When Ibrahim Maalouf performs at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation on Friday, we will hear the notes of his father.
The quarter-tone trumpet, set to glisten under the lights, was designed by Nassim Maalouf six decades ago out of frustration to solve a puzzle flummoxing regional jazz musicians for generations.
Arabic music is defined by its microtonal scales – essentially the missing notes that fall between the black and white keys of a piano – and the trumpet’s fixed three valves were never built to accommodate them.
Instead of continuing to find inventive ways to almost nail the Arabic pitch, Nassim satisfied that musical itch by adding a fourth valve. In doing so, he not only expanded the instrument’s range, but also its global reach, carried today through the adventurous sound scored by his son.
That pioneering legacy is celebrated in Maalouf’s new album, Trumpets of Michel-Ange, to be showcased in Abu Dhabi. “This album obviously means a lot because I am going right back to my roots and to the core of where I come from,” he tells The National.
“There are no computers, no famous guest stars, just the DNA of who I am. In all my previous projects, I tried to give that instrument new meaning by mixing it with my daily inspirations such as pop or electronic music, but this time, I brought it back to the reason it was invented 60 years ago, and that is to show the possibilities my father created.”
It’s a responsibility beyond the studio. The album follows the launch of his own educational initiative, Toma Academy, where musicians from around the world receive free online and in-person classes on how to play the quarter-tone trumpet. Maalouf has also begun his own mentoring at home, with four-year-old Nael Maalouf appearing on the album.
Born in Beirut in 1980, Maalouf was a child when his family left Lebanon for Paris during the civil war. The move was only meant to be temporary, which is why his household routine was etched with the caution informed by sudden displacement.
“My parents thought we would go to France for a few weeks or months and then we'd return to Lebanon,” he recalls. “But when we started to stay longer because the war was taking so much time, they were afraid we would never get back to Lebanese society and feel comfortable there.
“So they didn't want us to forget our Arabic, our roots. They didn't want us to be too close with friends, so they kind of isolated us a little bit."
That solitary period laid some of the seeds of Maalouf’s signature precision and eclecticism, playing his trumpet to the popular sounds on the radio at the time, ranging from Madonna to Phil Collins, alongside his father’s exacting musical lessons.
“He was very tough as a father in daily life and just as demanding when it came to music. Technically, he was precise, but sometimes a bit too rigid, and when you go too far in strictness, I find that you can lose flexibility,” he says. “Still, he taught me discipline and respect for the instrument. He taught me every day – since I was seven, till I turned 14. That daily presence shaped everything.”
Trumpets of Michel-Ange displays that technicality and Maalouf’s restless spirit, with Middle Eastern scales pulsing through jazz, Latin rhythms and touches of funk. Opener The Proposal is an exuberant fanfare channelling the promise of a coming wedding. With its name deriving from a folkloric and conversational form of poetry, Zajal is laced with the call-and-response interaction of the horns.
The closing piece, Timeless, brings it all together with Nassim and Nael joining Maalouf, as well as Malian kora father-and-son duo Toumani and Sidiki Diabate. The energy of the jam session cannot disguise the achingly poignant notion of a torch being passed from one generation to the next.
Maalouf reveals the record is a way to come to terms with his father’s mortality.
"My father is 85, an old man. I don't know how much longer he will live. He just had cancer and now he speaks slowly, with the weight of time. He lives in his house in the Lebanese mountains," he says.
"I'm thinking about this. I'm thinking about what he gave to me when I was a kid. I've made 20 albums and that's great, but why am I doing all this? Because one day someone left his mountain village with a dream – to be a trumpeter, to create something new, to bring Middle Eastern influences into Western music."
Maalouf is also reflecting on the price paid for that effort.
“I grew up watching my father respect every rule of the French classical music world because he wanted so much to be accepted. He did everything the right way, but he was never respected. He was a farmer from the mountains of Lebanon. He didn’t go to school, didn’t speak French, knew nothing about classical music,” he says.
“At 22, he decided to go to Europe to study trumpet and classical music in France. He thought that to achieve what he wanted, he had to follow the codes of that world completely. He did, and yet he was never fully accepted.”
Instead of anger, Maalouf explains he channelled that pain through a fiercely independent approach to what he considers a conservative French jazz scene.
“I have learned not to fight for spaces that don’t value me,” he says. “If I’m not accepted here, I’ll go somewhere else. I’ll build my own space. I want to be free. Don’t dictate anything to me. I want to make music that shows how much respect I have for jazz, classical, Arabic music, for my father and my instrument.”
A particular track from the album captures that journey, although chances are you will not hear it in Abu Dhabi.
“There’s a song called Stranger. It’s my father’s life in one piece – someone who never felt at home anywhere, who felt like a stranger even in his own body. It tells his story from beginning to end,” he says.
“In the middle, there’s a long improvisation that represents a life journey. When we recorded it, I knew exactly what I wanted to express. But when I started performing it on stage during the first shows of the tour, it became too emotional. I had to stop it during the show because it was overwhelming, and I have not revisited it again.”
But that story will keep going, as Maalouf confirms two more albums will follow to complete the trilogy, which could even form his own musical epitaph.
“Once I finish those, I might even stop everything, because that trilogy feels like the purpose I was meant to fulfil,” he notes. “After that, maybe I’ll start something completely different…. architecture, perhaps.”
In the meantime, preparations are underway for what could be a historic performance: an already announced 40,000-seat stadium concert at Paris La Defense on April 7, 2027.
“It’s going to be the largest instrumental jazz concert ever organised,” he says. “I first played a big show in Paris in 2016 at Accor Arena for 17,000 people, and everyone said it was impossible, that no one would come to hear trumpet music. It sold out nine months in advance, and we added two more nights.
“For 2027, I want something even more ambitious, with a huge production, many guests, and complete openness. And you know what? I don’t want it sold out – the whole point is I want people being able to come even at the last minute.”
Ibrahim Maalouf performs at Cultural Foundation Auditorium, Abu Dhabi on Friday. Doors open at 8pm; tickets from Dh250
THREE
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Nayla%20Al%20Khaja%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Jefferson%20Hall%2C%20Faten%20Ahmed%2C%20Noura%20Alabed%2C%20Saud%20Alzarooni%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
Second Test, Day 2:
South Africa 335 & 75/1 (22.0 ov)
England 205
South Africa lead by 205 runs with 9 wickets remaining
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Results
5pm: Warsan Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m; Winner: Dhaw Al Reef, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Al Quadra Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Mrouwah Al Gharbia, Sando Paiva, Abubakar Daud
6pm: Hatta Lake – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Yatroq, George Buckell, Ernst Oertel
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Adries de Vries, Ibrahim Aseel
7pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Listed (PA) Dh180,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm: Zakher Lake – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Alfareeq, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
A Dog's Journey
Directed by: Gail Mancuso
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Josh Gad, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott
3 out of 5 stars
Ten10 Cricket League
Venue and schedule Sharjah Cricket Stadium, December 14 to 17
Teams
Maratha Arabians Leading player: Virender Sehwag; Top picks: Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim; UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Khan
Bengal Lions Leading player: Sarfraz Ahmed; Top picks: Sunil Narine, Mustafizur Rahman; UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Rameez Shahzad
Kerala Kings Leading player: Eoin Morgan; Top picks: Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir; UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Imran Haider
Pakhtoons Leading player: Shahid Afridi; Top picks: Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal; UAE players: Amjad Javed, Saqlain Haider
Punjabi Legends Leading player: Shoaib Malik; Top picks: Hasan Ali, Chris Jordan; UAE players: Ghulam Shabber, Shareef Asadullah
Team Sri Lanka Cricket Will be made up of Colombo players who won island’s domestic limited-overs competition
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
RESULTS
Welterweight
Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) beat Mostafa Radi (PAL)
(Unanimous points decision)
Catchweight 75kg
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) beat Leandro Martins (BRA)
(Second round knockout)
Flyweight (female)
Manon Fiorot (FRA) beat Corinne Laframboise (CAN)
(RSC in third round)
Featherweight
Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB) beat Ahmed Al Darmaki
(Disqualification)
Lightweight
Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) beat Rey Nacionales (PHI)
(Unanimous points)
Featherweight
Yousef Al Housani (UAE) beat Mohamed Fargan (IND)
(TKO first round)
Catchweight 69kg
Jung Han-gook (KOR) beat Max Lima (BRA)
(First round submission by foot-lock)
Catchweight 71kg
Usman Nurmogamedov (RUS) beat Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
(TKO round 1).
Featherweight title (5 rounds)
Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
(TKO round 1).
Lightweight title (5 rounds)
Bruno Machado (BRA) beat Mike Santiago (USA)
(RSC round 2).
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
