Biography
Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio "the most important school" for him. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and clandestinely listened to it during his education at a Qur'anic school. He later left Tunisia to start a jazz career and has lived in Europe since 1990, usually in Paris or Vienna. He also works in avant-garde and world music where he has been nominated for awards. He has released six albums of his own and created notable work with Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu and the Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset. He has an affinity for the music of India and Nordic music. He was a guest artist on the Norwegian jazz artist Bugge Wesseltoft's album ''FiLM iNG''. Youssef has performed with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Jon Hassell, Uri Caine, Tigran Hamasyan, Markus Stockhausen, Nguyên Lê, Omar Sosa and Hüsnü Şenlendirici. Youssef is one of the ambassadors to Music Traveler GmbH, Music Traveler, together with Billy Joel, Hans Zimmer, John Malkovich, Sean Lennon, Adrien Brody and more. In 2001, he recorded ''Electric Sufi'' with the ex-The Sugarhill Gang, Sugar Hill Gang and Tackhead rhythm section of Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish. In 2015, Youssef opened the Sligo Jazz Project, Sligo Jazz project with a quartet act at the Hawk's Well Theatre at Connacht, Ireland. Youssef released ''Diwan of Beauty and Odd'' in 2016 which won quite a bit of praise from critics.Discography
Solo albums
* 1999: ''Malak'' (Enja Records, Enja) * 2001: ''Electric Sufi'' (Enja) * 2003: ''Digital Prophecy'' (Justin Time Records, Justin Time) * 2006: ''Divine Shadows'' (Jazzland Recordings, Jazzland) * 2007: ''Glow'' (Material), with Wolfgang Muthspiel * 2010: ''Abu Nawas Rhapsody'' (EmArcy Records, EmArcy) * 2013: ''Birds Requiem'' (Okeh Records, Okeh) (FR: #191) * 2016: ''Diwan of Beauty and Odd'' (Okeh) (FR: #105) * 2018: ''Sounds of Mirrors'' * 2023: ''Street of Minarets ''Collaborations
* 1997: ''Blue Planet – Peace for Kabul'' (Blue Flame World Music), with Lenny MacDowell and Hakim Ludin * 1998: ''hot ROOM'' (Extraplatte), also featuring Otto Lechner, Wolfgang Puschnig, Achim Tang * 2003: ''Exile'' (Enja), with Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble feat. Reem Kelani & Dhafer Youssef * 2005: ''Odem (with Wolfgang Puschnig and Jatinder Thakur)'' (EmArcy), with Wolfgang Puschnig and Jatinder Thakur * 2006: ''Homescape'' (ACT Music, ACT), with Nguyên Lê Duos Paolo Fresu * 2008: ''Jo & Co'' (Universal Music Polska), with Anna Maria Jopek feat. Richard Bona and Mino Cinelu * 2008: ''Latitudini – Omaggio Alla World Music'' (Casa Del Jazz), with Paolo Fresu and Eivind Aarset * 2017: ''Luna'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with Iain Ballamy And Dave McKean Featuring Dhafer Youssef, Emilia Mårtensson With Stian Carstensen, Stuart Hall, Matthew Sharp (Feral Records)References
External links
* *