Where is sami youssef from

Through this effort, Sami hopes to help people from different traditions recognize that the common values they hold far outweigh their differences and that this understanding can be the starting point for the journey toward a lasting peace.

Home About Sami Yusuf. View More Read Less. Transnational Broadcasting Studies, in two separate papers lauded Sami's state-of-the-art music videos a beacon of positivity and substance; his music an alternative and competitor to the mainstream Western music.

His success was soon acknowledged by the University of Roehampton in south-west London, as a result of which, Sami became the first and the youngest Muslim recipient of the honorary Doctor of Letters award in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to music. In attainment of this prestigious award, he not only stands alongside Mark Twain, J.

K Rowling and Robert Frost but is also one of the only three musicians in the world to be ever honored thus. His music not only filled the airwaves of London and LA but also penetrated effectively in the conservative Arabian Peninsula. He's one of us, the crowds would claim proudly and sing along with Sami in his near-perfect Turkish.

His shows are grand and highly personalized. His performances are trim and tightly focused, complete with singing in English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Azeri and Malay and performance on a multitude of both classical and ethnic instruments.

His penchant for multilingualism teamed with simplicity of conduct makes his style a statement, and his shows an experience of a lifetime. Fame and glory however are illusionary for Sami. For him, his position as an artist is a sacred trust, a trust best honored in serving humanity. His genuine benevolence is reflected through his unwavering commitment as United Nations Celebrity Partner to reach out to those in need throughout the world.

He has recently launched a campaign in partnership with United Nations World Food Programme to help end hunger in the Horn of Africa that has been hit by its worst drought in the last 60 years. He has been relentless in assuming his responsibilities as the first global ambassador of Silatech - a Qatar-based initiative promoting entrepreneurial skills and open access to capital and markets for large-scale job creation in the MENA region.

His Live8 concert in Wembley Arena raised millions of pounds for the victims of the conflict-laden region of Darfur - an effort recognised and praised by the British government. Sami also took the initiative to work in close tandem with the UN sponsored charity, Save the Children, to help uplift morale of the victims of Pakistan floods by sending a message of hope and undying support through his charity single, Hear Your Call.

Sami is one of the UK's biggest exports in the last decade. In the course of 10 years, he has masterfully navigated through unchartered waters - he has won over the hearts and minds of millions from across the Middle East, Europe, North America and North Africa. His compass, in principle, has been his self-coined genre - Spiritique. His father, a music teacher and composer, and mother, who plays Azeri percussion instruments, both encouraged their son's prodigious musical talents. As well as playing piano and violin, Yusuf also plays many Persian, Turkish and Arabic instruments.

I grew up with the most prominent Azeri composers and musicians coming to our house, and we used to jam together. As a year-old kid I was jamming with people old enough to be my grandparents.

It gave me confidence to play with these incredibly talented and very influential people. After finishing his secondary-school studies, he got a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London, but left after eight months, saying he found the hot-house atmosphere there stifling. You go to these places full of passion and come out like a mouse, feeling you can't do anything because some famous composer has done it before. Where's the melody, where's the soul?

Instead, he went into music production. He began singing his own songs by accident. In , he was working as a producer and recorded a demo for the Persian singer Omid, to help the artist learn the songs. Yusuf's debut album Al-Mu'allim, with its messages of love, peace, mercy and tolerance, was a runaway success and he quickly became something of a role model among young Muslims. He admits he has had his share of criticism from "purists" who believe that popular music has no place in Islam.

Faith for me is absolute. Everything else has been disputed and we will never find two scholars who agree. I don't sing about sex, drugs and rock 'n'roll. People come to experience some kind of spiritique - music that infuses Oriental and occidental harmonics, underpinned with the essence of spirituality.

He believes his new album is his best work and hopes that songs such as Wherever You Are, written at the peak of his frustrations with his former record company, will explain how he felt at the time. I never stopped believing, but during this difficult time I was losing my patience. This song represents my saying goodbye to all that. Other songs explore themes of healing, kindness and spirituality and highlight his concern for the younger generation and their lack of direction and ambition. When we meet he is wearing an exquisite lightweight black Gucci jacket, but when I ask him if he has bought himself diamond rings or fancy Maserati sports cars, he genuinely appears never to have heard of the brand.

Does he ever worry that he's setting himself up as a target for extremists? The thing that is going to define or distinguish people like me in the end is the music.