Gabriel Yacoub

Gabriel Yacoub (4 February 1952 – 22 January 2025) was a French musician and visual artist. He was a lead member of the Celtic music band Malicorne from its formation in 1973, as a pioneer of the revival of traditional music in contemporary formats.<ref name="Harris" /> He later also played and recorded solo music, including to his own lyrics.

Life and career

Yacoub was born in Paris on 4 February 1952<ref name="Harris" /> to a Lebanese father and a French mother.<ref name="Bio" /> His early musical interests, in the 1960s, was American folk music, first by Bob Dylan, then by Woody Guthrie<ref name="Harris" /> and real American traditional music.<ref name="Moll" /> He was inspired, but looked for something with French cultural roots.<ref name="Moll" /> He became a guitarist and singer with the group of harpist Alan Stivell who introduced him to traditional Breton music<ref name="Moll" /> and toured France in 1971.<ref name="Harris" /><ref name="Postic" />

Before founding Malicorne, Gabriel and his then wife Marie Sauvet recorded the experimental album Pierre de Grenoble in 1973.<ref name="Postic" /><ref name="Figaro" /> This was originally intended to be the name of the group. It included contributions from Breton guitarist-singer Dan Ar Braz.<ref name="FP" /> In 1973, they co-founded Malicorne, to revive traditional French music<ref name="Moll" /> and combined modern instruments, including guitar, electric guitar and bass guitar, with traditional instruments such as bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and krumhorns.<ref name="Harris" /><ref name="Figaro" /> Gabriel played guitars, mandolin, Epinette des Vosges and banjo, while Marie played electric dulcimer, bouzouki and hurdy-gurdy. They made a number of successful albums, of which the 1976 Almanach was regarded as the most popular.<ref name="Figaro" />

In 1978, Yacoub recorded a solo album called Trad. Arr., which featured English fiddler Barry Dransfield as guest;<ref name="Stivell" /> he played traditional French tunes with acoustic guitar, and began to write and compose original songs.<ref name="Harris" />

After disbanding for the first time, at the end of 1981, Malicorne reformed in different configurations in 1984, in 1986 and again from 1987 to 1989.<ref name="Peigné" /> The group played in its original line-up for a single concert on 15 July 2010, in La Rochelle<ref name="Peigné" /><ref name="Figaro" /> and finally, in November 2011, with a new line-up. In August 2017, a concert in Paimpol, as part of the Sea Shanty Festival, was the band's last appearance.<ref name="Peigné" />

In 1986, the final year of Malicorne, Yacoub recorded Elementary Level of Faith,<ref name="Lee" /> an album of electric folk-rock, with the Hungarian composer Ivan Lantos and the singer and keyboardist Nikki Matheson.<ref name="Harris" /> In 1990, his next album, Bel, was back to acoustic guitar.<ref name="Harris" /> It features a string quartet as well as bagpipes played by Jean-Pierre Rasle (who had previously recorded, from 1982 to 1983, with the Albion Band). Yacoub toured as a duo with Marie in 1990. In 1994 he released Quatre, featuring an orchestra and a choir. He worked with fiddler Nathalie Riviere and bassist Yannick Hardouin from 1998.<ref name="Harris" />

In February 1995, he performed at the Palais des Sports, in Paris, opening for Bernard Lavilliers, and in May that year at La Cigale.<ref name="Lee" />

File:Gabriel Yacoub et Alan Stivell à Paimpol août 2017.jpg

Yacoub (r.) with Alan Stivell, August 2017

In 2002, he wrote a book of poetry and lyrics, called Les choses les plus simples ("The simplest things"), distributed by Harmonia Mundi<ref name="Contributions" /><ref name="Yacoub2002" /> and recorded an album of his own songs in English, The Simple Things We Said.<ref name="Yacoub2004" />

In July 2013, Yacoub was honoured as an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.<ref name="Culture" />

Yacoub died after a long illness at a hospital in Bourges on 22 January 2025, at the age of 72.<ref name="Postic" /><ref name="Carpentier" /><ref name="Figaro" />

Discography

Yacoub made many recordings, with Marie Yacoub (before, during and after Malicorne), as lead singer and musician with Malicorne, and solo, including:<ref name="Harris" /><ref name="Contributions" />

Gabriel and Marie Yacoub

• Template:Ill (1973)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Malicorne

see also Malicorne discography

• Malicorne, aka Colin (1974)<ref name="Malicorne 1" />
• Malicorne, aka Malicorne 2 and Le Mariage anglais (1975)<ref name="Malicorne 2" />
• Almanach (1976).<ref name="Malicorne 3" />
• Malicorne, aka Malicorne 4 and Nous sommes chanteurs de sornettes (1977)<ref name="Malicorne 4" />
• Template:Ill (compilation, 1977)<ref name="Malicorne 5" />

Solo

• Template:Ill (1978)<ref name="Stivell" />
• Template:Ill (1987)<ref name="Olivas" />
• Template:Ill (1990)<ref name="Bel" />
• Template:Ill (1994)<ref name="Stivell 2011" /><ref name="Lee"/>
• Template:Ill (1997)<ref name="Babel" />
• Template:Ill (compilation) (1999)<ref name="Tri" />
• Template:Ill (2001)<ref name="Yacoub" />
• Template:Ill (2002)<ref name="Rootsworld" />
• Template:Ill (2004)<ref name="Grosdemouge" />
• Template:Ill (2008)<ref name="Stivell 2012" />

External links

• Template:Official
• {{#if:Gabriel Yacoub|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}
• Template:Imdb name