Issa Malluf was born in St. Petersburg , Florida . He moved to Albuquerque , New Mexico at an early age where he simultaneously took an interest in piano and percussion.
He joined the African music ensemble ‘Umoja' in 2001 where he played traditional African percussion, later that year he started working on his own compositions under the title ‘The Call To Power'. These works consisted mainly of software synthesizers and drum-machines. In 2002, he gained popularity with the independent label ‘Aristlaunch' where they released The Call To Power's debut album titled ‘Somewhere in the middle of nothing'. He went on to produce a second album ‘Tern Mi Awn' in 2005 which was marginally more successful then his previous works. In late 2005, ‘Umoja' disbanded and Issa found a new interest in traditional Arabic drumming.
With his new found passion for Arabic drumming, he went on to perform with the belly dance troupes Las Gitanas, Zahara Al-Jinan, and Pishkesh. He also worked soloists Leyla Najma, Amaya and Rozana Al-Jinan, and performed in such venues as the New Mexico body painting festival, Desert Fire (With Susu Pampanin), Shake N' Bake, Tribal Fest, 3 Sided Whole, and the Crestone Music Festival.
With a deeper understanding of his own musical roots, he worked on his self-titled world music project. In 2006, ‘Tea Time With The Infinite Darkness' was released, which was a mixture of world music and electronica.
In 2007 he simultaneously joined the musical ensemble Sadaqah (With Beth Beaver, Renaldo Baca, and Billy Woods) and ‘The Baghdad Ensemble' with oud virtuoso Rahim Al-Haj with whom he performs classical Iraqi and Arabic music, and the Slavic gypsy waltz band 'The Zoltan Orkestar'. He is currently working on his own album titled 'Displacing the Apple' which will be released in late 2008.
Hope things are well with you and Jo. I've been jamming with Chris and some other guitarists for a few weeks now.
A quick computer question: Is there a way to keep the blank card reader holder from falling out so often? I can't tell if something is broken inside it.
It was great seeing you again at Outlandish. Welcome to the household. We couldnt have a nicer person or better drummer than you around. Hopefully next time I get more time to enjoy both.
From Isalang as well as myself, personally, thank you for drumming with us during our free dance! I could never ask for, nor find, a better music teacher than you.
