Biography
Nello Novela is a musician, composer, sound designer, performer and actor, currently based in Zurich. He became familiar with traditional African music and dance from an early age on. Singing, playing guitar, percussion and Balafons in different events and ceremonies, allowed him to dive deep into the art of sounds.
Nello Novela compositions are a fusion of styles of music. Influenced from worldwide music such as funk, rock, reggae, afropop and more. Not only with his voice and guitar, he also uses different other instruments and body rhythms.
As a solo artist or with a band, as part of a dance or theater group, he already made an impressive musical journey, which allowed him to play in renown venues in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
During his career as a musician, he is co-working with other professionals in the fields of music, dance and filmmaking and is giving workshops in music and movement to all kinds of groups and generations.
In 2005 Nello Novela took guitar and vocal curses at the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music and Dance (Codarts) to develop his musical knowledge.
At the same time he joined is family band NecoNovellas band. They quickly became part of the world/jazz scene in the Netherlands. Together they recorded two albums and played in several known venues and festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, le Trianon FR, Mexico Ollinkan Festival, Kosice Jazz Festival, Ancienne Belgique BE, Copenhague Jazz Festival DK and many more. Besides playing the electric guitar and backing vocals he was also involved in composing.
2009 Nello Novela moved to Brussels and went solo. He formed his band Nello Novela and since then he is performing in several constellations solo or band.
In Switzerland, since 2015, Nello has been working in different theater and dance projects as a musician, sound designer, actor and performer. He played already at Locarno Film Festival, Moods, Landesmuseum and many more. He was co-working with several theater and dance companies at Gessnerallee (Zurich), Tanzhaus, Dampfzentrale Bern, Theater Basel, Roxy (Basel), Swiss Dance Days and more. He was also acting in a short film production.
With the dance company “Cie Zeitsprung” (CH) Nello performed 2016 at the Beijing International Dance Festival. The following year 2017 they went for an Asian tour. They performed in known theaters and ran a series of workshops in several primary schools and universities in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines.