BRAZILIAN SINGER-GUITARIST
BADI
ASSADMESMERIZES WITH HER EDGE /DEUTSCHE
GRAMMOPHON
SOPHOMORE EFFORT WONDERLAND
(August 9, 2006—New
York, NY) Jazziz praised
Badi Assad [722] (pronounced Bah-Jee Ah-Sahje) as
"a virtuoso of the highest order" while Guitar Player pegged her as
"fearless!" The undeniably beautiful, exotic Brazilian
singer-guitarist is back with a vengeance for her second release on
the legendary Deutsche Grammophon imprint edge.
Wonderland
- the follow up to her highly praised album, Verde- will be in
stores on October 3rd just in time for her nationwide tour which
kicks off at the Hot House in Chicago October 11th.
Wonderland
is not only an album fantasy and hope; it is also a plea for some
sanity in this insane world of ours. The CD touches on many taboo
topics including rape, prejudice, child prostitution and loss of
cultural identity. Assad beautifully puts her own stamp on Tori
Amos' "Black Dove" and oozes sensuality on "Sweet Dreams" by the
Eurythmics. The album also features special guest Seu Jorge on
"Vacilão" as well as members of the Assad clan on many tracks. In
her liner notes Badi stated; "Wonderland is a place where
everything seems to make sense, even the impossible." With a voice
as hypnotic as hers, it is easy to get lost in the melody and be
taken to a far away place where peace is not only a wish but a
reality!
After honing her craft as a vocalist, Badi released
Solo in 1994 on independent label Chesky making her a force to be
reckoned with in the guitar world. Her international fame grew with
the 1995 release of Rhythms which was voted "Best Classical Album
of the Year" by Guitar Player's Reader's Poll while the editors
voted her "Best Acoustic Fingerstyle Player." Badi's first major
label record, Chameleon, was released in 1997 on Verve Records to
much critical acclaim. After taking some time for herself back in
Brazil, 2003 proved to be an exciting year with the release of
Three Guitars on Chesky Records which she recorded with two amazing
guitar players- Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie. Getting back to
her solo career, Badi's edge/Deutsche Grammophon debut Verde was
released in September 2005 to much praise. Global Rhythm stated
Badi's vocals were "luscious" and the album was "exquisite." Of her
live show, The Los Angeles Times thought Assad was
"mesmerizing."
http://www.badiassad.com
http://www.myspace.com/badiassad
----
About
VERDE(Universal, 2004):
The title Verde – in English,
“Green” – is an allusion to the myriad shades of green of the
Brazilian rain forest. Badi reflects this variety in her music by
setting no stylistic boundaries. She not only works with the
immense wealth and heritage of Brazilian styles and rhythms, but
also taps into the resources of jazz, classical, as well as
contemporary pop and rock.
Badi Assad was born in 1966 in the
small town of São João da Boa Vista (in São Paulo state) as
Mariângela Assad Simão, but grew up in Rio de Janeiro until she was
twelve. Her father Jorge, of Lebanese descent, had decided in 1969
to move with his family to Rio in order to be able to give Badi’s
musically talented older brothers Sérgio and Odair classical guitar
training with Monina Távora, an Argentine pupil of the great Andrés
Segovia. By the mid-1980s, as the Duo Assad, the two brothers
achieved worldwide recognition and popularity that continues to
this day. Badi wanted to follow in their footsteps and, having
first played the piano, took up the guitar at the age of 14. Within
a year she had already mastered the instrument, was participating
in – and winning – national and international competitions.
Continuing her musical studies at the university in Rio was the
next logical step.
In 1989 she recorded her first album, Dança
dos Tons (“Dance of the Tones”) which was released only as an LP in
Brazil (it was reissued internationally in October with extra
tracks and a new title, Dança das Ondas (“The Dance of the Waves”).
At first trying to reproduce the sounds of other instruments on
this album during solo performances, Badi began experimenting more
with vocal sounds, producing percussive tones with her mouth and
integrating this element into her music – adding new, exotic sounds
and expressions to her already outstanding guitar playing. She also
began to receive opportunities to demonstrate her exceptional
skills in collaboration with other artists – Badi was now appearing
with such musical greats as Pat Metheny, Hermeto Paschoal, Milton
Nascimento, and Dori Caymmi. It wasn’t until 1993 – the year she
signed a contract with the pioneering audiophile label Chesky
Records – that she truly entered the international recording
spotlight. In 1994 the company released her international debut
album, Solo, which was followed in 1995 by Rhythms, and then in
1997 by Echoes of Brazil. With each new album her international
reputation continued to grow. The American magazine Guitar Player
ranked Badi Assad in 1994 – along with Charlie Hunter, Ben Harper,
and Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine)– as one of the ten
young talents who would revolutionize guitar playing in the ‘90s.
Rhythms was singled out as one of the most important recordings of
1995, in classical music as well as jazz, by With her next album,
Chameleon (i. e. music/Polygram), released in 1998 Badi went
several steps beyond her previous releases, presenting mainly
original songs she had written together with then-partner Jeff
Scott Young. The album sold very well worldwide and was
exceptionally successful in Germany and Spain, where the song
“Waves” was in the top ten for weeks.
In 2003, again for Chesky
Records, Badi recorded Three Guitars with the legendary jazz
guitarists Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie, an acoustic-guitar
album that received rave reviews – and the trio mounted a
successful tour behind it in 2004. The VERDE repertoire consists of
an unusual mixture of highly individual new interpretations of
Brazilian classics and international pop hits as well as original
compositions (two written in cooperation with her longtime musical
partner Jeff Young). Thus Badi’s own songs appear alongside the
evergreens “Asa branca” by Luiz Gonzaga, “Bom dia, tristeza” by
Adoniran Barbosa and Vinícius de Moraes, as well as Björk’s
“Bachelorette” and U2’s “One”. Among the accompanists on Verde,
standouts include Badi’s bassist and co-producer Rodolfo Stroeter
(who runs the ambitious independent label Pau Brasil in São Paulo,
percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, flautist Teco Cardoso (from Joyce’s
band), and the accordion virtuoso Toninho Ferragutti. And there’s a
very special guest: the great Toquinho – best known outside Brazil
for his collaboration with bossa poet Vinícius de Moraes – who can
be heard on the special guitar duet “Implorando”. As a guitarist of
great technical mastery and as an artist with an unquenchable
thirst for innovation, Badi Assad has – over her short career –
attracted a growing legion of fans, critics, and peers throughout
the world. With her dynamic, electrifying voice – reminiscent of
Adriana Calcanhoto – she’s now certain to win over many new
admirers with the release of Verde. “I think I have something to
communicate to other people, not just the ones who love my guitar
playing,” she says. “I’d like to present my musical universe to all
people – regardless of whether they otherwise listen to pop, jazz,
classical, rock, or Brazilian music.” No doubt this multi-talented,
multi-faceted Brazilian will soon be attaining that goal – and much
more.
With Verde, her first solo album in six years, Badi Assad
is back and making it clear that – alongside Zélia Duncan, Adriana
Calcanhotto, Ana Carolina, and Vanessa da Mata – she’s one of the
most interesting and original guitar-playing Brazilian “Green
stands for the forest… for Brazil. Green stands for photosynthesis.
Green stands for wood that’s still living – in other words, it
stands not for a product, but for a process. Green is hope and
harmony. If you observe the rain forest from a distance, you see
perfect harmony. But when you get closer, you notice the different
shades of green. For me, Verde is the same way. There’s an
overriding sense of a color, but each piece has a different shade.”
Badi Assad.
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