Dhafer Youssef’s Digital Prophecy

ESB Routes in Rhythm 2003

Dhafer Youssef's Digital Prophecy
Dhafer Youssef - oud, voice/Dieter Ilg - bass
Eivind Aarset - guitars, electronics/Rune Arnesen - drums, programming

"This man is pushing the roots-digital envelope like no one else."
- Songlines

" music that tethers Third World beats to First World technology, a thin cross-cultural membrane connecting the ancient with the modern, the sacred with the profane."
- Time Out

Sunday 16th November 8pm Whelans Wexford St D2

With the opening strains of Digital Prophecy, oud master and inspirational singer Dhafer Youssef makes his intention clear: To form a bridge between the ancient musical traditions of Arabic civilisation and the new horizons of contemporary jazz and electronica from Europe. In his hands, the two cultures are enjoined through music that is both spiritual and reflective , passionate and exhilarating.

Born in Teboulba, Tunisia in 1967, Youssef seems perfectly poised to fashion a new musical dialect from his North African heritage. A virtuoso of the oud, the lute like instrument at the heart of Arabic music, he's been singing Sufi devotional music since the age of five. Based in Vienna since 1990, he has collaborated with Europe's leading musicians and, as with his Shelter concert last September, he'll be supported by the subtlety and resonance of Austrian bassist Dieter Ilg.Norwegians Eivind Aarset and Rune Arnson have previously appeared in Ireland with NPM, and their own ethereal fusion of Norse jazz and textured electronica are a logical foil for Youssef's ornate compositions and soaring vocal lines, and a reminder that the world is smaller than we might think.

Many elements contribute here. From the south, the moody tonalities of Spain's Andalusia, the poetry of Arabic song and the cyclical rhythms of North Africa's Gnawa. From the north, the evocative soundscape of Nordic life and the liberating potential of technology. Linking them is Youssef's transcendent voice, gliding effortlessly through the upper registers and inviting you into the ecstatic world of the praise singer.

Adm EUR18 (inc booking fee) avail. from Claddagh Records, Cecilia St Temple Bar D2
Credit Card Booking: Improvised Music Company tel 01 877 9001
Also available from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide