Addo Rhawi

Born 1960. Since the late 70's Addo has grown to become an icon to the assyrian people by his music. It is a new kind of music that Addo presents on his latest CD's. He connects Rap, Reggae, Rock and Pop with traditional assyrian folk-songs. "Normally I would have made my CD's more rock-influenced, but I chose a wide spectrum of music, to get more and more young people to listen to their mother tongue. They are the ones who will carry on our traditions. Modern music with text in one's own language strengthens self-confidence and identity" says Addo.

At 17 he got an acoustic guitar as a present from his brother and started to play music with some friends in a basement in Ronna/Sweden. So, his first Band named "Bethnahrin" was born. Their first gig was in an old basement of the assyrian association in Ronna. The atmosphere was fantastic, the crowd both young and old danced constantly. Addo, who has previously been in three bands, has, during the years managed to play hundreds of assyrian festivals and weddings. During this time he and 4 other band members recorded 4 cassettes, where he customised both music and text to suit the audience. There is not a big market for assyrian music and there are few assyrian musicians who make a living from their music.

In his CD's Addo writes all the music and lyrics. He likes to write about things close to his heart: children, family, friends and his ethnic identity. Nowadays he still creates music, and plays all of the instruments by himself in his studio in Sweden.