Yahya Hussein Abdallah, Jasser Haj Youssef

The Hub, 19/8/25

Yahya Hussein Abdallah, Jasser Haj Youssef

This week the Hub is presenting a series of concerts of outstanding musicians from the Aga Khan Programme, founded in 2000 to source outstanding musical talent from areas such as Central Asia, Africa and the Middle and Far East, and present it to the whole world.

Tanzanian Yahya Hussein Abdallah and Tunisian Yasser Haj Youssef are two such talents, although Youssef needs no introduction to the West. Graduating from Tunis and Paris, he is a violin and viola player, musicologist, composer and teacher worldwide, performing Oriental and Western traditional and contemporary music, especially jazz.

Singer and reciter Yahya Hussein Abdallah attended the madrasah as a child in Dar es Salaam where, despite speaking no Arabic, he became devoted to the chanting of the Koran by heart. After studying Arab maqqam he now composes and sings Sufi praise songs, winning the Aga Khan prize of 2022.

Tonight’s songs comprise gems of ancient Sufi poetry and Eastern literature. Each one about 15 minutes, they open with a long and exquisite passage by Youssef on the Baroque viola d’amore, sombre but not sad. Abdallah comes in, quiet at first, before cruising upwards, tip-toeing down, conjuring in the listener shapes, colours, images and ideas; for his voice is supremely expressive, utterly engaging. Its sincerity strikes me too, not only because we are told that Sufism is constantly striving towards spiritual truth, but because I feel that, although speaking no ancient Arabic or Swahili, I can actually follow his words. The end of the song comes with Youssef’s last, long bow-stroke vanishing slowly, imperceptibly, into air.

For the third song, Youssef laid down his bow and began plucking. Abdallah joined in with the slightly jazzy feel, while also inviting the audience to clap along. We did so willingly, while he sang in similar oriental style to before, he and Youssef ducking, weaving and diving around the core of regular clapping. I have heard people complain that oriental music is typically formless. This demonstrated the structure that is there even when, unlike clapping or drumming, it is silent.

The final song ended without any Western-style climactic fanfare. Abdallah joined Youssef in gently cooling things down towards the last note. The audience, however, were less keen on a cool-down and cheered and hollered until, beaming, they took the encore, a tender piece which produced a second ovation, this time standing.

Both musicians were modest, approachable and charming. Youssef introduced the numbers, but briefly, and with an unexpected shyness which made it difficult to follow. Once again, I was disappointed with EIF’s lack of programme details, and overheard other audience members with the same feelings.