Biography
Born: 29 September 1969 / Biel-Bienne (CH)
First performance: 1984
The media call him: King of Boogie
It was the year 1977 when Nico fell in love with the piano - only six years later he played his first show. Since 1989 he is internationally successful and plays around one hundred shows per year - all over the world, e.g. in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Olympic Games in Athens (Greece)...
1995, he is awarded the "Prix Walo" (Swiss show award) in the "Special Act" branch.
1996, he is registered in the Guinness Book of Records with the fastest Boogie Woogie (Nico's High Speed Boogie). Eleven CD's, one DVD and one LP sum up his work (as at 2012).
Boogie Woogie Power – Rock’n’Roll Show – Blues Feeling
It all started in 1977, when Nico Brina, then aged eight, discovered a piano at his neighbour’s house. It was love at first sight, and it was also a love which remains unbroken to this day. With total devotion and limitless passion, Nico has developed a unique talent over the years which is characterised by incredibly fast boogie-woogie rhythms, dizzying bass lines, artistically sparkling melody lines and spectacular chords and audio avalanches that he plays with both his hands and his feet. At the beginning, he drew his inspiration from Elvis Presley and the classics of the big American boogie-woogie stars. Yet Nico Brina rapidly developed his own unmistakable style which has made him well known far beyond his homeland. Whether it’s in a small club, a big concert hall, on a cruise ship, in the Caribbean, in Dubai or in Kazakhstan: Nico Brina’s music is listened to with enthusiasm all over the world.
B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, Louis Jordan: Nico Brina has been inspired and characterized by the big names of rock ‘n’ roll-, blues- and jazz history. At the same time though, he has never tried to imitate or copy anyone else. His own style and the development of his own techniques have always been his top priority. This also includes an entry in the Guinness Book of Records, when Brina set a new record with the world’s fastest boogie-woogie at 608 strokes per minute with his left hand, as well as his own combination of crazy boogie-woogie rhythms and popular Swiss folk songs, or performances and tours with the famous tap-dancer and juggler Lukas Weiss.
Nico Brina grew up with Rock ’n’ Roll. He discovered blues a little later. It is the fusion of these two musical styles that represents his chosen musical direction. “No boogie without blues” is the pianist’s motto. “Sometimes I go more in one direction, sometimes more in the other. Yet my strength, my dynamism and my enjoyment of playing are all based on the combination of the two.”
Almost nobody is able to elude the charm of the virtuoso rhythm and sound avalanches played by Nico Brina. It’s almost as if the rules of physical gravity and technical playability have been suspended. And yet the music only starts to live properly through the soul. Nico Brina’s love of playing, his unlimited passion for becoming a part of and being one with his music, and of enthusing his audience remains unbroken after over twenty years as a professional on the stage.
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