Café del Mundo[edit]

Café del Mundo is the music formation of the two guitarists Jan Pascal and Alexander Kilian.

Biography[edit]

Jan Pascal (born 22 April 1975 in Würzburg) has been composing his own guitar pieces since his youth. After the early accidental death of his mother, he attended the Benedictine boarding school in Münsterschwarzach. There he received lessons in piano from Domenikus Trautner, later in classical guitar from Bernhard Weber in Heidelberg and above all flamenco guitar from Rafael Cortes and Mariano Martín. He founded his own recording studio in 1996 and the indie label visioninmusic in 2002.

Alexander Kilian (born 27 February 1987 in Bad Mergentheim) won a special prize at the international Openstrings guitar festival in Osnabrück at the age of 15 and was the national winner of the 2009 Creole World Music Competition with the Shin. He studied jazz guitar and graduated with a diploma. He completed masterclasses with Rafael Cortes, Zoltan Tokos and Kalman Irmai, among others.

In 2007, the two met at a flamenco guitar workshop as part of the Buchen Guitar Days. In 2013, they played as Lang Lang's opening act at the Jazz Open Stuttgart and signed with the Munich label GLM Music. Musical guests at concerts and studio albums have included Murat Coskun from 2012-2013, Angela Frontera from 2012-2014 and Joo Kraus, Mulo Francel and Didi Lowka from 2013-2014. In 2017 they performed with Krzysztof Kobyliński.

In 2018, Café del Mundo released the album Beloved Europa. In addition to original compositions, it features arrangements of other composers for the first time, including an arrangement of Franz Schubert's Erlkönig for two flamenco guitars. Flamenco singer Rosario la Tremendita took on the voice of the Erlkönig in a duet with bass-baritone Henryk Böhm.

In 2019, after a UK club tour, the album Famous Tracks (GLM Music) was released, which was recorded and produced at Abbey Road Studios, London.

In 2021, Café del Mundo ended its collaboration with the well-known streaming providers (Spotify, Apple Music) due to the poor payment of the artists and instead developed its own streaming service with the Mundo app[1].

In 2023, the album Café del Mundo SYMPHONIC was released with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London.

Discography[edit]

2023: Symphonic (Visioninmusic)
2022: Winterhauch – der Film (Visioninmusic)
2022: Merry Guitar Christmas (Visioninmusic)
2021: Sofa Songs (Visioninmusic)
2021: Guitar Super Nova (Visioninmusic)
2020: Winterhauch (GLM Music)
2019: Famous Tracks (GLM Music)
2018: Beloved Europa (GLM Music)
2015: Dance of Joy (GLM Music)
2015: In Passion – live at Theaterhaus Stuttgart (GLM Music)
2014: La Perla (GLM Music)
2012: Café del Mundo (Visioninmusic)
2008: Nuevo Cuarteto (Visioninmusic)

Weblinks[edit]

Offizielle Website
Café del Mundo bei GLM Music
Interview im Kultur Magazin
Interview: Ein Moment mit … den Flamenco nuevo Gitarristen Alexander Kilian und Jan Pascal alias Café del mundo