Biography
Bringing Brazilian Music to The World
No matter where he is, Munich, Germany-based guitarist, producer, and composer Abdallah Harati always brings his beloved birthplace of Brazil with him. His transporting and dazzling musicality welcome listeners from around the world deep into the soul of Brazil.
It’s a cultural connection that harkens back to his childhood. The São Paulo, Brazil-born artist recalls: “I remember hearing my grandfather playing guitar behind my grandmother’s singing, and just feeling their joy. At the time, I was studying classical music and it just didn’t bring me any happiness,” Abdallah recalls. “I wanted that feeling my grandpa had of playing music that really resonated.” He continues: “I had a brief rebellion playing rock n’ roll—one year I even won a festival—but a voice inside me urged me to wake up and bring Brazilian music to the world.”
Abdallah plays the sweetly sonorous nylon string guitar, and he cites as influences Pixinguinha, Garoto, Dilermando Reis, Baden Powell, Raphael Rabello, Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti and Brazilian martial art Capoeira. He has synthesized a singular sensibility through fusing the traditions of choro, samba, Afro-Brazilian, capoeira, Brazilian jazz, and American jazz. Abdallah’s repertoire consists of a mix of original compositions, and Brazilian traditionals and Brazilian jazz standards. He has the ability to make one guitar sound like three with intricate chordal passages, lyrical flights of melodic fancy, and propulsive rhythmic guitar grooves. He often sounds like a Brazilian Joe Pass. Since 2020, Abdallah has released a lifetime of music brewing inside him, issuing dozens of singles and EPs completely independently. His recordings have been featured in tastemaking blogs like All
About Jazz (https://www.allaboutjazz.com). Organically, Abdallah has earned placements on Spotify playlists, including “Relaxing Spanish Guitar” and “Violão Brasileiro,” and he has massed 2,500 streams per day.
The Background
His talent of being able to play-by-ear on the spot has granted him entry to a wide variety of musical opportunities, and Abdallah has performed, recorded, and produced throughout Europe and beyond. Select career highlights include being part of Alvaro Carrilho’s ensemble, opening for famous artists such as Altamiro Carrilho, Oswaldo Montenegro and Tom Zé; being awarded “Best Solo Guitar” performer at the USP Music Festival in 1994 and 1995; and being a part of the esteemed Choro Club in São José dos Campos. In addition, he was part of one the most important Choro initiatives, Escola Portátil de Música, led by Luciana Rabello, Maurício Carrilho, Pedro Amorim, Álvaro Carrilho and Celsinho Silva. Additionally, Abdallah remains active producing other independent musicians and artists under the Harati Media label. Several of his collaboration videos with remote musicians in different
parts of the world have become buzzed-about in the virtual environment.
Outside of music, Abdallah is a techie in the business world who has worked successfully in corporate settings for over 25 years. He is an electronic engineer with a degree from São Paulo, Brazil’s Bauru College of Engineering. “My business background has helped me be self-sufficient as a working musician, informing how I read contracts. My technical background has helped me in learning how to use recording equipment. In turn, my music career has informed my business strategist work, inspiring me to think outside the box,” Abdallah shares.
Abdallah grew up in São José dos Campos, and, since 2015, has been established in Munich, Germany. Prior to that, Abdallah has lived in Guatemala City, Mexico City, San Juan, Dallas, Stockholm, Dubai, Hanoi and Nairobi. He studied music formally at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and at the Carmen de Las Cuevas in Granada, Spain. Perhaps, his greatest schooling was at home where many generations of his family were musicians—some amateurs, some professionals—including his grandparents, his mother, his uncle, and cousins. Abdallah’s music trajectory began with the flute, and then the piano before his regimented study of classical guitar.
Abdallah’s music has also been influenced by Capoeira—which he has practiced and been involved with since he’s been a teen. This tradition’s Afro-Brazilian roots and relationship with African instruments such as the berimbau and the congas have made an indelible impact on his music. He was eventually seduced away from classical through the irresistible home influence of Choro, Seresta, and Samba.
Though he was actively performing and sharpening his chops throughout the years, it was the pandemic that spurred Abdallah to share his musical gifts globally. During the past two years, he built a following through his well-attended streaming concerts, and a monthly series of singles that continues for 24 months. These recordings were refreshingly old-school outings with Abdallah tracking and producing all the sessions, using only real instruments.
Select standouts in Abdallah 24-song catalog include “Caçador,” “Grão de Areia,” “15 de Fevereiro,” and “Se Ela Perguntar.” The breathtaking “Caçador” is a traditional Afro-Brazilian religious song related to the forest and the Indians (Caçador in Portuguese means hunter). “Grão de Areia” features sensual female vocals, the single-string Brazilian percussion instrument the berimbau, and a lively rhythmic bed of tambourine and congas. The song features some stunning interludes where Abdallah’s rhythm guitar deftly dialogues with the percussion. The balmy “15 de Fevereiro” is an original, flaunting virtuosic melodies often doubled and complemented by saxophone and flute.
Abdallah turns in an effortlessly masterful version of “Se Ela Perguntar,” a composition by Dilermando Reis. It is a spacious solo guitar piece with impressionistic chordal passages punctuated by melodies and flurries of classically-flavored single-note runs all played with grace and restraint. This is Abdallah’s most popular song, amassing over 223,805 Spotify streams.
In two years, Abdallah has created a platform for the lifetime of music he’s been nurturing. “It’s been such a gift to be able to combine my work in the tech realm, in terms of recording and production, with my lifelong love and passion for Brazilian music. And I will always be loyal to the music of my home—it’s my true love,” he says.