Badi Assad

"Badi Assad redefines solo performance! Revelatory, a brilliant display of innovation, imagination, and skill… almost hypnotically compelling"

– Los Angeles Times

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This virtuoso artist has many skills that make up her music: Her voice, guitar playing and percussion are the ingredients for an unforgettable live experience and many albums. Her endless energy and love of experimentation make her an exceptional artist.

Badi Assad grew up in Rio de Janeiro and received musical training as a child, and music has been a part of her ever since. As a result, she manages to create excellent gimmicks that move between Musica Popular Brasileira, jazz, pop and electronics and create her very own style. The New York Times wrote in a review of her concert "... She continued with Brazilian pop songs transformed by her imaginative virtuosity, from sensitive tenderness to a driving force, from dreaming to dancing and back again."

For her new album "Ilha" (released in October 2022), Badi Assad collaborated with three generations of Brazilian artists: Alzira E. and Lucina, who are co-responsible for establishing independent music in Brazil; Chico César, an Afro-Brazilian guitarist, singer and poet from Badi's generation; Lívia Mattos, a great accordionist and singer-songwriter and the new Brazilian sensation Dani Black. Produced by Márcio Arantes (known for his work with Bethânia, Emcidia and Mariana Aydar, with whom he won the Latin Grammy), the album mixes acoustic instruments with samplers of Brazilian music and global pop. "Ihla", the "Island" asks what would happen if humanity were shipwrecked and the survivors found a land to start over.  A reflection about the beginning of a new world and the choices that have to be made with new possibilities, enriched with poetic meditations on a universal vision of the human being.

Mostly she is on the road as a solo artist and she has already been on stage with the giants of the scene like Bobby McFerrin, Seu Jorge, Nana Vasconcelos, John Abercrombie or Larry Coryell and refined many overlapping projects (like the Guitar Festival Marathon in New York, 2014) with her style. At various festivals like the North Sea Jazz Festival (NL), Montreal Jazz Festival (CA), the Stimmen Festival (DE) or the MASALA Weltbeat Festival (DE) she left a deeply impressed audience. The many prizes and awards underline the international appreciation of her art, Rolling Stone Magazine named her one of the 70 best Brazilian guitarists in history in 2010, her song "Waves" even made it into the Top 10 in Europe, she published books, films and even hosted a Youtube channel during Corona, sharing ideas and creatives. Badi Assad is constantly reinventing herself and her talents, loves to build bridges  between traditional and modern and always keeps on the pulse.

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