Dhafer Youssef

Dhafer Youssef – Street of Minarets (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 20, 2023 · Comments off

“The topic of the album is first and foremost about traveling…” says Dhafer. “After traveling to the four corners of the world, in search of new sounds, here I sing differently and use vocal effects that I grew up with. Particularly the sound effect of megaphones for the call to prayer – hence the record title Street of Minarets.” The rest of the guests took part in the magical journey too.

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Dhafer Youssef – Sounds Of Mirrors (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 19, 2022 · Comments off

Some dreams last a long time. And hunchs that have value of prophecies. The traveling musician who helped to introduce the oud into jazz, satisfies his dream of Indian music and invites the famous percussionist Zakir Hussain to share some French stages in duet.The symbiosis is quite obvious but a color is missing : a wind instrument. Dhafer Youssef then summons another “soul mate” : the Turkish clarinet player Hüsnü Şenlendirici. The trio sketches in concert the raw material of “Sounds Of Mirrors”. The recording starts in Bombay, then in Istanbul where Eivind Aarset, the aerial jazz guitarist from Norway, joins the adventure. If If the disk was, at the very beginning, a tribute to Zakir Hussain and tablas, it actually takes an unexpected direction. « I felt that, working with and from an indian cultural base, we could approach a more universal speech… This recording was such a perfect ode to friendship and fraternity ! When we played together, I had this feeling that souls were connected, perfectly explaining the title of the album « Sounds Of Mirrors », tells Dhafer.

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Dhafer Youssef – Diwan Of Beauty And Odd (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 19, 2022 · Comments off

The Tunisian singer and oud-player Dhafer Youssef once said quite spontaneously “There is no prototype for beauty”. This disarmingly unconditional statement is in fact sufficient to sum up the motivation and sound of his new album Diwan Of Beauty & Odd.

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Dhafer Youssef – Birds Requiem (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 19, 2022 · Comments off

Tunisian oud master, vocalist, and composer Dhafer Youssef is globally renowned for his restless musicality. He has used his ancient instrument — five millennia and counting — to explore jazz, classical, and blues, in addition to the classical and folk musics of the Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean regions. The ephemeral Birds Requiem is his debut offering for Sony’s resurrected Okeh imprint. The players on this date include his trio with pianist Kristjan Randalu and trumpeter Nils-Petter Molvaer, and the complete ensemble (which recorded primarily in Sweden) features clarinetist Hüsnu Senlendirici, bassist Phil Donkin, drummer Chander Sardjoe, and electric guitarist Eivind Aarset, which also provides various electronic treatments. Aytac Dogan plays the zither-like kanun. The four-part “Birds Requiem Suite” is, as expected, the heart of the recording: it introduces it, plays two distinct parts in its middle section, and closes it. There are elemental theme-like qualities in each section, none of them predictable nor pat; neither do they act as mere showcases for Dhafer’s virtuosity, but instead are carefully conceived ensemble pieces with the oud at their collective heart, with distinct harmonics, timbres, and interplay. There are seven other compositions as well. “Blending Souls & Shades (To Shiraz)” is the set’s longest track. It commences as a sparse folk lament and becomes a labyrinthine jazz improv workout, with a stellar guitar break by Aarset and gorgeous falsetto by Dhafer. “Ascetic Mood” is a slow, brooding trio work for oud, clarinet, and piano. According to Dhafer, “Khira ‘Indicium Divinum’ Elegy for My Mother” was a spontaneous improvisation between his voice, Molvaer’s trumpet, and Randalu’s piano. It is easily the most moving and beautiful thing here. Other oud greats, from Rabih Abou-Khalil and Anouar Brahem to Titi Robin and Hamdi Makhlouf, have furthered the instrument’s reach and juxtaposed it with jazz, improvised, and other world musics, but Youssef’s Birds Requiem — for its range, formal historical considerations, emotional expression, subtle yet distinctive colors and textures, as well as its truly stellar musicianship — has used it to create a musical language that, while readily acknowledging the traditions that have informed it, is truly of his own creation.

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