Trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf has released a new album entitled "40 Mélodies", to celebrate his 40th birthday.

He resumes his flagship titles, in a refined style, accompanied by guitarist François Delporte and other prestigious guests such as Sting or -M-.

"I wanted to go back to basics," says the musician on Europe 1. 

INTERVIEW

"It's really the appeasement album for me."

Franco-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf celebrates his 40th birthday with a new album.

He revisits 40 melodies of his life, from his first hits to the film scores he composed.

Solo or in duo, this new opus is for him a way of "getting back to basics: the melody", he confides on Europe 1. "In the oriental countries, we never serve food like that. There is always decoration, parsley everywhere, olives… My albums are a bit like that ", jokes the musician.

"There I wanted to go back to basics, to the simplicity of things."

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In this twelfth album, Ibrahim Maalouf is accompanied by his friend the guitarist François Delporte but also many prestigious guests including Sting, Matthieu Chedid, Marcus Miller, and Jon Batiste.

"I wanted it to be a celebration in all humility, but still with a little spice to enhance it all. And that all these friendships that have been created for years come to participate in this celebration."

Target: Bercy, December 20, 2021 

Over the titles, the trumpeter offers a few unreleased tracks, revisits some pieces created for films, such as Défilé 1962 pour

Yves Saint-Laurent

by Jalil Lespert, or takes up his flagship titles such as a cover of

Salma Ya Salama

, sung by Mika in an album dedicated to Dalida.

In this clean and instrumental version, the musician moves away from the dancing rhythm of the original song again.

"If you listen to the lyrics, it tells a much sadder story than the melancholy that I suggest in my version. It's the story of a man who travels but never finds his place. It's the drama of l permanent exile.

Ibrahim Maalouf had announced that at the end of his 40 years, on November 5, 2021, he would stop playing the trumpet.

His project for the future: to concentrate solely on the production and composition of film music.

But as this deadline approaches, the instrumentalist still has melodies to share.

“I went through times where I realized that maybe I had a few more years to share with my trumpet. I gave it back a little place in this album and I ended up having some more. want to take that trumpet again, especially on stage. " 

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Impatient to find his audience, Ibrahim Maalouf hopes to be able to maintain his concert series scheduled for mid-January at the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.

As a note of hope, he has already scheduled a big celebration on December 20, 2021 at the Accor Hotels Arena, formerly Bercy.

"People don't expect what we're going to do. It's going to be completely crazy," he says happily.

The musician had already filled the room in 2016, "one of the strongest moments" of his career.

"No one imagined that a jazz trumpeter would fill this hall," he recalls.