Based: Mozambique
More than a decade after Dino Miranda performed with his rock band around Maputo, Mozambique he scooped the 2009 MMA (Mozambican Music Awards) for his début album “Moya Wa Kaya”. Launched at the end of 2008 in South Africa and Mozambique, with “Moya Wa Kaya” (winds from home), Dino Miranda successfully manages to bring his fans together and create a bridge between South Africa, where he is based and Mozambique, his home country and source of inspiration. After playing with Mozambican music legend; singer and composer Chico Antonio in the late 1990’s, Dino decided to study music; first at the Fuba School of Music in Johannesburg and subsequently jazz studies at the University of Cape Town’s renowned College of Music between 2001 and 2004.
While still at university, Dino embarked on a solo project and took to the stages around the Mother City, playing at ObzFest in 2004 and 2006, the Penguin Festival in 2006, the Cape Town
Jazzathon Festival, the Verão Amarelo Festival in Maputo in 2007 and the Suidoosterfees TrueLove Jazz Lounge in 2008. That same year, the talented vocalist, guitarist, composer and
arranger was also invited to play at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival with the Bongani Sotshononda Project.
Besides having his own solo project, Dino has collaborated with well-known artists such as Max Vidima; Jeff Maluleke; Chris Hinze and another great Mozambican singer and composer,
Stewart Sukuma. He has shared a stage with numerous bands, amongst them Mozambican-Brazilian outfit Napalma, Jimmy Dludlu, Joburg based Dub-Quartet 340ml, The Rudimentals, Freshlyground, Rodriguez, Loading Zone, and Teba. Dino has contributed to a number of outstanding tracks like Jeff Maluleke’s “Teka’’ and Max Vidima’s “Mai va rossi’’ which he co-wrote.
He also showcases his impressive guitar skills on Stewart Sukuma’s “Mahuta”, Gcobani’s latest album “No taxi” and fuses traditional Mozambican and contemporary music in a collaboration with Grant McLachlan for the music of the TV series “Meet the Jackals’’ – providing both vocals and guitar. His ear-catching single “Fatal” took over Portuguese as well as Capetonian airwaves and has become one of the most popular songs and videos on Mozambican radio and television stations. Dino has travelled to Dubai as the guitarist and backing vocalist of the Cuba Groove Band in 2002 and toured throughout South Africa backing reggae artists Peter Spencer, Starkey Banton, Prince Malachi and Dawit Menalik Tafari on their Return to Africa Tour in 2006. He completed a hugely successful series of concerts in Malaysia and performed for the first time to critical acclaim in Belgium, Italy and France. Dino also ç, performed late September 2009 at the Pan African Space Station Festival (www.panafricanstation.org.za) at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town under the direction of South African composer and guitarist Bheki Khoza.
