Daniel Santiago
Biography
Daniel Santiago is a composer, guitarist and music producer who for the past 20 years
has been an active and key contributor to the Brazilian and world music scenes. Originally
from Brazil, Santiago is deeply rooted in the traditional sounds of his homeland, and also
cites English rock of the 1970’s and 80’s and the contemporary aesthetic and
complexities of modern jazz as major influences upon his unique and diverse musical
world. His work is characterized by the development and search for an original sonic
language, and a remarkable ability to translate deep, resonant emotion through whichever
musical medium he chooses.
Daniel Santiago began his musical studies as a child, and at age 19 he founded his first
band, Brasilia-Brasil Trio. In addition to collaborations with Eric Clapton, Simon Climie,
Kurt Rosenwinkel, Milton Nascimento, Joao Bosco, Hamilton de Holanda, John Paul
Jones, Joshua Redman and many others, Santiago has released six of his own records.
With Hamilton de Holanda, Daniel has recorded more than ten albums and their work
together has been nominated for four consecutive Latin Grammy Awards. In 2017,
Santiago was again nominated for his work on the album Casa de Bituca( the music from
Milton Nascimento), alongside Hamilton de Holanda and Marcos Portinari. An artist
constantly expanding to new musical horizons, Santiago formed a duo with fellow
Heartcore Records artist Pedro Martins in 2015. Together they released “Simbiose” and
“Movement”, two albums of wondrous musicianship and interplay between two singular
entities in contemporary music. Following the initial success of “Simbiose”, Santiago and
Martins were subsequently invited by Eric Clapton to participate in the 2019 and 2023
Crossroads Guitar Festivals. The duo’s performance was met warmly by an audience of
over 20,000 guitar enthusiasts, and Santiago and Martins were featured amongst the
most prominent figures in modern guitar music.
In 2021, Daniel Santiago opened yet another chapter with the release of “Song For
Tomorrow, his latest album and first on Heartcore Records and produced by Kurt
Rosenwinkel. A return to Santiago’s musical origins, “Song For Tomorrow” is an ambitious
new collection of original songs through which the guitarist and composer communes
with his greatest musical influences. The sounds of Brazil, the attitude and power of
classic rock, and the ingenuitive disposition of modern jazz all coalesce into a brilliant
sonic journey, featuring some of the greatest musicians of our time, including Joshua
Redman, Aaron Parks, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Pedro Martins and the guitar legend Eric
Clapton. The album reveals Daniel Santiago, a mature artist with deep emotional
capacities and fiery virtuosity long known and respected by his peers, to the world.
Produced by Kurt Rosenwinkel, “Song For Tomorrow” was released through Berlin-based
independent music label Heartcore Records. In 2023, Daniel was featured on the single
“How could we know” alongside Eric Clapton, Simon Climie and Judith Hill.
