Illusions

After his remarkably successful acoustic album Wind, Maalouf comes back with a more electric sound on Illusions. It is an album born out of, and designed for, performance on stage. It not only features the members of his regular band, Frank Woeste on the keyboard, François Delporte on the guitar, Xavier Roge on the drums et Laurent David on the bass, but also adds three more quarter-tone trumpeters (Youenn Le Cam, Yann Martin and Martin Saccardy) to bring a even higher level of dynamism to the sound. Maalouf says, ''I wanted this album to be festive and full of positive energy... it starts with the most tragic view of the world: cynicism. It then gradually evolves towards light and hope.''