Congratulations to Ibrahim Maalouf for earning a GRAMMY nomination for Best Global Music Performance for his song “Todo Colores” featuring Tank & the Bangas and Cimafunk. This is the French-Lebanese trumpeter/composer and global music star’s second career GRAMMY nomination. Last year he earned his first nomination for Best Global Album for Queen Of Sheba, created with Angelique Kidjo. “Todo Colores” is featured on Maalouf’s Capacity To Love, released last November: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0JagrQlhY
“Todo Colores” is a perfect example of Maalouf’s musical mission: that community and a sharing of ideas between cultures is the only way for humanity to prevail. The track explodes from the downbeat, a hard-hitting and high energy mash-up of Maalouf’s Middle Eastern roots and dazzling trumpet, Cuban star Cimafunk rapping in Spanish, and New Orleans contemporary musical royalty Tank Ball of Tank & The Bangas’ trademark spitfire delivery. Listen here, and watch this live performance video of “Todo Colores” filmed during GRAMMY weekend 2023 in Los Angeles as part of JAMMCARD's signature event, the JammJam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHfk3Z_wF7E
Maalouf recently announced his biggest North American headlining tour to date for April-May 2024, including New York City’s Webster Hall. A major star at home in France, Maalouf will also headline the Accor Arena in Paris on November 29. This is Maalouf’s third time headlining and selling out France’s biggest arena, with a capacity of 17,000. See below for his full ‘23-24 performance itinerary.
Capacity To Love - Maalouf’s 15th studio album - is unlike any he’s previously made, and has been celebrated by New Yorker, NPR All Things Considered, NPR Music, the New York Times, PRI’s The World, People Magazine, WNYC and more. Featuring Sharon Stone, D Smoke, Pos from De La Soul, Erick the Architect, Gregory Porter, Cimafunk, Tank and the Bangas and many other international stars, it smashes together an array of sounds and all original songs, inspired by hip-hop, r&b, jazz, music from across the globe and Maalouf’s signature trumpet style rooted in his Lebanese roots. The album begins with Charlie Chaplin’s famous speech in The Dictator and concludes with a trenchant spoken word that Sharon Stone wrote and recited for this album.
Other recent highlights include a Q&A event at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles which included a chat and performance with special guest and collaborator Angelique Kidjo. Maalouf also performed at his mentor Quincy Jones’ 90th birthday tribute concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in July, playing alongside Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Jacob Collier and Samara Joy. He also recently shared a music video for “The Pope” featuring D Smoke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRHrCN6W_Zg
Hailed as a “virtuoso” by The New York Times, Maalouf has spent his career crossing borders and blurring genres, mixing jazz, pop, classical, electronic, Middle Eastern, and African influences into a cross-cultural swirl. Born in the midst of a deadly civil war, Maalouf escaped Beirut with his family and spent his formative years in France, where he fell in love with music’s power to transcend geography and language. He has performed in 40 countries, sold out arenas from Paris to Istanbul, has been scouted by Quincy Jones and raised millions for charity. In the fall of 2021 he performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, introduced by Jon Batiste as “a living legend of jazz” and performed in front of the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day for an audience of six million. In 2022 Maalouf released two albums - Capacity To Love, as well as Queen of Sheba, which SPIN Magazine said “may be the most interesting album of the year.” A soaring 7-part suite, the album was inspired by, and reinvents, the myth of Queen Sheba, an African Queen who heard about the reputation of King Salomon and traveled to Jerusalem to witness the king’s wisdom.
