DHAFER YOUSSEF QUINTET

Sufi Jazz

Dhafer Youssef : ud, voice
Eivind Aarset : electric guitars
Kristjan Randalu : piano
Phil Donkin : bass
Ferenc Nemeth : drums

Sublime vocalist and virtuoso oud player Dhafer Youssef has been on a quest for perfect and transcendent harmonies for almost twenty years and across eight albums. From a long line of muezzins, reared on Sufism and electro-jazz, the Tunisian released Birds Requiem at the end of 2013, which is without doubt his most personal and richest album to date. While the music is dedicated to his departed mother, it is far from a funeral mass. Fresh and luminous, carried by his exhilarating voice of mystic range, the bold compositions infatuate us. Emotions, sublime intoxication, and a touch of hedonism (from verses of Arabic-Persian poet Abu Nawas) all rise to the surface in a fertile and unifying mix. He serves up an electrifying blend of Eastern lyricism and contemporary jazz.