Guitar & Vocals

The New York Times called him “a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus”. Guitarist and singer Raul Midón was born in New Mexico, but after years in New York City now lives in Maryland. Blind since birth – being told by some when he was a child that his blindness meant that “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” – he has lived a life devoted to beating the odds and shattering stereotypes. Never having seen, he had felt at a disadvantage in the beginning. “Lyric writing is usually very visual. People relate to images, and I’ve never seen images. But what I realized early on is that you have to write from what you know, and I hear, touch and feel intensely – and those are sensations that everyone can relate to”, he says. Raul began playing drums early in his childhood before switching to guitar. In the ’90s, he relocated to Miami for college and then was educated in the jazz program of the University of Miami. When he plays the guitar, bass, harmony and melodic lines fly from the fretboard as if they were produced by more than just two hands. His voice is silky and with his lips, Raul creates bebop “trumpet” solos. His CD “Bad Ass And Blind” earned him a GRAMMY nomination (Best Jazz Vocal Performance).

www.raulmidon.com

Listen to Raul Midón on YouTube.de:

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