Ibrahim Maalouf ابراهيم معلوف | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ibrahim Maalouf at Festival du Bout du Monde in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1980-11-05)5 November 1980 (age 45) |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Mis'Ter |
| Website | www |
Ibrahim Maalouf (Arabic:ابراهيم معلوف,pronounced[ʔɪbraːˈhiːmmaʕˈluːf]; born 5 November 1980) is a French-Lebanese trumpeter, producer, arranger, and composer.[1]In 2022, he became the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated at theGrammy Awards for his albumQueen of Sheba in collaboration withAngélique Kidjo.
His father is trumpeterNassim Maalouf and his mother is pianist Nada Maalouf. His uncle is the writerAmin Maalouf and his grandfather was the journalist, poet, and musicologistRushdi Maalouf [ar].
After leaving his home country as a child during theLebanese Civil War, he grew up in Paris[2] with his sister Layla. He studied there until the age of 17 and earned a degree in General Science and Specialized Mathematics from the Lycée Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire inÉtampes (Essonne).
When he was seven years old, he started to learn how to play the trumpet[2] from his father, a former student of French trumpeterMaurice André at theConservatoire de Paris. He learnedclassical,baroque, modern, and contemporary repertoires, as well as classicalArabic music and improvisation. His father invented themicrotonal trumpet or "quarter tone trumpet", which makes it possible to playArabic maqams on the trumpet.
As a teenager Maalouf accompanied his father in a duo throughout Europe and the Middle East, playing a baroque repertoire byTomaso Giovanni Albinoni,Henry Purcell, andAntonio Vivaldi. He performed a difficult classical piece, theSecond Brandenburg Concerto byJohann Sebastian Bach. Maurice André advised him to give up science and pursue music instead. He took André's advice and spent five years at the Conservatoire de Paris. He recorded withMatthieu Chedid,Vincent Delerm, andArthur H. He became a teacher at CNR d'Aubervilliers-La Courneuve and gave master classes in the U.S. His first solo album wasDiasporas (2007) on his label.[2]
He has composed several movie soundtracks and several pieces for choirs and symphonic orchestras. He has worked withSting,Salif Keita,Amadou & Mariam,Lhasa de Sela,Marcel Khalife,Vanessa Paradis,Juliette Gréco, andArchie Shepp. He teaches improvisation at Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris (Paris Regional Superieur Conservatory).
Maalouf passed an open competition at the CNR de Paris (regional Conservatory) and joined the class of Gérard Boulanger for a two-year training course. After that, he passed another open competition and joined the Conservatoire de Paris inAntoine Curé's class for a three-year training course. He obtained degrees from both schools and entered national, European, and international trumpet competitions. He wrote more than 15 pieces for different ensembles from small to symphonic orchestras and choirs that were commissioned since 2005.
From 2006 to 2013, Maalouf was a trumpet instructor at the CNR ofAubervilliers,La Courneuve in France.[3]
In 2000, Maalouf met producer Marc-Antoine Moreau, who introduced him to the cellistVincent Segal. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful series of encounters. In November 2008, Maalouf played in the operaWelcome to the Voice at theChatelet Theatre in Paris composed bySteve Nieve and directed byMuriel Teodori. Maalouf encountered on stageElvis Costello, Sylvia Schwartz, andSting, who played the lead role. Sting asked him to play on his albumIf on a Winter's Night...
Maalouf has composed music since he was very young. He presented his compositions for the first time in 1999. His first group Farah had an Oriental jazz flavor because he was accompanied by a saxophone, aney (Middle-Eastern end-blown flute), atransverse flute, a piano, a double bass, a guitar, abuzuq (a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki) and Arabic percussion. A concert recording by this group was broadcast on several music channels between 2004 and 2005.
In 2004, his encounter with Lhasa de Sela opened the doors of electronic music to him. His collaboration with pop and rock singers made him discover other musical styles apart from jazz, classical, and Arabic music. His compositions began to reflect a more contemporary style. In 2006, he met Alejandra Norambuena Skira (from the SACEM's Action Fund), who introduced him to Jean-Louis Perrier. Perrier helped him to form the band with whom he gave a concert on February 12, 2006, at the ParisNew Morning Jazz Club.
His music and his trumpet playing are inspired by his Arabic culture, but the surrounding instruments (bass, electric guitar, drums, Arabic percussion, vibraphone) and the musicians with whom he performs give a rock, electronic, and jazz funk flavor to his music.
Maalouf gets a lot of his inspiration from his culture of origin. This subject has been explored in the documentarySouffle! (Blow), directed by Christophe Trahand and produced by Cocottes Minutes between 2005 and 2006.[4] Christophe Trahand followed Ibrahim for several months pursuing the key to his inspiration and to explore his relationship with his native country and the distance that separates him from it. This documentary was broadcast byTV5 MONDE and is available on DVD in the collection Docnet Films.
Spotted by legendary producerQuincy Jones during a concert at theMontreux Jazz Festival in 2017, Ibrahim became one of the artists that the American producer regularly promoted via the Los Angeles-basedQuincy Jones Productions. That same year, Ibrahim Maalouf was invited to the musical inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum and also appeared on the jury of the Miss Lebanon election, live onLBC (Lebanese television).
After playing alongsideSting at the reopening of the Bataclan in Paris, he then paid tribute to Tignous, one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists who was brutally murdered, at his funeral. He also honored the memory of the victims of the Paris terrorist attacks of fall 2015 in a national tribute, composing a hymn sung by young French star Louane. In 2021 he was chosen to play the national anthem in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on July 14, 2021, the performance was broadcast on national TV for 6 million viewers.
In November 2022 he released his 16th studio albumCapacity to Love, an urban music album, but above all a hymn to inclusion.The album includes artists such asErick The Architect, leader of the Brooklyn-based rap groupFlatbush Zombies,Tank and the Bangas,Cimafunk,Shelea Frazier, a protégé of Quincy Jones, the young Alemeda recently signed to TDE,Kendrick Lamar's label,D Smoke, winner of " Rhythm + Flow " the Netflix rap contest, the English singerJP Cooper, but also artists more identified in France such as the Californian croonerGregory Porter, Pos ofDe La Soul; the mythical group of New York rap, the French starMatthieu Chédid, or the Franco-Brazilian Flavia Coelho. Among all these guests, Ibrahim Maalouf has also invitedSharon Stone to lay her voice on a powerful and committed track.
Between 1999 and 2003, Maalouf earned awards in fifteen competitions throughout the world. These include first prize in the National Trumpet Competition (Washington D.C.) in 2001, first prize in the Hungarian International Trumpet Competition in Pilisvörösvár in May 2002,[5] and second prize (ex aequo) in the Maurice André International Competition in Paris in 2003. In July 2010, he was given the Instrumental Revelation of the Year at the French Jazz Music Awards (Victoires du Jazz).[6] He won Best World Music Artist at the French Music Awards in 2014.[7] In 2017, at theCésar Awards, he won the Best Original Score award. In 2022, he became the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated at theGrammy Awards for his albumQueen of Sheba in collaboration withAngélique Kidjo and in 2023 he secured his second nomination at theGrammy Awards for his song Todo Colores in collaboration withCimafunk and Tank & the Bangas from his latest album Capacity to Love.
| Ribbon bar | Country | Honour |
|---|---|---|
 |  France | Knight of theNational Order of Merit |
 | France | Knight of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres |
| Year | Album | Peak positions | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [8] | BEL (Fl) [9] | BEL (Wa) [10] | NLD [11] | SWI [12] | |||
| 2007 | Diasporas | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | Diachronism | 97 | — | 173 | — | — | |
| 2011 | Diagnostic | 84 | — | — | — | — | |
| 2012 | Wind | 57 | 74 | 128 | 17 | — | |
| 2013 | Illusions | 29 | 151 | 34 | 27 | 78 | |
| 2014 | Au pays d'Alice... (joint album withOxmo Puccino) | 43 | — | 113 | — | — | |
| 2015 | Red & Black Light | 8 | 188 | 33 | 41 | 68 | |
| Kalthoum | 17 | 160 | 54 | 21 | 95 | ||
| 2017 | Dalida | 29 | 132 | 51 | — | 49 | |
| 2018 | Levantine Symphony N°1 | 51 | — | 113 | — | 84 | |
| 2019 | S3NS | 16 | — | 53 | 88 | — | |
| 2020 | 40 mélodies | 28 | 169 | 26 | — | 49 | |
| 2021 | First Noel | 18 | — | 73 | — | 40 | |
| 2022 | Queen of Sheba | — | — | — | — | — | Nominated at the 2023 Grammy Awards |
| 2022 | Capacity to Love | 35 [13] | — | 118 | — | — | Nominated at the 2024 Grammy Awards with Todo Colores for BEST GLOBAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE |
| Year | Album | Peak positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [8] | BEL (Fl) [9] | BEL (Wa) [10] | ||
| 2016 | 10 ans de live! | 10 | — | 137 |
| Live Tracks 2006–2016 | 93 | 158 | 70 | |
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [8][14] | |||
| 2014 | "True Sorry" | 57 | Illusions |
| 2015 | "Red & Black Light" | 101 | Red & Black Light |
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRA | |||
| 2017 | "J'attendrai" (featuringMelody Gardot) | 93 | Dalida |
| "Paroles, paroles" (featuring-M- andMonica Bellucci) | 99 | ||
| "Love in Portofino" (featuringGolshifteh Farahani) | 181 | ||
| "Laissez-moi danser" (featuringIzïa) | 190 |
| Year | Album | Peak positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [8] | BEL (Fl) | BEL (Wa) | |||
| 2014 | Yves Saint Laurent | 78 | 147 | 125 | |
| 2016 | Dans Les Forets De Siberie | – | – | – | |
| 2017 | Hikari | ||||
| 2020 | Une Belle Équipe | – | – | – | |
| 2021 | 9 jours à Raqqa | ||||
| 2021 | Ne pas laisser de traces | ||||
| 2024 | Finalement | ||||
| Year | Album | FR | BEL (Wa) | SWI | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Funambule[16] (Grand Corps Malade, musical direction by Ibrahim Maalouf) | 3 | 4 | 28 |
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