Ibrahim Maalouf & The Trumpets of Michel-Ange + Mats Gustafsson & Kimmo Pohjonen @ Druga Godba 2024 

Ibrahim Maalouf & The Trumpets Of Michel-Ange (LB/FR)

Ibrahim Maalouf had a trumpet placed in his crib when he was a baby in Beirut ― literally. Credit for that goes to his father, Nassim, a musician himself and inventor of the microtonal trumpet, whose fourth key opened up whole new sonic world to players of the instrument. It has since fallen to Ibrahim to introduce it to all musical genres and every corner of the world, and he has done so with mastery and verve.

Ibrahim Maalouf was still a young man when, having been garlanded with some of the greatest prizes in classical music, he began to develop his considerable potential as an improviser, composer, producer and teacher (he started a class in classical music improvisation at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris in 2011). Along the way he has also become a much-loved and hugely sought-after performer: without doubt the most popular instrumentalist in France and that country's pre-eminent (jazz) improviser. He has packed out all of the world's most renowned concert halls, including the huge and legendary Accor Arena in Paris last November; his performances have taken him to some 40 countries so far; and across 17 albums he has played and collaborated with some of the biggest names in pop, hip hop, jazz and rock.

Yet despite this, and despite scoring huge global hits like ‘Beirut’, it does seem that it’s only with his new project T.O.M.A., or Trumpets of Michel-Ange, that he’s finally managed to locate the ultimate trumpet sound. Inspired by global musics and by a trumpet designed and built especially for him by Adrien Jaminet, Maalouf has refined the bases upon which the impossible becomes possible. Ten musicians are set to take the stage with the master, including four trumpeters playing the same Jaminet-designed instrument as him.

The trumpet as the voice of creativity, of hope and of connection between every generation in every part of the world, played by one of the world’s greatest exponents of any instrument.

Mats Gustafsson & Kimmo Pohjonen (SE/FI)

News of the first musical meeting of two of the highest-profile progressive musicians of this century has swept across Europe like a whirlwind. A surprise? Not to the Druga Godba programme team, who have been keeping it under wraps like a winemaker ageing wine in his best oak barrel. Knowing both musicians’ numerous full-blooded projects, perhaps the best-known being Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra (which has numbered 45 musicians on occasion) and Pohjonen’s astounding Earth Machine Music, we were pretty sure they’d be up for doing something together ― particularly given that they’re both celebrating a special anniversary this year, much like the festival itself.

Pohjonen says that he has only ever wanted to play with two saxophonists in his life (and one of them is sadly no longer with us), while Gustafsson relishes the challenge of playing with musicians of the broadest possible profiles ― so we can be pretty sure that these two men of 1964 will devise the most exclusive (and the most unpredictable) musical event of the year. And no, it’s no surprise that it’s happening at Druga Godba.

40th International Druga Godba Festival

23–26 May 2024, Ljubljana