Yousef's Bio

Yousef Shamoun was born in Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo is home to a strong tradition of composing and singing the Muwashshahat and the Qudud Halabiyya. It is also known for its Tarab, a musical style which means “enchantment.” Yousef belongs to the school of great Aleppian singers such as Sabah Fakhri, Mohamad Khairy, Bakry Kurdi and Omar al-Batsh, among many others. 

As a deacon in the Syriac Church, Yousef was also inspired by the Syriac tradition of religious chanting. The Syriac church music & Maqamat had a great influence on yousef. Yousef was previlfleged to be around the great musicologist Malfono  "Nour Iskander" and learned a lot from his vast knowledge in the Syriac Music. 

Yousef is known for both his mastery of the mawwal (non-metric vocal improvisation) and for his powerful rendition of Arabic Maqam. Yousef is passionate about both preserving the classical tradition of Muwashshahat while also experimenting and innovating with their style and structures.  

Upon his arrival in the United Sates, Yousef was fortunate to meet the renowned Syrian composer and musician Fathi el-Jarrah who became Yousef’s long-term friend and music mentor. Yousef was also recently honored to meet and benefit from the vast musical knowledge of the virtuous oud master Muhammad Qadri Dalal. During his music career, Yousef has worked with a number of acclaimed composers including: Fathi al-Jarrah, Nihad Najjar, Safouh Shaghalleh, Samir Kwefati, Salah Kurdi and Samir Sfir. In his other life, Yousef has earned a master’s degree in Leadership & Global Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. 

We try our best to celebrate Tarab and to celebrate Muwashshahat and Kudud Halabia.  During " Tarab Nights" we mainly performs Arabic Maqam and the Aleppian repertoire (Muwashshahat and Qudud Halabiya).  Tarab is a genre of Arabic music, Tarab, often translated as musical enchantment, rapture or ecstasy— is a genre of Arabic music that refers to a state of musical and emotional enchantment experienced by its listeners. Often considered to be the epitome of songs in the Arab world—especially in the Levant—the Muwashshahat are strophic poems set to music.  Of Andalusian inspiration, they treat the themes of love, longing and spirituality. They continue to be cherished and even composed by Syrians at home and abroad. The Qudud Halabiya are lighter songs in both standard and colloquial Arabic that are well-known around the Arab world today.  

Yousef Shamoun has been performing a series of nights of Tarab at several venues including Columbia University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Rubin Museum of Art which was organized by My Dream Speaks, (le) Poisson Rouge in New York, as well as at the Turaath Night organized by the Arab-Anti-Discrimination Committee Gala in Washington D.C., among other venues and events. Those concerts carried an important musical, cultural and social message.