Dhafer Youssef
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Dhafer Youssef (; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player.


Biography

Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a
muezzin The muezzin (; ), also spelled mu'azzin, is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day ( Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque from the minaret. The 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'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
ic school. He later left Tunisia to start a jazz career and has lived in Europe since 1990, usually in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
or
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. He also works in avant-garde and world music where he has been nominated for awards. He has released nine albums of his own and created notable work with
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
n trumpeter
Paolo Fresu Paolo Fresu (; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. His unique trumpet sound is recognized as one of the most distinctive in the contemporary jazz scene. Fresu pla ...
and the Norwegian guitarist
Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. His style has been associated with nu jazz and electronic music, and often makes extensive use of effects to process his guitar. In addition to his work as a bandleader, A ...
. He has an affinity for the
music of India Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several ...
and
Nordic music Nordic folk music includes a number of traditions of Nordic countries, especially Scandinavian. The Nordic countries are Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The many regions of the Nordic countries share certain traditions, many of whic ...
. He was a guest artist on the Norwegian jazz artist
Bugge Wesseltoft Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1 February 1964) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer, and producer, son of jazz guitarist Erik Wesseltoft. Career In 1989, Wesseltoft collaborated with the Knut Riisnæs Quartet and was soon after ...
's album ''FiLM iNG''. Dhafer Youssef built his reputation with his performances. There he combines vocal and instrumental improvisation that create a profound spiritual connection with the attendees. He has performed with Ustad Zakir Hussain,
Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various w ...
,
Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956) is an American classical music, classical and jazz pianist and composer from Philadelphia. Biography Early years Caine was born on June 8, 1956, in Philadelphia, to Burton Caine (1928–2023), a professor at Temple ...
, Tigran Hamasyan,
Markus Stockhausen Markus Stockhausen (born 2 May 1957) is a German trumpeter and composer. His recordings and performances have typically alternated between jazz and chamber or opera music, the latter often in collaboration with his father, composer Karlheinz St ...
,
Nguyên Lê Nguyên Lê (Vietnamese: ''Lê Thành Nguyên''; born 14 January 1959) is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer. He has released albums ...
, Omar Sosa and Hüsnü Şenlendirici. Youssef is one of the ambassadors to 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- Sugar Hill Gang and
Tackhead Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, ind ...
rhythm section of
Will Calhoun William Calhoun (born July 22, 1964) is an American drummer who is a member of the rock band Living Colour. Career Calhoun was born in the Bronx, New York. He moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with a mu ...
and
Doug Wimbish Douglas Arthur Wimbish (born September 22, 1956) is an American bassist, primarily known for being a member of rock band Living Colour and funk/dub/hip hop collective Tackhead, and as a session musician with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, G ...
. In 2015, Youssef opened the
Sligo Jazz project Sligo Jazz Project is an international jazz summer school and festival which takes place in Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of C ...
with a quartet act at the Hawk's Well Theatre at
Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Youssef released ''Diwan of Beauty and Odd'' in 2016, which was praised by critics. Dhafer Youssef released "Sounds of Mirrors" in 2018 with the participation of Zakir Hussain on tabla, Hüsnü Şenlendirici on the clarinet and
Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist and composer. His style has been associated with nu jazz and electronic music, and often makes extensive use of effects to process his guitar. In addition to his work as a bandleader, A ...
on the guitar. His latest album "Street of Minarets" was released on January 27, 2023. It was recorded in
Sunset Sound Recorders Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States, located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard. Background The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a co ...
, Los Angeles, with the participation of
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
,
Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sa ...
,
Dave Holland Dave Holland or David Holland may refer to: *Dave Holland (bassist) David Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has ...
,
Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...
,
Nguyên Lê Nguyên Lê (Vietnamese: ''Lê Thành Nguyên''; born 14 January 1959) is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer. He has released albums ...
and Ambrose Akinmusire.


Discography


Solo albums

* 1999: ''Malak'' ( Enja) * 2001: ''Electric Sufi'' (Enja) * 2003: ''Digital Prophecy'' ( Justin Time) * 2006: ''Divine Shadows'' ( Jazzland) * 2010: ''Abu Nawas Rhapsody'' (
EmArcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by Bob Shad for the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Cli ...
) * 2013: ''Birds Requiem'' (
Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...
) (FR: #191) * 2016: ''Diwan of Beauty and Odd'' (Okeh) (FR: #82) * 2018: ''Sounds of Mirrors'' (Anteprima) (FR:#128) * 2023: ''Street of Minarets'' (Back Beat Edition)


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 Gilad Atzmon (, ; born 9 June 1963) is an Israeli-born British saxophonist, novelist, political activist, and writer. As a musician, he is best known as a saxophonist and bandleader. His instruments include the saxophone, accordion, clarinet ...
& 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), with Nguyên Lê Duos Paolo Fresu * 2007: ''Glow'' (Material), with Wolfgang Muthspiel * 2008: ''Jo & Co'' (Universal Music Polska), with
Anna Maria Jopek Anna Maria Jopek (born 14 December 1970) is a Polish vocalist, songwriter, and improviser. She represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Ale jestem" and finished 11th out of 25 participat ...
feat.
Richard Bona Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer. Early life Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a ...
and
Mino Cinelu Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * ...
* 2008: ''Latitudini – Omaggio Alla World Music'' (Casa Del Jazz), with Paolo Fresu and Eivind Aarset * 2017: ''Luna'' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with
Iain Ballamy Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the 25 greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and was featured as one of the world's all-time greats in ''BBC Music Magazine''s "100 Jazz Legen ...
And
Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an England, English artist. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpture. McKean has illustrated works by authors such as S. F. Said, S.F. Said, ...
Featuring Dhafer Youssef, Emilia Mårtensson With Stian Carstensen, Stuart Hall, Matthew Sharp (Feral Records)


References


External links

* * . Biography and discography. * *


Music videos

* . Music video duration 7m 59s. Uploader Dhafer Youssef 2013. * . Music video duration 1h 18m 14 s. Uploader Dhafer Youssef 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Youssef, Dhafer 1967 births Living people Jazzland Recordings (1997) artists Tunisian jazz composers Enja Records artists EmArcy Records artists Justin Time Records artists Okeh Records artists ACT Music artists Tunisian oud players Modal jazz oud players