Elements of Techno in the Music of Dhafer Youssef

Dhafer Youssef is an avant-garde jazz and world music composer and performer. I was first drawn in to Youssef's sounds when I came across this performance--still one of the most cathartic musical moments I've seen. As I've been delving more and more into techno, I couldn't help but notice the underlying elements that Youssef's compositions share with techno music: repetition and augmented repetition; gradual builds; incorporation of unique and electronic sounds; and the presentation, removal, and resurgence of key musical material. I find this to be most heavily represented in his composition "Odd Poetry". The composition does delve into jazz tropes--an ABA form, improvisation, and acoustic instrumentation--in parallel to those found in techno, so it is certainly a far cry from the original Detroit techno. Still, I think it is an interesting piece to explore in order for us to understand both the origins of techno as well as the diversity of its modern ancestors.