Don't mind me
Italo-Polish producers Kozber and Rico Casazza have merged to create Bonasforsa, not to be mistaken with the 16th-century Polish Queen of Italian descent… because, of course, you knew that.
Ahead of their upcoming album ‘Villa Moderna’ they are premiering the oh-so-smooth single ‘Don’t Mind Me’, recruiting North London songwriter and rapper KdotMelody for the vocalising.
‘Villa Moderna’ will be a collaborative project with a host of emcees and is expected October 7th.
Get to know the pair below.
Bonasforsa = Rico Casazza & Kozber. Can you please introduce yourself briefly and tell us how this collaboration has come about?
We met in London back in 2005, where we were both Djing at the same bar in Brick Lane, Cafe 1001. We both had residencies, and we got along and started to DJ together. After a few years, we started making music, and we came up with the idea of making slow beats.
Please summarise the historical story of the name ‘Bonasforsa’.
Bonasforsa was an Italian queen from the 16th century who became Poland's queen. Rico is Italian and Kozber Polish.
What’s the musical outlook of the project?
We make hip hop, trip-hop, and downtempo with funk, soul, jazz and pop influences. We started doing instrumental beats and then slowly started to work with MCs, surrounded by so many inspiring ones in East London.
It’s interesting to see you working with so many versatile vocalists on this album, Villa Moderna. What made you want to work with so many different artists across the whole album?
We both know different people. Rico has his contacts and Kozber others - spread across Europe. Therefore we are always sharing ideas and performers, thinking about their suitability beat-by-beat.
Have you worked with MCs much before? What was the most challenging aspect of putting this together?
We haven’t worked with MC's before - this is our first album fully featuring MCs and Singers. We want to continue it into the future for sure. The challenge is the time needed to do due diligence on it, when we both have full-time jobs and also work on all the strategy and release plans for the project.
Tell us about why you love KDOTMELODY, the featuring artist on ‘Don’t Mind Me. How did the collaboration come about?
We met Kdotmelody through Ayite, another amazing MC featuring on the album. I knew Ayite through shows we both used to host on Hoxton FM. When we were invited to an event and saw Kdotmelody in a venue where they both performed, we simply loved his unique, endearing style.
What does a Bonasforsa live show look like?
We have a show that we filmed at Earth bar and kitchen in Dalston, just before the pandemic hit. Our show is full of light and visuals and we both perform live using 2 laptops, Ableton push, a Deepmind synthesizer and various Korg devices. We also love to have the MCs with us - they bring an energy we never can!
Cover photo by aleksandramoden