the single edition of the Icatu Hartford of Arts in 2001. This prize enabled him to live one year in Paris; this gave international wings to his musical work. In January 2005 at Midem (the main music trade show in the world), he performed the launching concert of the Year of Brazil in France, and his CD, 1 byte 10 strings, the first 10-string solo bandolier album ever – receive the notable distinction of [musical]“Choc” from Europe’s premier musical periodical Le Monde de la Musique. Hamilton was affectionately dubbed “Prince of Bandolim” in the French press, and “King” in the Brazilian press (Revista Bravo). Such figures as Ivan Lins, Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Djavan and João Bosco consider him as “one of the best musicians in the world”.

Hamilton appears in various major events and festivals in Brazil and internationally. He has recorded or shared stages with Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Pascoal, Milton Nascimento, Chucho Valdes, Wynton Marsalis, Chic Corea, Buena Vista Social Club, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Djavan, Cesaria Evora, Melody Gardot, Richard Galliano, Stefano Bollani, Seu Jorge, Ivan Lins, Paquito d`rivera…and has 26 albums in his discography.

With a splendid technique and absolute “brasilian-ness“, onstage or in the studio, Hamilton combines dazzling playing and performance filled with emotion. He is utterly versatile, and feels at ease in any type of line-up: solo, with an orchestra, duet, power trio, quintet.

Hamilton de Holanda & Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Collab

Read "Collab" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
August 26, 2024

Collab, the duo album from Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Brazilian choro mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda, is a sparkling collaboration between two contemporary masters of rhythm and improvisation. On the wings of a finely calibrated beat and a pliable form, they present 11 selections, adding new harmonic hues to the familiar, stretching, fracturing and reconstituting the given. Their experiences and tastes are wide ranging and divergent, but they meet--seemingly effortlessly--on the Latin jazz corner. Holanda composed the ...

341

Award / Grant

Hamilton de Holanda's Brasilianos Earns Latin Grammy Nomination as "Best Instrumental Album"

Source: GoMedia PR
August 30, 2007

Mandolin phenomenon Hamilton De Holanda, recently said to be “widely considered as the best Brazilian mandolin player," by Public Radio's “The World," has just been nominated for his first Latin Grammy award. The nomination is for his critically acclaimed debut for Adventure Music, Brasilianos, which was released in the summer of 2006.

“I am thrilled to be nominated," said De Holanda, speaking from Rio. “It is a personal honor and it also acknowledges the new generation of young virtuoso musicians ...
read more

104

Music Industry

Mike Marshall/Hamilton de Holanda Record Brazilian/Americana Jazz CD

Source: JazzMando.com
October 9, 2006

Few musicians on the planet can do what mandolinist Mike Marshall does. Sometimes, as in this recording project, we actually have to go to the other side of the globe to match musical wits and kinetic mandolin prowess. Mission accomplished in this magnificent recording, teaming the American versatile veteran with the 30-year-old Brazilian superstar bandolimist, Hamilton de Holanda. Marshall quips about his “Brother," the “Monster from WAY down South..." Brandishing an arsenal of Loar-era Gibson mandolin, 10-string (Terici Ribeiro) custom ...
read more

177

Recording

Hamilton de Holanda Reviewed at JazzMando.com

Source: JazzMando.com
August 11, 2006

Nurtured in the legacy of such great Brazilian mandolinists as Jacob do Bandolim, Joe Nascimento and Armandinho, Hamilton de Holanda is a new standard bearer for today's Brazilian Jazz . Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, considered by many as one of the greatest mandolinists playing the instrument, Hamilton has revolutionized the capabilities and new potential of the mandolin. Extending the range of the instrument's capability by adding a fifth course (C strings), his harmonization is more self-contained than ...
read more