
Gabriel Yacoub is a French musician, songwriter and visual artist.
Biography
Yacoub was born in 1952, in Paris, of a
Lebanese
Lebanese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Lebanese Republic
* Lebanese people
The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may al ...
father and a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
mother.
[gabriel yacoub : biographie]
/ref> He was a guitarist and singer with the Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell (; born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a French, Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specificall ...
group that toured France in 1971. Before he founded Malicorne, Gabriel and Marie Yacoub recorded the experimental album ''Pierre de Grenoble'' (1973).[ Indeed, this was originally intended to be the name of the group. It included contributions from ]Dan Ar Braz
Dan Ar Braz (; born Daniel Le Bras on 15 January 1949 in Quimper) is a Breton people, Breton guitarist-singer-composer and the founder of Héritage des Celtes, L'Héritage des Celtes, a 50-piece Pan-Celticism, Pan-Celt band. Leading guitarist in ...
. With Malicorne, Gabriel played acoustic and electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
, mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, epinette de Vosges and banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
, while Marie played electric dulcimer, bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
and hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a v ...
. In 1978 Gabriel recorded a solo album called ''Trad. Arr.'', which featured English fiddler
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...
Barry Dransfield as guest.
Solo years
In the final year of Malicorne, 1986 Yacoub recorded ''Elementary Level of Faith''. After a four-year gap he toured as a duo with Marie. He released ''Bel'' which had a string quartet on it and bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...
from Jean-Pierre Rasle (who had previously recorded with The Albion Country Band
The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, were a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the mo ...
). By the time of ''Quatre'' (1994), he had appeared on 15 albums.
He finally recorded an album of his songs in English in 2002, ''The Simple Things We Said''. He has written a book of poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...
and lyrics, called ''Les choses les plus simples''.
Discography
Source:
Gabriel and Marie Yacoub
* ''Pierre de Grenoble'' (1973)
Gabriel Yacoub
* ''Trad. Arr.'' (1978)
* ''Elementary Level of Faith'' (1986)
* ''BEL'' (1990)
* ''Quatre'' (1994)
* ''Babel'' (1997)
* ''Tri'' (compilation) (1999)
* ''Yacoub'' (2001)
* ''The Simple Things We Said'' (2002)
* ''In concert''
* ''Je vois venir'' (2004)
* ''De la Nature des Choses'' (2008)
References
External links
Discography
at music-city.org
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yacoub, Gabriel
1952 births
Living people
Musicians from Paris
Celtic rock music
Fast Folk artists
French musicians
French people of Lebanese descent