World Music Mix: Wassim Soubra(Lebanon/France): Il Vento

 

Wassim Soubra Nouvel album Il Vento Sortie le 13 juin 2025 en digital

Wassim Soubra, pianiste et compositeur libano-français, est de retour le 13 juin 2025 avec son nouvel album Il Vento. Pour ce voyage musical aux évocations cinématographiques, Wassim Soubra s'entoure de Julie Sevilla-Fraysse au violoncelle, d'Henri Tournier à la flûte et de Khaled Al-Jaramani au oud. Wassim Soubra s'est fait connaître du grand public au début des années 2000 avec son projet Bach to Beirut qui rendait hommage à la musique de J.S. Bach sur des consonances orientales (piano, oud, percussions). S'ensuivit un album de piano solo produit par l'Institut du Monde Arabe (Sonates Orientales) qui lui ouvrit les portes des grandes salles de concert. Compositeur délicat et maître dans l'art de ciseler des mélodies pures qui plonge la musique classique aux confins de la musique du monde, Wassim Sombra tisse des liens féconds entre Orient et Occident. La musique d'Il Vento nous fait penser tour à tour aux couleurs orientales d'un Anouar Brahem, aux ambiances éthérées d'un Tigran Hamasyan ou encore à la poésie d'un Claude Debussy. Il ne reste plus qu'à fermer les yeux pour se laisser emporter par la magie de ces compositions uniques.   Découvrez le clip d'Alizé : https://youtu.be/zkFIpkD5Puk?si=CIgsj_8z7nI-O9Rd

Wassim Soubra, pianiste et compositeur libano-français, est né à Beyrouth et réside aujourd'hui à Paris. Initié au piano dès l’âge de 4 ans, il quitte le Liban en 1974 en raison de la guerre civile et s’installe en France, où il poursuit des études de droit. Diplômé en 1978, il retourne à Beyrouth, où sa passion pour la musique et le piano prend un tournant décisif. En 1980, il est admis au Conservatoire de musique de Boston, marquant le début d’un parcours musical prometteur. Deux ans plus tard, il s'installe à Paris pour approfondir ses études de piano à l’École Normale de Musique, où il obtient en 1986 une licence en pédagogie pianistique. Parallèlement, il se forme à la danse et explore l’art du mouvement pendant dix ans, une expérience qui enrichit sa pratique musicale. C’est dans ce cadre qu’il découvre l’improvisation, un terrain fertile pour son évolution en tant que compositeur. Wassim Soubra poursuit sa formation en composition musicale à la Schola Cantorum de Paris sous la direction de Pierre Doury et Michel Merlet. Il y étudie le contrepoint, l’harmonie et l’orchestration, perfectionnant ainsi sa maîtrise des codes de la musique classique occidentale, tout en y intégrant les sonorités et traditions orientales. Ses compositions, marquées par un dialogue subtil entre Orient et Occident, se distinguent par leur richesse narrative et leur pluralité culturelle. Il compose pour le piano solo, des trios, des quatuors et des quintettes, mais aussi pour des œuvres plus vastes comme des opéras et des oratorios. Il utilise la grammaire musicale classique pour tisser des récits ancrés dans la mythologie, l’histoire et son vécu personnel. Artiste de scène accompli, il présente ses œuvres en solo ou en collaboration avec des ensembles prestigieux, se produisant dans des lieux et festivals renommés à travers le monde : le Palais de l’UNESCO à Paris, le Cadogan Hall à Londres, le Festival de Baalbek au Liban, le Festival de musique arabe de Montréal, ou encore le Festival de l’Union européenne à Paris. Au cœur de son œuvre, Wassim Soubra traduit les échos de son enfance et des paysages sonores culturelle, offre une expérience universelle, unissant traditions et modernité dans une harmonie captivante. Sur le nouvel album Il Vento, le piano de Wassim Soubra dialogue avec le violoncelle de Julie Sevilla-Fraysse, la flûte d'Henri Tournier et l'oud  de Khaled Al-Jaramani.   Lien digital  Instagram     World Music Mix

FRANCE/LEBANON: Ibrahim Maalouf, nouvel album Levantine Symphony N°1

Ibrahim Maalouf Nouvel album Levantine Symphony n°1 Sortie le 14/09/2018 chez Mister Ibe / Universal Music En concert les 18/19 janvier 2019 à la Seine Musicale Ibrahim Maalouf est de retour le 14 septembre avec la sortie de son album Levantine Symphony N°1, pièce symphonique à classer entre classique, jazz et moderne. Avec ce projet musical, Ibrahim Maalouf a pour ambition de rassembler les cultures musicales du Levant et les unifier sous un même hymne, telle une ode aux musiques du Levant et aux richesses musicales des musiques du monde. Levantine Symphony N°1 a été créée en première mondiale le 01 mars 2018 au Kennedy Center à Washington DC. On retrouve sur cette suite symphonique de quarante-cinq minutes l'orchestre symphonique Paris Symphonic Orchestra, le choeur d’enfants représenté par la Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine, et Ibrahim Maalouf accompagné de François Delporte, Frank Woeste, et Stéphane Galland. Ibrahim Maalouf, compositeur et directeur musical de ce projet, fait à la fois intervenir son groupe historique, un orchestre symphonique, un choeur d'enfants et un ensemble de cinq trompettes microtonales. Levantine Symphony n°1 est un nouveau défi pour Ibrahim Maalouf qui dépasse le cliché des unions communautaires en cherchant des éléments musicaux, rythmiques, mélodiques et harmoniques qui unissent ce riche ensemble éclectique. Par la superposition d’éléments variés, le Levant est ainsi représenté sous une même voix et sous une même mélodie.


Voici une vidéo permettant de découvrir les coulisses de l'enregistrement de Levantine Symphony N°1. Pour regarder et diffuser la vidéo de Levantine Symphony N°1 https://youtu.be/mwNZixKoU9U Levantine Symphony N°1 est une pièce symphonique à la fois classique, jazz et moderne, qui s’inspire de toutes les musiques du monde. Cet album qui sort le 14 septembre 2018 sur le label Mister Ibe distribué par Universal Music a pour ambition de rassembler les cultures musicales du Levant et de les unifier sous un même hymne. Le Levant est une partie du monde assez méconnue mais souvent fantasmée. Cette création musicale a été composée en collaboration avec la New Levant Initiative, une organisation américaine qui aide à la compréhension et au développement culturel et économique du Levant. Ibrahim Maalouf, compositeur et directeur musical de ce projet, fait à la fois intervenir son groupe historique composé de François Delporte, Frank Woeste, et Stéphane Galland, un orchestre symphonique, le Paris Symphonic Orchestra, un choeur d'enfants, la Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine et un ensemble de cinq trompettes microtonales. L’album rassemble différentes inspirations et se veut fédérateur. Ibrahim Maalouf s’est donné le défi de dépasser le cliché des unions communautaires en cherchant des éléments musicaux, rythmiques, mélodiques et harmoniques qui unissent ce riche ensemble éclectique. Par la superposition d’éléments variés, le Levant est ainsi représenté sous une même voix et sous une même mélodie. Ibrahim Maalouf jouera la Levantine Symphony N°1 les 18 et 19 janvier à Paris à la Seine Musicale.

Xavier Chezleprêtre / Attitude

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CUBA: INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY 2017 HOST CITY WITH ALL-STAR GLOBAL CONCERT IS HAVANA, CUBA

INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY APRIL 30 #JAZZDAY

The sixth annual International Jazz Day, which will be celebrated worldwide on April 30, 2017 will culminate with an All-Star Global Concert presented at the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, the Cuban Institute of Music and the Cuban National Commission for UNESCO. The concert will be live streamed on JazzDay.com and will feature an extraordinary array of artists from around the world paying tribute to the international art form of jazz. The musically vibrant and culturally rich city of Havana, Cuba, has been selected to serve as the 2017 Global Host City, presented each year on April 30th. In partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, International Jazz Day highlights the power of jazz as a force for freedom and creativity, promotes intercultural dialogue through respect and understanding, and unites people from all corners of the globe. The day is recognized on the official calendars of both UNESCO and the United Nations. International Jazz Day programs are made possible by Toyota, the 2017 lead partner. The All-Star Global Concert will have Herbie Hancock and Chucho Valdés serving as the artistic directors, and John Beasley and Emilio Vega as the evening's musical co-directors. The Concert will feature stellar performances by a truly international roster of artists including Ambrose Akinmusire (United States), Carl Allen, (United States), Marc Antoine (France), Richard Bona (Cameroon), Till Brönner (Germany), A Bu (China), Igor Butman (Russian Federation), Bobby Carcassés (Cuba), Regina Carter (United States), Kurt Elling, (United States), Kenny Garrett, (United States) Herbie Hancock (United States), Antonio Hart, (United States), Takuya Kuroda (Japan), Ivan Lins (Brazil), Sixto Llorente (Cuba), Marcus Miller (United States), Youn Sun Nah (Republic of Korea), Julio Padrón (Cuba), Gianluca Petrella (Italy), Gonzalo Rubalcaba (Cuba), Antonio Sánchez (Mexico), Christian Sands (United States), Esperanza Spalding (United States), Chucho Valdés (Cuba), Ben Williams (United States), Tarek Yamani (Lebanon), Dhafer Youssef (Tunisia), Pancho Amat (Cuba), César López (Cuba) and others, with further details to be announced in the days to follow. "UNESCO is proud to be associated once again with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, as well as with the Instituto Cubano de la Música to raise the flag for jazz, for freedom, for creativity, for diversity and for unity. This year's focus on Cuba is testament to the power of jazz to build bridges and join women and men together around shared values and aspirations", said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.  Many acclaimed musicians and educators from Cuba and around the world will participate in free jazz performances, master classes, improvisational workshops, jam sessions and community outreach initiatives. Programs will take place at schools, arts venues, community centers, jazz clubs and parks across the city of Havana and throughout Cuba beginning on Monday, April 24th and leading up to the festivities on April 30th. Additionally, jazz history and education programs will be provided for tens of thousands of students in over 11,000 schools across Cuba. These programs will be among the thousands of International Jazz Day live performances, educational activities, and community service programs taking place in more than 190 countries on all continents.  Herbie Hancock, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue, said: "Afro-Cuban jazz and its rich history have played a pivotal role in the evolution and enrichment of the entire jazz genre. The incomparable trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie along with beloved Cuban musicians Mario Bauzá, Machito and Chano Pozo, infused American jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms to create a brand new, energetic sound that defined modern music. We are so pleased that Havana, Cuba, will serve as the Global Host City for International Jazz Day 2017. On behalf of the worldwide family of jazz musicians, educators and enthusiasts, I would like to thank the citizens of Havana and Cuba for their enormous support of this truly global musical art form." The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is once again working with UNESCO and its field offices, national commissions, networks, associated schools, universities and institutes, public radio and public television stations, and NGOs to ensure their involvement and participation in International Jazz Day 2017. Additionally, in countries throughout the world, libraries, schools, universities, performing arts venues, community centers, artists, and arts organizations of all disciplines will be celebrating the day through presentations, concerts, and other jazz-focused programs.  The celebration in Havana of the International Jazz Day in 2017 marks the seventieth anniversary of Cuba's accession to UNESCO and the foundation of the National Commission for UNESCO. JazzCorner is very proud to oversee the online presence for International Jazz Day and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. For more information about International Jazz Day and to register events on the official website, please visit www.jazzday.com. ###

Lois Gilbert Managing Director JazzCorner.com Thank you for being part of JazzCorner.com. If you don't wish to receive any more news or info from JazzCorner.com, kindly unsubscribe. STAY IN TOUCH!

New CD Release: Ellene Masri's debut album "Music" is out !

Ellene Masri, French-Lebanese songwriter, guitarist and performer, has just released her debut album “Music” under her own label “Music Talks”, on November 1st.

She has already been previewed in the UK on Jazz FM, discovered by radio host Chris Philips (The Jazz Breakfast) to rave reviews, garnering both single & album of the week this first week of December.

"Her mix of cultural influences, roots and travels has inspired a quality, soulful and jazz infused album that has been a firm favourite on Jazz FM. "
Chris Philips, Radio host/DJ.

Her debut album  entitled "Music" is now available on her website:
www.ellenemasri.com, Itunes and Amazon!

Ibrahim Maalouf- Illusions (Mi'ster 2013)

Illusions  
Conspiracy Generation  
InPressi  
Nomade Slang  
Busy
If You Wanna Be a Woman  
Unfaithful  
True Sorry  
Illusion
http://www.ibrahimmaalouf.com

Various artists-Oriental Blues (Network Medien / Membran Media 2013)

With the success of the three anthologies of „Desert Blues“ ("Ambiances du Sahara", "Rêves D'Oasis" "Entre Dunes et Savanes"), “Oriental Blues” mission is to compile music from diverse countries of the Orient. The focus is on ballads and – as unusual the term may seem in this context – on Blues. These songs chosen are of great emotional depth evoking an aura similar to this American music tradition.
From the bazars of Istanbul, the oasis of Tunisia to and the endless mountain-scape near the Caspian Sea, the music of this region incorporates the most beautiful voices and the most delicate arrangements. Network Medien

01. Iness Mezel - Ata Woulniss (06:01)
02. Aziz Sahmaoui - Maktoube (03:50)
03. Karima Nayt - Keyf (04:45)
04. Abaji - Gibran (04:17)
05. Natacha Atlas - Lammebada (07:07)
06. Miguel Gil - Adieu Paure Carnavas (06:16)
07. Burhan Ocal & Istanbul Oriental Ensemble - Nihavent Oriental (04:08)
08. Sevda Alekperzadeh - Ele Deme (05:53)
09. Abdeli - Tharguith (05:16)
10. Amine & Hamza - Ya Nari (04:27)
11. Alizadeh & Djivan Gasparyan - Sari Gallin - Sari Aghchick (06:19)
12. Dhafer Youssef - Al-Hallaj (03:16)
13. Salto Orientale - Kegome (07:04)
14. Orchestre National De Barbes - Na Bi Na (02:44)

IBRAHIM MAALOUF-Wind (Mi'ster Productions 2012)

"Asked by the French national film library to choose and then write the music for a film from among the silent movies in the Albatros catalogue, Ibrahim Maalouf chose, from the selection proposed, René Clair's film " The Prey of the Wind". The project allowed Maalouf to fulfil two wishes - first to compose for a film, and second to compose a piece that could be very much inspired by Miles Davis' music in Louis Malle's "Lift to the Scaffold" but with the quarter-tone trumpet.
As Ibrahim himself tells it: "I wanted to reproduce that mysteriously melancholic atmosphere, dripping with suspense, contributing a discreet yet powerful arabic hue, blended into the typical jazz quintet played for many years by Miles' mythical quintet.
The album was recorded in New York City in half a day. Each piece was recorded in a single sitting. There are no post production tricks. The mixing was carried out the following day in the same studio. I also chose to work with jazz musicians able to flirt with my arabic sounds, without being destabilized.
The New York team is a trio composed of Larry Grenadier (bass), Clarence Penn (drums) and Mark Turner (saxophone). These musicians are greatly respected both in traditional and avant-garde jazz circles for their openness of mind, their creativity and their musicality. I also wanted to involve the pianist Frank Woeste, for the arrangements, so as to be as « accurate » as possible in my musical approach. Frank is also an excellent arranger and jazz composer." -
HARMONIA MUNDI 
 http://www.ibrahimmaalouf.com/

Rabih Abou-Khalil - Hungry People (World Village 2012)

Since the early eighties, Rabih Abou-Khalil, born in Lebanon and currently living in France, has managed to raise the oud, the primary instrument in Arabic culture, to a high level of prominence in contemporary music. With his original compositional style, his unconstrained, daring approach he has found a rhythmic and melodic musical language entirely his own. Hungry People has all the fundamentals of his writing and playing: music performed with a passion and an intuitive understanding between Abou-Khalil and his "Mediterranean Quintet". Unique and yet strangely familiar, the music is delivered with a touch of humour despite the recent economic, social and political upheavals that inspired it.

Shrilling Chicken 4:11

When The Dog Bites 5:12

A Better Tomorrow 6:43

Bankers Banquet 5:32

Dreams Of A Dying City 5:37

Fish And Chips And Mushy Peas 4:42

Hats And Cravats 6:08

When Frankie Shot Lara 6:32

If You Should Leave Me 7:05

Shaving Is Boring, Waxing Is Painful 4:48

Accordion – Luciano Biondini
Drums, Frame Drum – Jarrod Cagwin
Oud – Rabih Abou-Khalil
Soprano Saxophone – Gavino Murgia
Tuba, Serpent – Michel Godard

harmonia mundi

Beirut Jazz Festival 2012

From Sept. 27-29, people meandering through the Beirut Souks might find themselves lured toward something other than shopping and dining.

The fifth edition of the Beirut Jazz Festival promises to transform part of the city center’s outdoor mall into an international music platform. Organizers publicly announced this year’s program at the Souks’ Met Café Wednesday.

albawaba.com

Toufic FARROUKH-Cinema Beyrouth(Forward Music 2012)

"“Cinema Beyrouth” is a beautiful interplay of wind instruments in a rich and seductive orchestral arrangement. This polyphonic dialogue engages the listener as soon as the first measure of the CD begins. The instruments come together in a narrative that stimulates the imagination and transports the listener into the realm of imagery and story telling just as fairy tales and movies do. "Cinema Beyrouth"  is a visual musical composition to be listen to with closed eyes and wide-open ears. It is a tribute to Beirut and its perpetual "Cinema"!

This album combines the talents of six musicians. Toufic FARROUKH, composer, arranger and producer of "Cinema Beyrouth" plays mainly the Soprano in this album. Leandro ACONCHA, who also is the co-arranger,  on the Acoustic Piano; Nicolas GIRAUD on the Trumpet; Daniel ZIMMERMANN on the Trombone; Didier HAVET on the Sousaphone & Tuba; Luc ISENMANN on the Drums." - Forward Music
http://www.touficfarroukh.com
http://www.myspace.com/

touficfarroukh1

LEBANON: Anthony Wonsey @ Blue Note Café until May 31

Le pianiste de jazz Anthony Wonsey, accompagné de musiciens libanais, se produit au Blue Note Café jusqu’au 31 mai. Et cela donne une sacrée ambiance de swing. Douce et feutrée.

Il était l’invité du Festival de Baalbeck l’an dernier aux côtés de Louis Hayes en tant que sideman. Mais, cette fois, Anthony Wonsey renoue – et de très près – avec le public libanais en leader de trio. Pas de planches ni de scène au Blue Note Café, simplement trois musiciens qui se confondent presque avec la salle, car ils sont légèrement plus surélevés que l’audience. Anthony Wonsey, lui, donne la note, c’est lui qui crée le «mood». Assis devant son piano, le sourire jovial, il se retourne souvent vers le public pour lui demander son avis et «jaser». C’est fait pour ça le jazz, car cette musique n’est pas seulement un dialogue entre musiciens, mais entre ces artistes et leur public.lorientlejour

TOUFIC FARROUKH - CINÉMA BEYROUTH (ENJA 2012)

…The instruments meet for the first bars, dialogs are preparing, a sound is established… a demonstration of fine energy and the overture to a wide horizon which leads us to a space between dreamtime and reality…

Lebanese composer Toufic who has been residing in Paris for many years now is a master in the art to set up his melodies in scenic way. He fascinates his audience with the way how he constructs each piece as he would construct a film scene.

Cinéma Beyrouth is of course a homage to the Beirut that still exists in our memory. “My main concern is that the compositions have a “soul”. My artistic aim is to create intellectual and physical emotions but I do not dictate to the audience what they should feel. Everybody should keep his very own sensibility which is always influenced by the day, the surroundings, the atmosphere of the location.” His charming concept to present his Arabic tinged music with Western jazz musicians and their instruments is a very individual approach to fusion East and West.

When in the 70ties Lebaonon was to torn into pieces by the civil war Toufic Farroukh went into exile like many of his compatriots. Shortly before he had discovered jazz, the concept of jazz improvisation, Stan Getz and a Dexter Gordon concert convinced him to dedicate his life to music. He went o France and studied music for several years. The doors of the jazz clubs didn’t open easily:” They put highest importance on virtuosity but I think that music shouldn’t be considered they way sports is. I think the main thing is to find your own self and develop your own language.” He worked mainly with Lebanese ensembles, was awarded several grants and soon he could present his first album Ali on Broadway. It was a fine, surprising success. His contacts to the film world grew and soon he got his first commissions to compose sound track music – his music to Fallafel received an important French award.

Toufic Farroukh has established a solid career as saxophone soloist with his own groups and also as guest soloist e.g. with the project Arabian Nights by the Absolute Ensemble Kristjan Jaervi which is reflected by his steady concertizing at major festivals like:
Festival Jazz à Germain des Prés / Jazz sur son 31 / Jazz à Foix / Jazz à Auray / Jazz à Commercy / Jazzellerault / Jazz’ Velanet, La Rochelle / Jazz à Pointe à Pitre / North Sea Jazz festival (NL) / Tanjazz (Marokko) / Jazz Saarbruecken / Dubaï International Jazz Festival / Festival de Beitedine.


Toufic Farroukh soprano- & tenor saxophone
Nicolas Giraud trumpet
Sylvain Gontard Trumpet
Daniel Zimmermann trombone
Didier Havet soubassophone, tuba
Leandro Aconcha piano
Luc Isenmann drums

ENJA 

Elie Afif - Giant Steps to Heaven (Fridge Records 2011)

Listen on BandCamp


website


The jazz world is no stranger to the tribute, quote, riff or, in modern parlance, the sample. Throwing in a famous tune, or an in-the-know segment from a rival or mentor's music, is standard improvisation practice. Here Elie Afif, the Dubai-based Lebanese double bassist who has been flying the flag for jazz in the UAE for a good few years now, has taken the idea to an extreme. The title song from Giant Steps to Heaven also happens to be a piece he played with Kamal Musallam on the jazz oud player's 2008 album Out of My City; the song's title is a play on two seminal bebop albums, John Coltrane's Giant Steps and Miles Davis's Seven Steps to Heaven; and the music itself is a neat little mash-up of the two title songs of those albums. Wheels within wheels, and that's just how jazz aficionados like it - with an insider's nod and a wink. (Read more at The National)

LEBANON: Interview with Marcus Miller

“One of my best memories,” said Miller, “was the first time I played with Miles Davis.”
Miller and his group made the audience forget they were spectators attending an artist’s show. They probably didn’t feel they were at a concert, but more in an American jazz cafe watching a friend’s gig.
This was quintessential jazz and there was an improvisational groove rolling during the entire show. For artists practicing other forms, it is important to go from one tune to another, seldom allowing changes or adjustments in the recorded track. Miller and his band created an atmosphere where the most important part was for the audience and the musicians to enjoy themselves and have a good time.
“Sometimes, you forget you’re on a stage,” said Miller. This was precisely the effect of Saturday evening’s show upon his Lebanese audience. They forgot they were at a festival, watching an artist performing on stage.
Read more: 

Ibrahim Maalouf - Diagnostic ( Mister Productions 2011)

Ibrahim Maalouf  / Live

La Cigale / 120, boulevard Rochechouart / 75018 Paris
Vendredi 20 Janvier 2012 à 20h00


http://www.ibrahimmaalouf.com

IBRAHIM MAALOUF plays: trumpet, piano,voice, frame drum, marimba, modified trumpet (track 7), samples, electronics & electric
bass, keyboards also participating: ZALINDE - batucada percussion; OXMO PUCCINO - voice and lyrics; SARAH NEMTANU - violin; NENAD GAJIN - guitar; JASSER HAJ YOUSSEF - Arabic Violin;
JEREMIE DUFORT - tuba; PIERS FACCINI - harmonica; JASKO RAMIC - accordion; GUO GAN - erhu; SERDAR BARCIN - saxophone
"Sur Diagnostic , le trompettiste que l’on entend aussi pour la première fois au piano, l’instrument de ses débuts, convoque musiques classique, arabe, latin jazz, fanfares balkaniques ou encore batucadas brésiliennes.  Créateur d’ambiances, Ibrahim Maalouf, aime brouiller les pistes, jouant avec talent des ruptures stylistiques.
france-info.com

Diagnostic / Ibrahim Maalouf
Born in Beirut, now settled in France, Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf plays a heady mix of jazz, funk and improvisation steeped in classical and Arabic styles. In Paris, he has become a noted figure on the electro-jazz scene, bringing his style to modern funk and electronica acts, but his music also has a mystical, contemplative quality that sets him apart from most contemporary players.
Named ‘Discovery of the Year’ at the 2010 French Jazz Music Awards Ibrahim has played with renowned artists such as Amadou and Mariam, Sting, Salif Keita, Toumani Diabate, and the legendary Lebanese composer/singer and oud player Marcel Khalifé. UK gigs to date include the Barbican, the Jazz Cafe and the ICA, and Ibrahim has featured on Max Reinhardt's Late Junction (BBC Radio 3) and The Strand (BBC World Service).  Diagnostic marks the third and final chapter in a musical triptych which trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf began in 2007 with Diasporas, his first album, and enriched with Diachronism some two years later. Better than a continuation, this new record is an outcome, the result of much research into the interplay of harmonies, tonal dynamics and their acclimatization to rhythms, and the unsuspected connivances which exist between differing musical styles. You can recognize the major influence exerted by marching bands from the Balkans, the batucadas of Brazil, Latin jazz... or heavy metal. But Diagnostic is above all Maalouf's most personal work: a kind of original soundtrack in which the trumpeter has staged – with remarkable powers of suggestion – the affective life of a musician who has always seen his chosen art-form as therapy, with all that such a commitment implies in terms of sincerity and abandon. 
Recorded in the Parisian studio of producer and film-music composer Armand Amar (Le Couperet, Indigènes), Diagnostic proposes eleven original compositions, each of which formulates an emotion – sometimes a contradiction between several such sentiments – and all of which dive deep into the mysterious cesspool of emotions to set free languidness, flights of fancy, lightning-flashes and flashbacks. Here, for the first time, you can hear Ibrahim play piano, the instrument with which he began his apprenticeship in music. You can hear him sing, too. Although each part has its own concept – the titles are inspired by close members of his family – Diagnostic bears witness to a stripped-down instinct and a mastery of technique which serve – exclusively – the sensitive, the fragile... and the pleasure-principle.
This is an album which answers the necessity of transcending genres in order to transmute pain, anger, depression and doubt into the very force of life (Harmonia Mundi PDF)
Review/English