Elbphilharmonie Innerview: Dino Brandão

Inwards – in the »Elbphilharmonie Innerviews«, artists explore the Elbphilharmonie in their own unique ways, letting their thoughts run free. The result: special insights into the spaces of the concert hall and a rare opportunity to get to know the artists personally beyond the stage.

»It’s strange sometimes how life sends us around the block and has us looking for things we didn’t even know existed«, says Dino Brandão in his Elbphilharmonie Innerview. He knows what he’s talking about. The skater boy and musician has certainly been on quite a journey: these days he has both feet firmly on the stage, with one on the board too perhaps. And he loves it: »I think, when we’re making and listening to music, we’re all baking one enormous musical cake«, he says with a grin. »And that cake is getting better and better all the time.«

The Elbphilharmonie’s »Innerviews« series is supported by our Principal Sponsor Julius Bär.

A guy with an afro and guitar can often be seen gliding down the streets of Zurich on his skateboard. He usually has a smile on his face, sometimes a slightly roguish one. However, Dino Brandão hasn’t had an easy ride over the last few years. Not only did the skating singer from Brugg suffer numerous injuries in the halfpipe, he was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis… but: »It’s amazing how we find our way in different situations«, he says. A life motto that’s always taken him far.

As a street musician, he, with his exceptional voice, once sang his way to the front of the Swiss band »Frank Powers«. Today, his supergroup with Faber and Sophie Hunger play all over Europe – their performance in the Elbphilharmonie in summer 2021 was greeted with thundering applause. In recent months he has also been surfing the solo wave: the musician with Angolan roots calls his sound »Afro-psych«. His songs are a way of coming to terms with the blows experienced over the last year, and of exploring his hopes and fears. They are inspired by jazz, instrumental hip-hop, pop and a little folk. His first single is called »Bouncy Castle« – a perfect theme for the master of bouncebackability.

The Elbphilharmonie? A skater’s paradise, a »crazy place«, a venue that gives him energy, says Dino Brandão. The likeable young man can hardly believe he and his friends filled the Grand Hall last summer: »Ten years ago I was still a street musician«, he remembers. »It’s great to experience it all: from a large, highly concentrated audience to a small group of listeners.«

Dino Brandão might not play to such a small audience again any time soon. His constantly expanding community of fans will probably make that impossible. But there’s no doubt that the artist – the life artist – will find his way in this situation: »Sometimes life is totally surreal. But I love it.«


Text: Julika von Werder, last updated: 26.11.2021
Translation: Seiriol Dafydd