Assad Brothers One of World's Most Accomplished Duos

BOB EDWARDS, Host: A Brazilian guitar duo that performs as one; the Assad brothers, after headlines from Laura Knoy.

[news headlines]

EDWARDS: There are musicians who play duets and then there are musical duos which, according to an old adage, can only be made in the bed or the womb, meaning they are either married or they are siblings. Brazilians Sergio and Odair Assad are the latter. Classical guitarists and brothers, they have been playing together since Sergio picked up the guitar at the age of 12. Odair, who is four years younger and didn't want to be left out, started the very next day. They have been called one of the world's most accomplished guitar duos. Nina Teicholz met the Assads in New York and prepared this report.

NINA TEICHOLZ, Reporter: The Assads sit on a couch, practicing, absorbed in concentration and oblivious of the hum of the football game on TV. They are in the living room of a cramped New York apartment. It belongs to Tom Humphrey, who makes guitars for the Assads and a number of the world's most respected classical guitarists. He says he has been listening to the Assad brothers for years.

TOM HUMPHREY, Guitar Maker: They practice more than you can even imagine. They do an easy 10 hours of practicing a day, every day without fail, all the time.

TEICHOLZ: That is true, says Sergio, but only on tour, since he lives in Paris and his brother is in Brussels.

SERGIO ASSAD, Classical Guitarist: Right now we are living in different cities, so we do a lot of separate work. So, in the past, during many many years, we used to work every day, learn the music together and develop the ideas together. But I think right now, we need exactly the contrary, to develop more the individual approach to things, to try to complement each other later.

[guitar music]

TEICHOLZ: The Assads have been playing together for more than 20 years. They grew up in a small town outside of Rio de Janeiro. Sergio remembers when their father, an amateur mandolin player, used to take them out at night serenading.

Mr. ASSAD: My father was- used to play for his friends and he would bring us. We started a night life very- you know, I was 13 or something, 12. And he used to promise us to give us chocolate. He says, `I give you chocolate if you stay awake, okay?'

[guitar music]

TEICHOLZ: These are the kinds of rhythms and melodies that the brothers grew up hearing. Latin American music used to be all they played. But, as the Assads became interested in other composers, Sergio began transcribing pieces for the guitar from music written for other instruments.

Mr. ASSAD: Everything that is percussive is good enough for the guitar and every kind of music that has a lot of rhythm, that is the guitar.

[guitar music]

TEICHOLZ: The music Scarlotti [sp] wrote for the harpsichord fits this description perfectly and, in a turn away from Latin America, the Assads' latest release is devoted entirely to European music from the baroque period. In addition to Scarlotti, they play Bach and Remeaux [sp].

[guitar music]

Even though their repertoire extends from Cooperand [sp] to Gershwin, and although the brothers live in Europe, their ties to Brazil remain strong. Sergio recently wrote a piece called, `Sagados Migrantes, ' [sp] about Brazilian migrants trying to escape the poverty and misery in the north for better lives in the country's more wealthy southeastern cities.

Mr. ASSAD: The same problem has been going on for 100 years in Brazil and there is no solution; not because there is no solution, because people don't care. [guitar music]

TEICHOLZ: When the Assads play, it is if they have four hands, two guitars, but only one body. Their friend, Tom Humphrey, still doesn' t understand how they can start and stop together at exactly the same time.

Mr. HUMPHREY: They start without any audible signal. Everyone speculates on what it is; a blink of an eye or something, but I know for a fact there is no code. It is just- it is like a heart beat.

Mr. ASSAD: You have your internal tempo, right? Everyone does. So, what happens that through the years, we started to have the same tempo, internal tempo. So, I don't know, sometimes I find it very strange. To begin a piece, sometimes I don't give any sign but he starts with me. So, I don't know. It's- sometimes it is weird.

[guitar music]

TEICHOLZ: The Assads often perform an encore, for which Odair sits with his guitar and Sergio stands behind him. Sergio wraps his arms around his brother and the two play a Brazilian folk song with four hands at lightening speed, all on the same instrument. It is as if to prove that they are not just playing duets, but are truly a musical duo. For National Public Radio, I'm Nina Teicholz. [guitar music]

EDWARDS: This is NPR's Morning Edition. I'm Bob Edwards.

[funding credits]

[The preceding text has been professionally transcribed. However, in order to meet rigid distribution and transmission deadlines, it has not been proofread against audiotape and cannot, for that reason, be guaranteed as to the accuracy of speakers' words or spelling.]

Assad Brothers One of World's Most Accomplished Duos., Morning Edition (NPR), 12-24-1993.