Badi Assad

Badi Assad was born in Sao Joao da Boa Vista, a small town in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She started playing the guitar when she was fourteen, inspired and coached by her father and her two brothers, the world renowned “Sérgio and Odair Assad”. After just one year of studies she already managed to secure a place in the ‘Concurso Internacional de violao Villa-Lobos’ in Rio de Janeiro. In the following year she was chosen to represent Brazil in the ‘Concurso Vina del Mar’ in Chile. Later she was invited by the Belgian guitarist Françoise-Emmanuelle Denis to perform as a duo on period instruments (guitars from the 19th century), touring abroad for the first time.

In 1989 Badi recorded her debut album ‘Dança dos Tons’, where she began incorporating her voice into her music. It being a critical success lead her to being chosen, out of two hundred women, to interpret the lead vocal for the musical ‘Mulheres de Hollanda’, which features songs written by the remarkable Brazilian composer Chico Buarque. Being a restless soul, she subsequently dived into the world of mouth percussion (Bob McFerrin, Pigmeus People, etc.) and slowly began incorporating it into her music. Badi Assad has developed an absolutely unique style which has eradicated the boundaries between singer and guitar player.

In 1993 she signed a contract with the American label Chesky Records and completed three Compact Discs: ‘Solo’ (1994), ‘Rhythm’ (1995) and ‘Echoes of Brasil’ (1997). In 1994 she was chosen among the 100 best artists by ‘Guitar Player’ magazine. She was voted ‘best finger style guitar player’ in 1995 and in that same year her CD ‘Rhythm’ was voted ‘best classical CD’ (not classical music, but played in a classic guitar… close enough!), again by ‘Guitar Player’ magazine.

In 1998 she released ‘Chameleon’, with e.i. music/Polygram, which brought her enormous success amongst critics and public worldwide. In Germany Badi was awarded ‘Best World Music Album of the Year’ and in Spain her song ‘Waves’ charted in the top 10 for weeks. In its anniversary edition the American magazine ‘Acoustic Guitar’ chose Badi Assad among the ‘30 more expressive artists’ of the decade.

Badi has performed to rave reviews throughout the US, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, South America and Canada. She has appeared at some of the most important musical festivals including the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland and JVC Festival, Lilith Fair and Farm Aid in the US.

After having recorded the album ‘Nowhere’ featuring Jeff Young, Marcos Suzano (Sting), Tony Franklin (Red Snake) and Matt Chamberlain (Tori Amos, Macy Gray), Badi Assad has gone into the studios with American guitar players John Abercrombie and Larry Coryell for her former label Chesky Records. This CD was released in July 2003 and it includes the successful song ‘Waves’ that featured in the soundtrack of the movie ‘It runs in the family’.

When Leo Brouwer asked me recently if I’d ever thought of reissuing my first album Dança dos tons which first came out in Brazil in 1989, I mentioned it to the GHA label and they were very enthusiastic about it. In addition they suggested that I should smooth the transition between the musician I was at the time, and the artist I have since become, by recording four new songs, a blend of voice and guitar recorded with natural acoustics, something I had not done for a long time.

In fact there are fourteen years between these songs and the eight pieces taken from the first recording, which also took place in August, in that same city of São Paulo where I was living at the time and where I returned to live a short while ago. It was very emotional remembering how I chose the repertoire, going for works with plenty of character, inspired by folk music, written by classical composers (Leo Brouwer, Roland Dyens and Sérgio Assad), pieces to which I then decided to add percussion and sound effects. It was also on this occasion that I timidly allowed my own voice to be heard.

For the concert celebrating the release of this album, none of the musicians who had taken part in it were available, not even my father. However, the various sound effects were such a fundamental part of my music that it was unthinkable to perform without these sounds. Then suddenly the inspiration was born to start imitating the sounds with my voice, never for a moment suspecting that I was creating a new style, one which was to become my own. It was a fascinating time as I began to train my voice, and eventually it enabled me to find my own niche in a madly competitive world.