Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim Maalouf (ابراهيم معلوف, ; born 5 November 1980 in Beirut) is a French-Lebanese trumpeter, producer, arranger, and composer.

In 2022, he became the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated at the Grammy Awards for his album Queen of Sheba in collaboration with Angélique Kidjo.

His father is trumpeter Nassim Maalouf and his mother is pianist Nada Maalouf.

His uncle is the writer Amin Maalouf and his grandfather was the journalist, poet, and musicologist Rushdi Maalouf.

After leaving his home country as a child during the Lebanese Civil War, he grew up in Paris 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 in Étampes (Essonne).

When he was seven years old, he started to learn how to play the trumpet from his father, a former student of French trumpeter Maurice André at the Conservatoire de Paris.

He learned classical, baroque, modern, and contemporary repertoires, as well as classical Arabic music and improvisation.

His father invented the microtonal trumpet or "quarter tone trumpet", which makes it possible to play Arabic maqams on the trumpet.

As a teenager Maalouf accompanied his father in a duo throughout Europe and the Middle East, playing a baroque repertoire by Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni, Henry Purcell, and Antonio Vivaldi.

He performed a difficult classical piece, the Second Brandenburg Concerto by Johann 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 with Matthieu Chedid, Vincent Delerm, and Arthur H.

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, a ney (Middle-Eastern end-blown flute), a transverse flute, a piano, a double bass, a guitar, a buzuq (a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki) and Arabic percussion.

In 2000, Maalouf met producer Marc-Antoine Moreau, who introduced him to the cellist Vincent Segal.

It was the beginning of a long and fruitful series of encounters.

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.

He wrote more than 15 pieces for different ensembles from small to symphonic orchestras and choirs that were commissioned since 2005.

This subject has been explored in the documentary Souffle! (Blow), directed by Christophe Trahand and produced by Cocottes Minutes between 2005 and 2006.

From 2006 to 2013, Maalouf was a trumpet instructor at the CNR of Aubervilliers, La Courneuve in France,

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 Paris New 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.

He became a teacher at CNR d'Aubervilliers-La Courneuve and gave master classes in the U.S. His first solo album was Diasporas (2007) on his label.

He has composed several movie soundtracks and several pieces for choirs and symphonic orchestras.

He has worked with Sting, Salif Keita, Amadou & Mariam, Lhasa de Sela, Marcel Khalife, Vanessa Paradis, Juliette Gréco, and Archie 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 in Antoine Curé's class for a three-year training course.

He obtained degrees from both schools and entered national, European, and international trumpet competitions.

In November 2008, Maalouf played in the opera Welcome to the Voice at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris composed by Steve Nieve and directed by Muriel Teodori.

Maalouf encountered on stage Elvis Costello, Sylvia Schwartz, and Sting, who played the lead role.

Sting asked him to play on his album If on a Winter's Night...

Maalouf has composed music since he was very young.