Gabriel Yacoub

Gabriel Yacoub was one of the spearheads of the folk revival that swept through France. The founder and leader of influential French trad rock band Malicorne during the 1970s and early '80s, Yacoub continued to explore the full spectrum of French music as a soloist. He veered toward electric folk-rock with his 1986 album Elementary Level of Faith, recorded with Hungarian composer Ivan Lantos and New York-born singer/keyboardist Nikki Matheson, but returned to his acoustic roots with the solo album Bel in 1990. In 1994, he recorded Quatre with accompaniment from a 40-piece orchestra and a vocal choir. From 1998 onward, Yacoub worked with fiddler Nathalie Riviere and bassist Yannick Hardouin, with his final LP, De la nature des choses, appearing in 2008.