Sami Yusuf

Sami Yusuf's alternately lush and intimate, cosmopolitan songs reflect a music education steeped in both Western and Middle Eastern classical music and encompassing influences ranging from flamenco to Sufi music and U.K. contemporary pop. Of Azerbaijani descent and raised in England, he emerged in the mid-2000s with albums like the devotional Al-Mu'allim (2005) and Without You (2009) -- both hits in the Middle East -- while gaining a reputation for stirring live performances. Yusuf's output in the 2010s was highlighted by 2014's intimate The Centre, 2015's Songs of the Way, and 2018's SAMi EP, whose more contemporary production palette was a surprise. With his recordings increasingly favoring live material thereafter, he released albums including When Paths Meet: Live at Holland Festival and When Paths Meet, Vol. 2 (from Paris) in the early 2020s. Born to Azerbaijani parents in 1980, Sami Yusuf was raised in London, England, where he studied by both Western and Middle Eastern classical music from an early age. Singing and playing multiple instruments as well as speaking multiple languages growing up, he went on to study composition at the Royal Academy and at Salford University, and compose music informed by styles as wide-ranging as Persian classical, qawwali, and flamenco. In 2005, he was featured on Mesut Kurtis' album Ṣalawāt for Muslim label Awakening Records, which released his own debut, Al-Mu'allim, as well as the follow-up, My Ummah, before the end of the year. Al Mu'allim proved a breakthrough in the Middle East, where the title track topped charts in Egypt and Turkey and paved the way for the broader success of My Ummah. Yusuf appeared on the soundtrack for the film The Kite Runner in 2007, and 2009's English-language Without You took on more Western adult contemporary sound while still incorporating Eastern influences. Yusuf claimed the latter album was released without his permission, and Awakening issued the concert album Sami Yusuf Live before they parted ways.Yusuf established the label ETM International for the release 2010's Wherever You Are, which mixed contemporary singer/songwriter pop with more orchestral and percussive fare alongside themes of love and tolerance. His fourth official album, 2012's Salaam, went platinum in Southeast Asia within months of its December release. It included songs in support of the sufferers of recent natural disasters. Continuing a spiritual and compassionate vein, and still incorporating Western and Eastern modes and timbres, The Centre arrived on Andante Records in September of 2014. That year, Yusuf was named United Nations Global Ambassador for the World Food Programme. With lyrics taken from poet and philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the mostly English-language Songs of the Way appeared on Andante and Dubai-based Music Box International in early 2015. His seventh album, Barakah, followed on Andante in early 2016. That year brought the release Yusuf concert albums from shows at London's Phoenix Theatre and at the Dubai Opera.Contemporary production touches marked a shift in sound on the EP SAMi, released in December of 2018. He then paid tribute to his heritage with 2019's Azerbaijan: A Timeless Presence, which captured a performance in Baku on all Azerbaijani instruments (except for the piano). When the COVID-19 pandemic forced him off the road, Yusuf issued The House Concert from his home studio in May 2020. Combining eight original songs and four new arrangements of previously released material, the lushly arranged live album Beyond the Stars saw release in late 2022. Another live set, When Paths Meet: Live at the Holland Festival, came out in early 2023. The brief, six-song When Paths Meet, Vol. 2, live from Paris (including "Meditations on Musette by Couperin") followed in early 2024.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

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