Gabriel Yacoub

Gabriel Yacoub first came to the fore as teenage back-up guitarist and singer with Brittany’s pioneering Celtic harpist Alan Stivell in the early 1970s. Stivell’s blend of rock and the old world inspired Yacoub to form a band that was soon to become a landmark in contemporary French music. Unearthing some of France’s finest jewels from its own traditional music, MALICORNE revived the magic of what is called “world music,” by integrating currently popular instruments with crumhorns, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies, and mandocellos. Their trademark, however, was the originality of their stunning vocal arrangements, transforming well-chosen traditional and mediaeval ballads, through unusual and powerful voicings, into modern songs relevant to our times. With MALICORNE at its peak, Yacoub launched a solo career.