Yousef Kekhia: Syrian Folktronic Singer & Producer

SAMA IS PROUD TO HOST YOUSEF KEKHIA ON A LIVESTREAM ON FEB. 11, 2021. STAY TUNED FOR HIS LIVESTREAM HIGHLIGHTS - COMING SOON!

Photo by Fabian Brennecke

Yousef Kekhia is a singer-songwriter from Aleppo, now based in Berlin. He left Syria due to the revolution in 2013, graduated from university in Istanbul and finally settled in Germany in 2016. By combining contemporary Folk and Electronic music with Arabic lyrics, he developed a singular style of sharing his intimate stories, making them direct and moving. In December 2019 the artist named as one of “10 Syrian Indie Musicians Who Give Us Hope For The Future of Syria” (Mideast Tunes) released his debut LP “Monologue” digitally and on vinyl. The album and its singles have gained him critical acclaim, shows all over Germany and more than 1 million combined streams since then. 

Inspired from the Black Live Matters movement and as a manifesto to reflect one's racist patterns of behavior, Kekhia released the single "Insan” (engl. human) in October 2020. The single also gives an insight to the artist’s musical development into more beat-driven soundscapes. A development we also hear on the “Monologue Reworks” (2021), a remix EP released in collaboration with Souq records, featuring remixes by Niklas Paschburg, Underher, Ghost of Christmas, HelloPsychaleppo and Kekhia himself. Currently, Yousef Kekhia is working on his second solo LP which will be released in the second semester of 2021.

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