Aurora Clara

Aurora Clara is a multi-national progressive rock/jazz fusion band with flamenco and world music influences which was created in 2018. The band is based in Madrid, Spain, with its leader being Finnish guitarist Raúl Mannola, who now resides in Madrid. The initial line-up was completed by Juan Carlos Aracíl on flute, Marco Anderson on drums and percussion, Stanislav Borisov on keyboards and Nelson Rebolledo on bass, and they played their first concert at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música "Arturo Soria" in Madrid, Spain, on December 10th 2018. Nelson Rebolledo was replaced on bass in the late spring of 2019 by Nill Oliveira, with Hércules Da Silva filling in on bass for some live performances in the early summer of that year.

Raúl Mannola is a versatile and experienced guitarist who can play a variety of styles, including traditional and experimental flamenco, jazz-rock electric guitar and jazz fusion/world music acoustic guitar. He is believed to be the first person to play flamenco on a 12-string guitar. Although he was born in Brazil and raised in Finland, Raúl now lives in Madrid, where he has devoted himself to the art of flamenco for the last 25 years.

Juan Carlos Aracíl is a flutist from Alicante, Spain. He is a specialist in flamenco and flamenco jazz, with a particular talent for improvisation. He has an exceptionally well-developed sense of rhythm, this being the result of many years of work with the dancer Juan Ramírez.

Marco Anderson is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist born in Yorkshire, England, and currently based in Bristol. He has had a professional career spanning more than 40 years, playing almost every musical style imaginable, from progressive and psychedelic rock, to indo jazz, flamenco jazz, mainstream and free jazz, hard rock and more.

Nill Oliveira is a bassist from Sao Paulo, Brazil. An eclectic, professional musician specializing primarily in Brazilian music, but also in rock, funk and blues. He known for his powerful and elegant groove, having a technique which he is able to maintain even at extreme tempos.

Stanislav Borisov is a pianist/keyboardist and composer born in Sofia, Bulgaria who took up piano at the age of six. He is a graduate of the Codarts University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where he studied piano jazz, and he is an accomplished connoisseur of modern jazz, rock, traditional Greek music, ethnic, and also classical music. Although he was initially exposed to classical music in his younger days, he was subsequently heavily influenced by Bulgarian folk music during his studies at the Philip Kutev National School of Folk Arts, Kotev, Bulgaria. He later became interested in jazz music and improvisation while living in Greece in the late nineties.

On their debut album 'Transformation' (2019), Aurora Clara play jazz rock in the spirit of the 70s, inspired mainly by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, though anyone who appreciates other progressive jazz rock/fusion bands of that era, such as Return to Forever and Weather Report, will also find plenty to enjoy here. However, the music differs from the aforementioned artists inasmuch as it also includes the flute as one of the lead instruments, and it is really a blend of styles, ranging from jazz/fusion, through progressive rock, to flamenco, funk and even some blues. The opening track features Jerry Goodman of Mahavishnu Orchestra on violin, which helps seal the musical connection to that band.

The second album from this ensemble is called 'Clear Dawn' (2022), Jerry Goodman once again contributes guest violin on the opening track, and we are treated to acoustic 12-string guitar mixed with flute, violin, and an electric funk/jazz rhythm section, which blend to create a unique and enthralling soundscape. There were some line-up changes from the first album, with Denis Bilanin taking over on keyboards from Stanislav Borisov, Jorge Barrero replacing Nill Oliveira on electric bass, and Boris Momtchilov contributing drums to a couple of tracks.

Denis Bilanin is a keyboard player hailing from Romania who is a groove keyboard player with a very 80's feel to his music, but who can also be very atmospheric. He plays a variety of styles including funk, afrobeat, r&b, world music and mainstream.

Bass player Jorge Barrero is a Colombian professional musician who now lives in Madrid, and who has explored a number of different Latin and African-American styles over the years, including Andean music, Colombian folklore, rock, funk and jazz, among others. He is a virtuoso player who encompasses all the modern techniques, and he works mainly as as a session musician, whilst also continuing to teach and study various forms of contemporary music.

Boris Momtchilov is a drummer who was born in Bulgaria and began playing in a variety of rock bands in Spain, where he has lived and worked for four decades, gradually evolving towards progressive and alternative rock whilst maintaining his influences from Balkan folklore and also pursuing fusions with several other styles of music.

For the third album 'Dreams' (2023), after the previous two critically acclaimed powerhouse jazz-rock records the band still include plenty of their trademark fiery interplay between flute and electric guitar, as well as some virtuosic improvisations on keyboards, flute and guitar and a drum solo in 5/4 time signature, but the overall atmosphere is now somewhat more restrained, with some noticeable percussion and acoustic guitar in each of the seven tracks. In early 2022 Raúl Mannola spent two months in Brazil, and the musical influences of that country are evident on several tracks. In São Paulo he was impressed by some graffiti art, and the local artist responsible for them eventually supplied the cover artwork. The album also pays homage to Shakti, the supergroup which John Mclaughlin put together 50 years ago.

For this album Nill Oliveira returned on electric bass, with Marc Halbheer taking over on drums. There were also three guest musicians on percussion, tabla and tenor sax.

Marc Halbheer is a Swiss drummer, composer, producer and educator who tours and records all over the world. He has worked with the Vienna Art Orchestra, Pepe Habichuela and Juan Carmona among others, and is is one of the most important jazz educators in Switzerland, being professor of drums at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in that country. He has inspired and trained generations of young musicians with his work.

While their third album 'Dreams' saw the band exploring more acoustic based compositions, their fourth album, called simply 'IV', moves back towards a much more rock-based sound, and it is essentially a mix of flamenco acoustic and electric styles. Each of the six tracks has its own distinctive atmosphere, all different from each other, yet working extremely cohesively together. Including the two guest musicians, the performers on this album represent six different nationalities, which might go some way to explaining the diverse nature of the compositions.