She Plucks and Pounds Sounds From Guitar

The name Assad speaks volumes in the guitar world, primarily thanks to the Assad Brothers--Sergio and Adair--a dynamic classical guitar duo lauded the world over. More and more, though, acclaim for the Brazilian Assad clan is expanding to include yet another sibling: younger sister Badi.

When Badi joined her brothers on stage at the Ambassador Auditorium 18 months ago, she infused the show with a different kind of virtuosic energy. She immediately tipped the scales from classical toward Brazilian folk, pop and jazz, drumming and strumming her guitar, and singing. All at once.

Now 29, Badi Assad has two well-received albums--”solo” and “rhythms,” on the Chesky label--under her guitar strap. In the midst of an American tour, she’s making musical inroads of her own. She will appear in her first solo Los Angeles concert Saturday at Cal State Northridge.

It’s safe to say the guitarist gene ran hot in her house, but the instrument also is omnipresent in her homeland. There are great professional players and composers, she said, but you find guitar music everywhere in Brazil.

“Brazilians are happy. They love parties and you can find music wherever you go,” she said during a phone interview from Portland, Ore. “The guitar is the easiest harmonic instrument to play chords on and to carry around.”

*

She picked up the guitar for the first time at 14 to accompany her father, a semiprofessional musician. Though they were boring to listen to while practicing--”a lot of the same notes over and over again”--her brothers were great teachers. She steeped herself in classical guitar for four years, practicing 12 hours a day and playing in competitions. At 18, she decided she wanted something different, and switched to Brazilian and vocal music.

“The music of Brazil is so rich there. We have great composers. I spend my time listening to Brazilian popular music, African music and other ethnic music. I love some American jazz--I love Bobby McFerrin,” she said.

Her albums feature music from such disparate sources as her brothers, Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti, and jazz guitarist Ralph Towner. Although she doesn’t compose much herself, Assad takes liberties in her interpretations.

She commented, “If you listen to the records, even on the arrangements that aren’t mine, you can find myself in each track, because I put my way of playing into it. I think of it as my style. I feel myself free to change things, in the arrangements, to put more of me into it.”

Although percussionist Cyro Baptista joined Assad for a few tracks on her last album, she mostly operates in a mode of musical self-reliance. From ambidextrous Brazilian percussionists, she learned to play multiple instruments at once.

“I play percussion with one hand and play the guitar with the other, and then I sing with it. When you listen to my first album, you might think that there are two or three people--but it’s all just me.”

It’s all part of her mission to draw new sounds out of an old instrument. “You can find a good sound in the wood, when you tap or beat it. It’s an interesting instrument to research. On the last piece on my album ‘rhythms’ [‘Carta a l’exil’], I use an electric fan and a piece of cloth to get that sound.”

*

In September, Assad will record her third album for Chesky, based on music arranged by her brother Sergio.

“He’s incredible,” she laughs. “I am a fan. He is doing arrangements of music from the Brazilian guitar players who composed, since the beginning of the century. We want to tell the story.”

She approaches her career with the same intuitive attitude she uses for her music.

“Some wind is blowing me,” she said, shortly after playing for a crowd of 500 in Portland--up from 200 listeners last year. “So it’s improving. I just want to bring my music where they want to listen.”

DETAILS

* WHAT: Badi Assad.

* WHERE: Music Recital Hall, 18111 Nordhoff St., Cal State Northridge.

* WHEN: Saturday at 8 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: $12 general admission, $10 American Guitar Society members.

* CALL: (818) 885-2488.