‘The queen of the qanun’ returns with beautiful, wistful music from her second album Finding Home.

Maya Youssef is a virtuoso on the magnificent qanun, the 78-string zither at the heart of Arabic music. Her music is rooted in the Arabic classical tradition but forges pathways into jazz, Western classical and Latin styles. It explores the emotional and healing qualities of music.

The Syrian-born, UK-based artist first held our audience spellbound in 2018 with her debut Syrian Dreams. The album was in part a musical response to the war in Syria. Maya is convinced that music can heal wounds and ease trauma. Finding Home explores her loss and grief in leaving Syria, and depicts a place where we can find calm and a sense of home, even when we are far from the place of our birth.

Maya Youssef writes: The music moves through loss, transcendence and magic, with a final arrival in a hopeful place. Home: literally, emotionally and spiritually, however that may look for you. Home is that place of peace, that place of softness, of comfort, and of healing. It manifests in many different ways for many different people. It’s finding home in nature. It’s finding home in those that make us feel that sense of relief and peace.