Sami Abadi
Since 1995 Sami has been developing his own sound, initially based on his unique electric violin playing through real time electronic processing.
His music is structured around open concepts, including the ambient praxis and experimental approaches with influence from his studies in ethnomusic. The results are unexpected and highly original.
With a huge interest in live performance, Sami has played over 300 solo concerts and has been invited to lay his sound with virtually everybody at the contemporary/electronic/progressive scene in Argentina. One of this experiences led to a collaboration with the internationally acclaimed performance group De La Guarda and later with his music director, Gaby Kerpel and the group´s follow up, Fuerzabruta. Sami is currently the electric violin player with Ultratango, an electronic-tango ensemble that plays Astor Piazzolla´s music on electronic instruments.
He toured round New York City in september 1998 (12 concerts, including The Living Room, Baby Jupiter, The Knitting Factory) and again in august 2000 (16 concerts, including CB's Gallery, The Baggott Inn, Void, and one more time The Knitting Factory, and the venues from the previous gig). His work with processed toys was featured at the LEM Festival -Barcelona- in october 2004, and at the first issue of Pecha Kucha Night-Argentina (at Konex City for the Arts).
His solo albums, "Lejos o leve?" (1998) and "Lunar" (2003) have been an unusual success for an ambient/experimental artist in Argentina. His work has been celebrated by the local press, with some international echo (The Wire, october 2000).
Sami Abadi has been awarded by The Bridgestone Foundation for his electronic composition "Minotauro" ("Primera Bienal de Arte Bridgestone", november 2000).
"Escuela de Vuelo para Anfibios"(2006) ("Amphibian´s School of Flight") is Sami Abadi´s third release, featuring music played entirely with toy instruments through electronics. A song form the album -"Aire Fresco"- was featured on "Tropicalismo Argentino" -a japanese compilation on Argentina´s new music, released by Impairmant in 2006. As a result "Amber & Topaz" (2010), Sami´s fourth album was released in Japan at Nature Bliss label.
Sami Abadi has scored several films, theatre plays, contemporary dance performances & art-video pieces and installations. The music for "Cinema a la Fi", a road movie from Spain to Tierra del Fuego, is his latest score.
Sami has developed a career as a music educator as well. He teaches at the Universidad de Palermo, is a founder member of FLADEM (Foro LatinoAmericano de Educación Musical), a workshop leader at Colleges and Universties and an author on music education ("Musica, Maestro!", Humanitas 1994 & Lumen/Humanitas 2001).
