The Lebanese musician Ibrahim Maalouf was nominated with Kidjo for the Grammy’s Awards in the category (Best International Music Album) through the album Queen Of Sheba, which was released in July 2022.
Ibrahim O is the first Lebanese musician to be nominated for this international award, hoping that he will not achieve a new achievement in his musical archive.
Who is Ibrahim Maalouf?
With 17 albums released, Ibrahim Maalouf has gone from being awarded as the greatest international classical trumpet worldwide to being the most famous jazz musician on the French music scene. Selling out the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, the Lincoln Jazz Center in New York City, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington In 2016, he became the first jazz in history to sell out the largest concert venue in France, the AccorArena Paris-Bercy.
Scouted by living legend Quincy Jones and described as iconic by The New York Times, Ibrahim has worked over the years with Wynton Marsalis, Angelique Kidjo, Melody Gardot, Chronos Quartet, Trilok Gurtu, Josh Groan, Marcus Miller, Salif Keita and many more .
In 2021, he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Jon Batiste, who introduced him as a living legend of jazz.
After being invited by Sting to play alongside him at the Bataclan reopening, he then honored Tignous at his funeral – one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists killed during the shooting.
He also honored the memory of all the victims of the terrorist attack in the fall of 2015, by participating in a national tribute by composing a hymn sung by the young artist Luan. He became a multi-time award-winning musician, composer (Victoires de la Musique, Césars, Lumières)
Within a few years a masked artist and symbol of dialogue between cultures, to the point where he was chosen to play the national anthem in front of 6 million viewers on July 14, 2021 in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Once once more where you least expect it, with his 17th album, Ibrahim Maalouf promises to leave an impression with surprisingly fresh and innovative popular music.
Ibrahim Maalouf and hip-hop culture
During the summer of 2006, on the occasion of his first concert with his recently founded band, at just 25 years old, Ibrahim took to the stage at the legendary club at the Montreux Jazz Festival, at exactly 2 am following a great legends. American rapper, Wu Tang Clan, who gave an amazing performance. It’s a shock. Fascinated by their rhythmic flow and their ability to savor all these pieces of music, to make them their own, Ibrahim then realized that one day, he would take a keen interest in this.
A few years later, with Oxmo Puccino, one of the most respected rappers on the French music scene, he surprised the world and recorded an entire album regarding Alice in Wonderland.
Meeting influential artists such as West Coast rap group Blackalicious, his flagship band Gift of Gab, or French producer DJ Mehdi, hip-hop has recently become an obvious choice for Ibrahim, following these two meaningful collaborations.
Born in Lebanon under bombardment and raised in France, in a society more and more polarized by identity tensions, Ibrahim, despite his impeccable track record, did not accept being a model artist, coming from Western and Arab cultures, which did not prevent him from being subjected to racism, injustice and lies. Traps from the media frenzy imposed by a world increasingly suspicious and intolerant.
Abraham’s response to adversity has always been: art, creativity, education, empathy, innovation, collaboration, and great music that embodies a powerful message of inclusivity and reconciliation.
Hip hop music has historically been known as a voice for social issues, making it an obvious choice for many.
The Power to Love is certainly the album that represents the most, his unrelenting and enduring resilience, which he has shown over the past 20 years, both on a human and artistic level.
