Dhafer Youssef

ظافر يوسف‎ Dhafer Youssef
Youssef Dhafer at Moers Festival, June 2006, Germany
Background information
Born	1967 (age 43–44) Tunisia
Genres	Sufi, Qawwali Jazz Fusion, New Age, World Music, avant-garde, Electronica
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Oud Vocal
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Enja Records
Website	www.dhaferyoussef.com
Notable instruments
Oud

Dhafer Youssef (Arabic: ظافر يوسف‎; born 1967 in Teboulba, Tunisia) is a composer, singer and oud player. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and clandestinely listened to it during his education at a Qur'anic school.^[1] 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.^[2] He has released four albums of his own and also did notable work with Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu and the Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset. He indicates 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 also performed with Uri Caine, Jon Hassell, Markus Stockhausen,^[3] Nguyên Lê and the Cuban pianist Omar Sosa. In 2001 he recorded Electric Sufi with the ex-Sugar Hill Gang and Tackhead rhythm section of Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish.

Discography

• Blue Planet - Peace for Kabul (with Lenny MacDowell and Hakim Ludin) (1997)
• hot ROOM (also featuring Otto Lechner, Wolfgang Puschnig, Achim Tang) (1998)
• Malak (1999)
• Electric Sufi (2002)
• Digital Prophecy (2003)
• Odem (with Wolfgang Puschnig and Jatinder Thakur) (2005)
• Divine Shadows (2006)
• Glow (with Wolfgang Muthspiel) (2007)
• Abu Nawas Rhapsody (2010)

References

1. ^ Ralf Dombrowski (Translation from German: Nancy Joyce) (2005). "From Koran School to the First League in European Jazz". Qantara.de. http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-587/_nr-10/_p-1/i.html?PHPSESSID=5869. Retrieved 2009-08-22. 
2. ^ "Awards For World Music 2003: Audience Award". BBC Radio 3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/awards2003/aadhafer.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-22. 
3. ^ "Background information". ECM. http://www.ecmrecords.com/Background/ECM/1700/Bgr_1704.php. Retrieved 2009-08-22. 

External links

• Official site
• All Music Guide: Dhafer Youssef
• BBC - Awards for World Music 2006 - Dhafer Youssef
• An All About Jazz article mentioning him

Persondata
Name	Youssef, Dhafer
Alternative names
Short description	Tunisian musician
Date of birth	1967
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death