Maya Youssef
About Maya
Hailed as ‘The queen of the qanun’, Maya Youssef is a globally renowned and award-winning qanun player and composer from Syria. Born in Damascus, as a result of the war in her home country Maya arrived in the UK in 2012 under the UK Government’s Tier 1 visa scheme, endorsed by Arts Council England as an Exceptional Talent. Since then, Maya has pushed the boundaries of the qanun (a 78 stringed plucked zither traditionally played by men) and has performed at the South Bank, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican, Shakespeare’s Globe and WOMAD Festival, and around the world.
Finding Home
Maya's second album, Finding Home, was released March 25th, 2022. The album received 5-star reviews from international and UK press and was nominated for the prestigious German Record Critics’ Award. In September 2022 Finding Home was Number One in the Transglobal World Music Chart; in December it was named as one of Songlines’ 10 Best Albums of 2022.
Proposals
Maya is open to proposals for commissions, recording, talks, broadcasting and educational projects. The focus of her live work in 2024 is presenting music from her first two albums alongside the introduction of new material from her next album, which will be recorded in 2025, and can be performed with ensembles of different sizes. For more information get in touch and ...