YUFU

Inspired by the Motown sound of the glorious seventies, Yufu crafts warm progressive soul with strong funk vibes and the creative bravado of a jack-of-all-trades with a ton of ideas. Shuttling between Taiwan and Japan, the singer and guitarist has excellent connections and succeeds in bringing a whole host of notable session musicians into the studio. This succeeded spectacularly on his first album “Is It Vain To Be Awake?”(2020), thanks in no small part to the skills of his combo The Velvet Impressionism, who capture his sound in ultra-smooth, grooving tunes - living up to their name perfectly. In the rich musical cosmos of southeast Asia, Yufu really does stand out. A world away from the electronically enhanced, oft over-produced pop glam of today, he creates music inspired as much by Curtis Mayfield as by Eddie Kendricks or Willie Hutch. Great names for great achievements. The solo debut “Heal Me Good” (2025) came out at the start of this year and, alongside the requisite blessing of superb skills and feeling, merely confirms what everyone has already suspected: this man has managed to spark a revival of artisan soul music, without anyone in Germany realising it - but that’s about to change.