Safaa Al Saadi was born in 1973 in Baghdad. From the age of four he learned to play  drums from his brother Sattar Al Saadi and later he took up the Ney (flute) and keyboard. He was also supported by his other brothers: poets Mohamed Jabbar Hassan and the late actor Mahdi Jabbar Hassan who encuraged him to pursue a career in music. At the same time he studied keyboard privately.

 

At the age of 12, Safaa joined the Music Institute of Baghdad, previously known as Al Naghamia, led by the Maestro Salem Abdelkarim, to learn the basics of flute and Arabic music. During his studies Safaa learned flute from Prof. Saad Hassoun Al-Sellami. Other notable teachers include Baba Basim, Rafid Hanna Jalda, Abdul Samie and Faik Hanna. While at Al Naghamia, Safaa joined the schools  orchestra which was very active in school celebrations and participated in the International Festival of Babel. 

Safaa graduated with distinction in 1996 and went on to join the second year at The Academy of Arts in Baghdad. For two years (1997-1998) he attended advanced courses in music given by well-known Professors and artists including Tarek Hassoun Farid and Khaled Ibrahim.

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After his studies, Safaa worked with the Prof. Mouafek Al Bayetti on producing more than 40 songs for children for radio and TV. He also composed and produced several songs such as “Khalli al Hassad ythaloun” written by Mohamed Jabbar Hassan and “Choukou Makou” written by Kathem Am Saadi, both for the singer Kasim Al Rahal.

Safaa left Irak in 2002 and moved to Bodø, Norway. After only fifteen days in the country, Safaa, along with two others musicians, played the Norwegian national anthem at a big concert for asylum seekers. In 2003, he moved to Oslo and was invited to perform with the artist Hamid Mansour. 

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He has performed in several festivals and concerts in more than 10 countries across Europe as well as Morocco. Safaa has also collaborated with many bands and artists including Miriam Segal, Ellayali band, Malika Makouf Rasmussen, Al Jazz, Friensemblet to mention but a few. Recently, he composed Fra Al-Furat til Glomma which was performed with Ellayali at Olavsfestdagene in 2013.

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Safaas most recent artistic accomplishment is a comission by Global Oslo Music, Broer av Musikk (Brigdes of Music) which was performed at Cafeteateret on the 6th of December 2014. This was followed by a concert on the 13th of May 2015 entitled Musikkens Renhet (Purity of Music), a part of Samspill Sessions, a collaboration between Cosmopolite and Samspill International Music Network with the support of Global Oslo Music.

 

The same year, Safaa composed twelve songs for Barnas Verdensdager, part of a project entitled Hisab Hisab Tik Tik. The lyrics were written by Mohammed Jabbar Hassan and Safaa performed the songs along with his brother Sattar.