The press everywhere has already praised the quality, purity, and delicacy of his playing and his music, calling him a “magician of the oud.”
Born in 1970 in Agadir, Morocco, Driss El Maloumi is a musician renowned for his talent and virtuosity. He is probably one of the most sought-after oud players of his generation for his confident and delicate technique, imbued with the depth that characterizes this major instrument of Arab-Andalusian music.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Arabic literature in 1983 and studying a philosophical approach to music in his thesis – Form and Content in Artistic Discourse – he also undertook extensive training in classical Arabic and Western music, winning first prize for oud, first prize for advanced studies, and the honorary prize at the national oud exam at the National Conservatory of Music in Rabat in 1992, 1993, and 1994. Since 2010, he has been director of the Agadir Conservatory of Music.
While Driss El Maloumi knows and interprets traditional Berber music to perfection, his work is nourished and enriched by encounters with internationally renowned artists such as Jordi Savall & the Hesperion XXI Ensemble (Spain), and Montserrat Figueras (Spain), with whom he has collaborated on several albums, Pierre Hamon (France), Keyvan Chemirani (Iran), Françoise Atlan (France), Debashish Bhattacharya (India), Omar Bachir (Iraq), Prabhu Edouard (India), Carlo Rizzo (Italy) in early, traditional, and classical music, as well as Paolo Fresu (Italy), Claude Tchamitchian (Armenia), Paf Trio (Italy), Daniel Mille (France), and Xavi Maureta (Spain) in jazz.
He has written and participated in the composition of stage music for numerous shows such as Isabel I, Reina de Castilla (musical direction: Jordi Savall), L’Amour Sorcier by Manuel de Fallã (directed by Antoine Bourseiller), Caravane de lune (musical direction: Gérard Kurdjian) and Oiseau de lune (directed by Antoine Bourseiller).
Not to mention his contributions to the soundtracks of films such as La Source des femmes (directed by Radu Miahileanu) and Le Maroc vu du ciel (directed by Yann-Arthus Bertrand). Driss El Maloumi also plays alongside great poets such as Abdellatif Laâbi (Morocco) and Adonis (Syria).
In 2000, he recorded the jazz album Tawada, co-written with Alban Darche (4 stars in Jazz Magazine), 3MA with Ballaké Sissoko and Rajery, voted best World Music album in the 2008 European Charts, Makan in 2014 („A masterpiece! “ by the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles) and Anarouz in 2017, again with Ballaké Sissoko and Rajery. The album ”ASWAT“ was released in 2023 and in 2024, the trio produced and released DETAILS with the Watar String Quintet.
