German Bossa

Thilo Martinho

I Am (Musaraña Records, 2007)

German musician Thilo Martinho fell in love with Spanish and Latin American music while living in Spain. He traded his steel string guitar for nylon strings and flamenco guitar. Martinho spent severely ears doing work as a Flamenco guitarist in Sevilla and Cadiz.  His life changed drastically in 1995. A debilitating disease kept him hospitalized for a long time and he ended up hemiplegic, sitting in a wheelchair. His doctors told him that he might not be able to walk again. He was given no hope of resuming guitar playing; the motor activity of the right half of his body was lost.

During the following years, he learned to heal himself and he started to sing. Martinho sings in Spanish, Portuguese, English and German, accompanied by top notch German and Latin musicians. Thilo Martinho's latest CD, I Am, shows the scope of his musical influences. There are jazzy bossa nova pieces and a great Flamenco meets salsa piece sung in German.

Even though Martinho performs songs by many bossa nova and Andalusian songwriters, he is more interested now in developing his own material, with lyrics in German and English.

Buy the CD:

• In North America: I Am
• In Europe order from Amazon.com or CD Baby

More information at http://www.myspace.com/thilomartinho .