{"id":46055,"date":"2019-02-08T03:16:12","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T03:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=46055"},"modified":"2019-09-22T10:55:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T09:55:58","slug":"the-most-successful-moroccan-film-composer-in-hollywood-youssef-joe-guezoum-is-leaving-his-mark-on-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2019\/02\/the-most-successful-moroccan-film-composer-in-hollywood-youssef-joe-guezoum-is-leaving-his-mark-on-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Successful Moroccan Film Composer In Hollywood: Youssef (Joe) Guezoum Is Leaving His Mark On The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Born in Morocco, and raised in Belgium, Youssef Guezoum is the most successful Moroccan film composer in Hollywood. We had the chance to talk to chat with Youssef, and you can read our interview further down.
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Youssef, or as he’s more familiarly known, Joe, has made a name for himself underscoring and composing many different theme tunes for a wide range of TV shows, working for NFL-CBS Sport, Paramount Pictures, Immediate Music, Universal Music, and Lion’s Gate – just to name a few.<\/p>\n

Joe was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, and started playing guitar at the age of 10. After he finished high school, he moved to Canada, where he studied sound engineering at Vancouver Film School. From there he relocated to Brussels, Belgium, for further study, this time classical music, at the Acad\u00e9mie G. H. Luytgaerens de Jette. Joe also pursued his master’s degree with the famous film score composer, Hummie Mann<\/a>, best known for his scores for the Mel Brooks films, ‘Robin Hood: Men In Tights’ and ‘Dracula: Dead And Loving It’. He first started film scoring in 2009, when he collaborated with Belgian director Noureddine Zerrad, and composed music for the short film, ‘Tension’. The following year, Joe worked on the music for the film, ‘Soldiers’, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Claudia Bassols. In 2012 Joe worked with the Moroccan film director Hicham Hajji, on his Arabic film, ‘Chaala’. The next year he worked on the film ‘War Game’, directed by Guillaume Didier.<\/p>\n

With such incredible accomplishments under his belt, both academically and career-wise, there was really only one place left for Joe to go: he moved to Los Angeles in 2013.<\/p>\n

Jean-Claude Van Damme sought out his assistance once again, this time to score ‘Full Love’, which was written and directed by the Belgian action superstar himself. Further to this, Joe has also forged a close working relationship with the legendary Israeli singer, musician, and composer, Noam Kaniel<\/a>, and since 2017, he has been co-composing with Kaniel on the Power Rangers series of TV shows, including 5 episodes of ‘Power Rangers Ninja Steel’, and 17 episodes of ‘Power Rangers Hyperforce’. He is currently working on the latest series, ‘Power Rangers Beast Morphers’, which is set for release this year.<\/p>\n

Joe, who not only plays guitar but also bass and piano, draws inspiration for his music from elements of middle eastern music, including the Gnawa music of his Moroccan homeland. Gnawa music is a particularly Moroccan style of ancient African Islamic spiritual religious songs and rhythms. Nowadays Gnawa has spread throughout many other countries in Africa and Europe, in particular France.<\/p>\n

Listening to his music, Joe’s style feels very orchestral, and there appears to be inspiration from John Williams, particularly in his composition for the original motion picture soundtrack of ‘Gassiaux’:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/youssefguezoum\/gassiaux-original-motion<\/p>\n

Contrast this with his piece, ‘Why You Laugh’, composed for the Gordon Ramsay TV series, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, which is more upbeat and contemporary, guitar-led with jazz elements, and still some clearly middle-eastern touches:<\/p>\n