Trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf in concert in Sète on July 11: “Music pierces all prejudices”

Reassure us, you are not going to stop the trumpet?

Not right away anyway!

Where are you in your creative work with this fetish instrument (with four valves) which was not your passion at the beginning?

I have always said that the trumpet is indeed an instrument that allows me to do things, to create a musical environment that I like, to express an artistic desire and, moreover, I play lots of other instruments, from piano, keyboards, percussion. But what interests me about the trumpet is that it is a legacy from my father, which has an important place because it allows me to speak all my languages, oriental, jazz, pop, classical music , etc. I am incredibly lucky to have this instrument in my hands. My father invented this idea more than half a century ago about the trumpet which allows you to play all the ranges of traditional music from around the world. He wanted to play Middle Eastern music with her, but without knowing it, he was inventing a bridge between all the cultures of the South and the North. And this is where it gets exciting.

In reality, in Celtic music, there are also quarter tones. It’s a pretty crazy instrument. The older I get, the wiser I am (laughs) and the more I realize how lucky I am to play this instrument. And so, I’m pushing back my end date as a trumpet. When I was little, I didn’t like it at all. I played it because my father encouraged me a lot, for him I was good. He wasn’t wrong. When he presented me to the Paris conservatory, I came first at 17 years old. I had obviously gone to a good school. I followed my father and his advice. But it was over time, seeing the richness of the instrument that I said to myself “there is something to be done”. But I don’t see myself spending my whole life with it. Maybe I don’t have enough perspective, but I really plan to not play it for the rest of my life.

You met the legendary musician Quincy Jones, how is he with you?

It happened in 2017. I just have one reference, it’s the one who shook up pop, hip-hop, rap, jazz music, even classical music culture at one time. He is the greatest producer in modern Western history, even for television, for series. It is a benchmark in every way. When I met him in 2017 and he asked me to be my manager for the United States, I couldn’t believe my ears. For all these years his kindness has been there. Now he is very old. But I played for his birthday (90th) at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in 2023. It was amazing with Steevie Wonder, John Legend, etc. It’s incredible luck, a kind of lucky star. The first thing he told me was that he had never heard a trumpet like that! I explained to him that it was my father who invented that. He told me that he had never heard that before and that he wanted to encourage me and make me known in the United States.

“The human value of music is rarely highlighted and yet it is the only thing that matters”

You perform on the biggest stages around the world. You work in cinema, theater, etc. What inspires you the most?

What fascinates me is music as a whole. That is to say what it brings to our lives, socially, the messages it carries, the values. Growing up, that was always what drove my desire to make music. It started with orchestra practice. What I loved was going to an orchestra, spending time with young people my age, older people, the teachers around us. In that society, I really felt integrated. I felt good. At school, music didn’t really have a place and I wasn’t socially integrated. I was always a little apart. Whereas practicing the orchestra is the thing that allowed me to feel at home here. I also mean in France. I didn’t speak French very well when I was little. It was music that made me feel included and it stayed. Music is this sharing. There was never really the idea of ​​career, or “who do you dream of playing with”, etc. Music was also the moments when I improvised with my friends, when I composed and listened to it played by an orchestra. That’s really my dream. It doesn’t matter the style, the color, when there is a discovery of a different kind, of values, when there is this thing that binds us to each other. In concert, it happens that we share moments which are not of artistic excellence, but whose human and sharing value is above all. This is what we often forget. We often consider music either as a business or as excellence. Human value is rarely highlighted and yet it is the only thing that matters.

“Music can save the world, it did for me”

Love inspires a lot of your music. Can he still change the world?

Since I am an idealist, I will tell you yes. I know that many people will tell you that I am out of touch to say that music is going to save the world. But for me, it is obvious that it is the key to everything. But I also believe in it because in my personal life, it has been the case. For my father, my mother, their families, my sister, my children. I was a teacher for a long time, notably at the Aubervilliers-La Coureneuve conservatory in the 93. 20 years ago, I was a teacher in a ZEP, I saw the positive impact that music has on our human relationships, the way we see others with our differences. I see it every day in my concerts, how people look at me, Ibrahim, the Arab who arrived as a war refugee with my parents when we were little. I see that music pierces all prejudices, all fears and creates a bond that I do not see anywhere else. This is why music scares some dictatorships.

You are going to go on stage at the Théâtre de la Mer four days after the legislative elections, are you apprehensive?

I totally ignore it. I try not to think about it. I’ll do my job as a citizen. But I try to keep music out of all that.

Listening to your music, wouldn’t that be the best program?

(Laughs) If only politics could be punctuated by art. Instead of it being the Ministry of Defense or Foreign Affairs, if those of culture and education could be the most important portfolios, how much better it would be! How much better we would live!