Explore what's on: Saturday 13 March 2010

Born in Teboulba, Tunisia in 1967, composer, singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef began singing when he was only five years old and as a youngster made his own oud (the traditional middle-Eastern lute) using whatever materials he could find.

Following a move to Vienna aged 19 to study music, Youssef played across Europe and his native Tunisia and had the chance to work with the likes of Markus Stockhausen, Carlo Rizzo and other great improvisers influenced by world music concepts. He also formed his own ensembles with whom he recorded four critically acclaimed CDs. Dhafer’s music is rooted in the Sufi tradition and other mystical music but has always been wide open to ideas from any other musical cultures as well as the jazz scene. With his poetic approach on the oud, his complex Arab-influenced compositions and especially his deeply affecting singing, he is one of the most impressive voices to emerge in this musical field in many years and opens the way to a new definition of East-West crossover.