Dhafer Youssef – The Bittersweetness of Being
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Tunisian Dhafer Youssef’s cultural cross-pollinating music and career rise up like models for harmonious living in an increasingly fraught and fractured world.
With a rich, genre-straddling body of work behind him, Youssef’s latest and intriguingly-titled album, Diwan Of Beauty And Odd, is a meter-manipulating collection spanning Western and Islamic tropes and features some of New York’s fi nest jazz men in Aaron Parks, Ben Williams, Mark Guiliana and Ambrose Akinmusire. Kevin Le Gendre spoke to the oud player and vocalist about the daily duality of joy and pain and how they, along with seismic personal circumstances, have provided the underlying narrative for this powerful new work
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #211 – to read the full article click here to Subscribe, save money and get a fantsatic jazz CD FREE