ON THE AIR: IBRAHIM MAALOUF LIVE AT PALÉO FESTIVAL!

Ibrahim Maalouf (Arabic: ابراهيم معلوف‎) is a trumpet player and teacher, composer and arranger. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and now lives in Paris, France.

Maalouf was born into a family of intellectuals and artists; he is the son of trumpeter Nassim Maalouf and pianist Nada Maalouf, nephew of the writer Amin Maalouf and grandson of journalist, poet and musicologist Rushdi Maalouf. He is noted for playing Arabic music with quarter tones on the trumpet, which is a rare skill, pioneered by his father and Don Ellis in the 1960s. Other trumpeters using such microtones include Marko Marković, Dejan Avdić, Demiran Ćerimović and Franz Hautzinger.

Maalouf has also earned prizes in the major classical trumpet competitions in the world. In July 2010, he was awarded the Instrumental Revelation of the Year Victory Prize (Frank Ténot prize) at the “Victoires du Jazz” competition in Juan-les-Pins.

His music and his trumpet playing are strongly inspired by his Arabic culture, but the instruments around him (bass, electric guitar, drums, Arabic percussion and vibraphones) and the musicians with whom he performs give a more contemporary rock, electro and Jazz-funk flavor to his music. His concerts are generally built around stimulating music that makes people want to get up and dance. But there is always a short, more contemplative, mystical interlude during his concerts, which he calls "a collective universal prayer". Maalouf gets a lot of his inspiration from his culture of origin. This subject has been explored in the documentary Souffle! (Blow), directed by Christophe Trahand and produced by Cocottes Minutes between 2005 and 2006. Christophe Trahand followed Ibrahim for several months in pursuit of 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 by TV5 MONDE and is available on DVD in the collection Docnet Films.

Studio Discography: 2007 Diasporas, 2009 Diachronism, 2011 Diagnostic, 2012 Wind

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