Franco-Lebanese trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf will be back at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Thursday. Guest of La Matinale on Wednesday, the musician gave his impressions of the crisis situation in Lebanon, his country of origin. He believes that the reconstruction of the state must in particular go through its diaspora.
Thursday, Ibrahim Maalouf will present his show and next album “Capacity to Love” (Capacity to love) on the stage of the Stravinsky auditorium of the Montreux Jazz Festival, where he is a regular guest.
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The musician took his first steps as a professional in the Vaudois festival nearly 20 years ago. In 2017, he met Quincy Jones there, who would later become his manager and give new impetus to his musical production.
“This festival gave me the opportunity to show that it was possible to constantly experiment with things,” he said during his interview on RTS. “Each time I came, I offered very different things, and Montreux Jazz has always been attentive.”
The hope of a people
Born in 1980 in Lebanon, Ibrahim Maalouf grew up in the Paris region after his family fled the civil war. The Cedar country is currently experiencing a serious social and economic crisis, with a shortage of gasoline and electricity, hyperinflation and the fall of its currency, the Lebanese pound, which has lost 95% of its value since 2019.
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“Lebanon has unfortunately never rested, but the Lebanese continue to have hope despite the terrible chaos that has lasted for a long time,” commented the trumpeter.
For the musician, the general situation in the country is “worse and worse (…) and at the same time, I have never seen such an outgoing and life-loving people. It’s fascinating”.
Diaspora aid
Ibrahim Maalouf also returned to the explosion that occurred in the capital of Lebanon, in Beirut, in August 2020, which he witnessed and which rekindled deep suffering among people who lived through the years of civil war.
“There is not a Lebanese man or woman who does not have a gigantic scar, whether physical or psychological, from this war”, affirmed the musician, who evokes the “memory of the scar”, transmitted from generation to generation.
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According to him, the reconstruction of the country cannot be done solely by the strength of the people. “The Lebanese who live in Lebanon cannot solve all the problems. There are too many conflicting regional interests and very little local investment”, argued the trumpeter.
The Lebanese diaspora, which represents several million people around the world, has its role to play in this reconstruction, believes Ibrahim Maalouf. “If all these people contributed to helping their country of origin, today we would have a flourishing Lebanon, which would be much more serene. I strongly believe in the strength of the diaspora,” he said.
Interview by Karine Vasarino/iar