Steve Barakatt: The musical genius

By Reaven D’Souza
Executive Managing Editor

Steve Barakatt, an award-winning Canadian composer, pianist, music producer and creative director is an extraordinarily gifted and talented artist who has had an outstanding career spanning over 30 years.

Throughout his distinguished career, Barakatt has collaborated with leading artists, record labels, studios, brands and organizations on hundreds of global projects. He has composed iconic anthems for international corporations, organizations, and governments. Most notably, he composed the UNICEF international anthem, ‘Lullaby’, which he initiated with American singer, actor, and civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte, and was released across five continents and even on the International Space Station in 2009.

A proud Canadian of Lebanese origins, Steve Barakatt is currently on his ‘Néoréalité’ World Tour. Last week he performed at the Katara Opera House in Doha, Qatar. It was indeed an honor for us to have a quick tete-a-tete with this creative genius and to understand the motivation behind his successes, during his brief visit to Kuwait last week.

Steve began by saying that he was privileged to visit Kuwait for the first time and was looking forward to performing and engaging with the audience here. “The fact that I am of Lebanese origin, allows me to understand the relations between the Middle East and Canada in a special way,” he noted.

At a young age of four Steve began learning the piano, he has never looked back since. Going on to become a youth icon, a Grammy-award winner, and eventually a world renowned composer, his accomplishments are just unparalleled in the music composing industry.

“I dreamt about success all my life, but even in my craziest dreams I could not imagine that I would achieve this level of success, and travel to so many countries around the world,” he quips.

“Having a passion and how you convert your passion to harmonize it in your life and then make it as a professional career overcoming many challenges along the way, is the story of my life,” he says, adding, “It’s a balance of talent and hard work.”

Even though he hailed from a family with no musical background, Steve credits his father, a school teacher, with all the support and teaching him how to approach things in life. Music, he says, is about resonance, and he had the resonance and the talent of a writer, as well as the desire to communicate it as a composer and musician. But taking it beyond to the next level was his motivation, his dream to become a musician and travel the world at a very young age.

Asked if his success came with sacrificing a lot, he retorted, “When you do something you love, you cannot call it sacrifice, however, there is always a price to pay, which I would not call sacrifice, but rather a price with a lot of effort and a lot of deceptions.”

Elaborating on this, he says, “When you dream big you have more chance to feel dejected than when you don’t dream at all, because if one does not wish for anything there will be no reason to feel depressed at not achieving something.” He adds, “The most important thing is to do it in a way that it can work, sometimes it doesn’t and one has to learn how to cope with this and to make it happen.”

It was at the age of 16 that he decided to take the plunge. He began programming music with computers, a completely unheard of thing at the time and it worked. Immediately, he was working with big brands like Roland. The midi revolution was a great boon as Steve adapted and excelled. From those early days to the present, Steve has traveled the world not just playing but creating music and sounds that have a universal language of appeal.

As a concert pianist, he has performed over 500 live shows on five continents, captivating audiences with his emotive and intricate compositions. His music has been featured in hundreds of TV programs and series, as well as in major international sports broadcasts, including the FIFA World Cup and F1 Grand Prix.

A prolific recording artist, Barakatt has sold over five million albums worldwide, and his music catalog has amassed over 250 million views on YouTube. He has been accorded the Knight of the National Order of Quebec and has been recognized by several heads of state. Barakatt is a Universal Music MENA artist, and his music catalog is represented by Universal Music Publishing Group.

In an impressive and engaging talk to students at the American University of Kuwait (AUK), Steve’s topic, ‘Compose your Masterpiece’ was indeed a masterpiece. His story-telling ability about the story of his life was a moving experience, where he spoke with passion about passion, and about living one’s dreams by harmonizing life to create one’s own success.