Dhafer Youssef Electric Sufi

Dhafer Youssef & Wolfgang Muthspiel - Glow (2007) {Material Records MRE 019-2}
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© 2007 Material Records | MRE 019-2
Jazz / World Jazz / Post Bop / Ethnic Jazz / Worldbeat

Although it's a dual-leader album, in which oud player Dhafer Youssef's performance is at least as important as that of guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, one of Glow's chief causes for celebration is Muthspiel's on-form presence. After releasing the shimmeringly beautiful Bright Side (Material Records, 2006)—a little-known masterpiece which may yet take its place alongside such jazz guitar iconographs as Johnny Smith's Moonlight In Vermont (Roulette, 1953, reissued 2004) and Wes Montgomery's Incredible Jazz Guitar (Riverside, 1960)—Muthspiel's project with drummer Brian Blade, Friendly Travelers (Material Records, 2007), was a disappointment, interesting in conception but not entirely convincing in execution.

Dhafer Youssef - Birds Requiem (2013) {OKeh Recordings 88883721842}
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© 2013 Dhafer Youssef / OKeh Recordings / Sony Music | 88883721842
Jazz / Spiritual Sufi / African Folk / World Jazz Fusion / Ethnic Jazz / Mysterious / Oud

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.

Divine Shadows sees the culmination of Dhafer Youssef's musical journey over the past five years. This, Dhafer's fourth album, consolidates ideas that have emerged through his three albums on Enja Records whilst introducing a new dynamic. Since his arrival in Europe in 1990, Tunisian vocalist and oud player Dhafer Youssef, has established himself as one of the most exciting artists working in contemporary music. Bringing together the spiritual quality of Sufi with the most cutting edge sound of European jazz, has created a distinctive sound synonymous with his name.

Tunisia-born singer and oudist Dhafer Youssef should be recording for ECM. His albums have a similar spiritual, centered quality to the work appearing on that label, and his work on this album with some of Norway's top jazz players points completely in that direction. He lives very much on the cutting edge, taking things even further than he did on 2001's Electric Sufi. Where that album used electronica as the periphery of the music, here he brings it to the heart of the sound, integrating it seamlessly into his compositions, as on "Aya," where a seemingly found sound becomes the heartbeat of the track. His collaborators, including trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær, offer him plenty of space, and that's what the music needs – it's as wide open as the Tunisian desert.