Ibrahim Maalouf at Muziekgebouw Aan 't Ij

He’s a superstar in France and he was the critic’s darling at North Sea Jazz: trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf captivates everyone who listens. His music is based on melody, but moves fluently from jazz to Arabic, Balkan, rock and hip-hop. Vital sources of inspiration are the hushed tones of Miles Davis and the heavy guitar solos of Led Zeppelin.

Ibrahim Maalouf wrote his first melody in his war-torn native Beirut. With his parents he fled from Lebanon to Paris. He was classically trained on a special trumpet, invented by his father Nassim, which can play the quarter tones in Arabic scales. Ibrahim left the Orchestre de Paris for his own band, which is strongly influenced by the electric jazz of miles Davis and Marcus Miller, as well as the hip-hop of the suburbs he grew up in....

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He’s a superstar in France and he was the critic’s darling at North Sea Jazz: trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf captivates everyone who listens. His music is based on melody, but moves fluently from jazz to Arabic, Balkan, rock and hip-hop. Vital sources of inspiration are the hushed tones of Miles Davis and the heavy guitar solos of Led Zeppelin.

Ibrahim Maalouf wrote his first melody in his war-torn native Beirut. With his parents he fled from Lebanon to Paris. He was classically trained on a special trumpet, invented by his father Nassim, which can play the quarter tones in Arabic scales. Ibrahim left the Orchestre de Paris for his own band, which is strongly influenced by the electric jazz of miles Davis and Marcus Miller, as well as the hip-hop of the suburbs he grew up in.

At this moment Ibrahim is the bestselling instrumentalist in France. In 2013 he was awarded as best jazz artist by the prestigious Les Victoires du jazz.

‘In this wild mix of styles we always recognize Maalouf’s signature; his strong question-and-answer-playing, his captivating melodies, his emotional trumpet playing, thanks to the clever use of that quarter tone valve his dad has invented’ (de Volkskrant).

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