DHAFER YOUSSEF
Dhafer Youssef-ud, vocals, Satoshi Takeishi-percussion, Koehne String Quartet
Tunisian singer and ud-virtuoso Dhafer Youssef, hailed in The Guardian as ‘world music’s most exciting new star’, blends his Arabic roots, in particular the mystic Sufi tradition, with jazz, elektronica and rock. Youssef moved to Vienna in 1990 and from then on his hypnotic voice and poetic approach to the ud (Arabian lute) quickly captivated European theatre and festival audiences. Divine Shadows is his group with percussionist Satoshi Takeishi and the Koehne String Quartet. The reviewer of a recent performance in the London music magazine Straight No Chaser wrote: ‘The kind of gig you watched and prayed would never end, charged with such magic that you knew you would be telling people about it for years to come.’