Wherever You Are (Sami Yusuf album)
| Sami Yusuf | |
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Sami Yusuf Live in Concert 2011
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| Background information | |
| Born | July 1980 (age 37) Tehran, Iran |
| Origin | Iranian |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 2003–present |
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| Website | www |
Sami Yusuf (Persian: ﺳﺎﻣﯽ ﯾﻮﺳﻒ ; born 21 July 1980 as Siamak Baranjan / Radmanesh) is an Iranian-born British singer-songwriter, composer, producer and an accomplished musician. Sami Yusuf was born in Tehran and raised in London, he came from an Azerbaijani background, with his father being a native of Baku. His father Babak Radmanesh was a student of music, having studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran University.
In 2003 Yusuf released his first album "Al-Mu`allim" at the age of 23. He released his second album "My Ummah" in 2005. In October 2010, Yusuf's third official album "Wherever You Are" was launched. Sami calls his genre of music "Spiritique". "Salaam" is his fourth album, that was released on 22 December 2012. On 12 September 2014, Yusuf's fifth official album "The Center" was released. In January 2015, Sami Yusuf's sixth official album "Songs of the Way" was released. His seventh album, "Barakah", was released in February 2016.
An ethnic Azeri born in Tehran, Iran, Yusuf was raised in London from the age of three. In one of his interviews Sami Yusuf said: Azerbaijan – my historical Motherland. My parents are Azerbaijanis, and grandparents were originally from Baku. Sami has said in multiple interviews "My nationality is British, I'm culturally Iranian, and my ethnic roots are Azeri". His father was born in Tabriz, and had been a musician (traditional and pop), composer, lyricist, poet, teacher, and a singer for over three decades in Iran. His father loaned him a book on the basics of the Tombak which Yusuf studied. As a teenager he was a devotee of classical music and classical icons like Frédéric Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, saying that he listened to Classic FM for hours a day. He went on training professionally in several other instruments including the santoor, piano, violin, oud, setar, tar, and daf under the guidance of traditional teachers, as well as professional musicians. While producing and demo-recording for another singer, he became aware of his own singing abilities which were further developed by the encouragement of his family. Divided between pursuing a musical career and studying law at King's College London, Yusuf opted for music while committed to "doing something dignified and respectable". Although he says that he has always been spiritual, he reconnected with his Islamic faith through a "religious awakening" at the age of sixteen. Yusuf self-produced and released his debut album "Al-mu'allim" at the age of 23.
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