Azhaar Saffar

I am a singer / violinist and composer. I studied violin and voice at the Royal Northern College of Music. As well as my classical background, I also specialize in jazz, Brazilian and latin music. I made my reputation fronting and co-writing for critically acclaimed Brazilian jazz group Sirius B. We released albums on 33 Records and Freestyle Records I have performed at Londons 606 Club and at major jazz festivals: London Jazz Festival, Montreux, Mai Jazz (where we met Herbie Hancock) Brecon Jazz Festival, the Glastonbury Festival and had the pleasure to support Jamiroquai back in the day! In my career as a musician I have played 100's of events, weddings and parties!! Most of my work has come through word of mouth and agencies! I have recently formed a new duo with myself on vocals and violin and wonderful guitarist Joe cavanagh. We play a mix of jazz and swing, bossa nova, classical and pop! Watch this space for more information! I also play with the incredible Primavera String Quartet. Our repertoire is a mix of classical, pop, jazz, latin etc! Then there's our gypsy jazz group, The Crazy Rhythm Club. I have so much fun playing this music; it's exuberant, happy and up tempo originating from the 'Hot Club of Paris' in the 1930's which featured Django Reinhart and Stefan Grappelli, Our most recent gig was at a French style cafe in Frome.. We had everyone dancing, including the dog! I'm lucky to have seen a lot of the world through music, and have toured in Europe and other parts of the world including Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Egypt etc.. This has formed a big part of my musical education; learning bossa nova in Brazil, Salsa in Costa Rica and Mexico. I play this style of music with 2 of my projects : The newly formed 'Desafinados, creating sunshine vibes with Brazilian bossa novas and samba... I will be posting about this new project here quite soon! And 'Global Wave', my Latin jazz, funky fusion group. We mainly play originals in jazz clubs and festival gigs Reviews: “One of the most distinctive acts on the jazz world scene” Andy Roberts BBC Radio Wales “Versatile jazz violinist and vocalist, Azhaar made her name fronting the excellent Brazilian Jazz group Sirius B. Tony Benjamin “Global Wave’s performance was exciting and wide ranging with the sounds of Latin America highly prominent in the mix. the multi-talented Saffar impressed as both a vocalist and violinist and her original songs were also convincing. The début album from Global Wave should be well worth looking out for" The Jazz Mann