Featured Artist:
Michael Annas Allaf, Guitar
Michael Annas Allaf is a guitarist and
a recording engineer in the Los Angeles area. Having been
raised in Europe, he grew up influenced by many different
styles of music (which would influence his musicanship
in later years). He moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and immediately
began working as a staff engineer at Pacifique Studios
in North Hollywood (recently rated by Mix magazine as
one of the top 5 recording studios in Los Angeles). He
worked on recording sessions with artists such as Toto,
Natalie Cole ("Unforgettable"), Phil Collins,
The Temptations, The Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Lou
Rawls, Ricky Lee Jones, Earth Wind & Fire, Sam Riney,
Kirk Whalum, Brenda Russel, Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff,
etc. Being fluent in French, he also got recruited to
work on recording sessions by such renowned French recording
artists as Veronique Sanson, Marc Lavoine and The Charts
(Calogero).
Within a year of working on the Los Angeles studio circuit
as an engineer, Michael started getting requests from
some of the artists that he worked with, to play guitar
on their records. Although he plays several styles (Pop,
Rock, R&B, Country, etc), he quickly built a reputation
in Los Angeles as a Flamenco / Nylon and steel string
acoustic guitarist. On a sidenote, besides playing on
pop releases, Michael also plays authentic Flamenco guitar
(i.e. Bulerias, Soleares, Taranta, etc). Over the past
16 years, his guitar work has been featured on records
by artists such as Will Smith, Brandy, Jessica Simpson,
Jennifer Paige, Ce Ce Peniston, Deborah Cox, K-Ci &
Jojo, Monica, Tarkan, Steve Nieves, Jango, Keiko Matsui,
No Secrets, Kitaro, Heavy D., etc. He has also done some
live performance work in the early 90's (as part of a
Flamenco guitar trio), opening for Dire Straits on one
of their world tours.
These days, Michael mostly works from his home studio.
He is still doing guitar sessions for various producers
and artists; as well as writing and producing songs for
his own upcoming record release.
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