Federico Malaman Molto Funky

I’M RIDING IN THE BACK OF A VAN AFTER being picked up from the Dublin airport. Federico Malaman sits in the seat in front of me—driver on the right, bassist on the left. We’re on our way to teach at a workshop in Sligo, Ireland. Cars whiz past on what seems to me to be the wrong side of the road.

- John Goldsby

Turn signal. Click, click, click … with every click, Federico starts to beat-box a wild rhythm. He’s on the beat … no, the backbeat … no, wait, he’s flipping the time … 16th-notes … I think he’s in 7/8. Federico is turning the turn signal into the hippest beat I’ve heard in recent memory. This guy’s deep.

I already know Malaman from some of his videos: in duo with Victor Wooten at NAMM, in duo with Henrik Linder of Dirty Loops, holding down the funk with Italian popster Mario Biondi, and on his regular Facebook video blasts. He’s a technical funk wizard, yet I hear the roots of classical training in his playing.

Malaman began his career on violin, and then studied double bass at a conservatory in Italy. Later he switched to bass guitar and made a high-profile mark as the musical director of the Italian Dancing With the Stars. In between his touring and recording work with Mario Biondi, Malaman is bringing out two solo projects simultaneously. I grabbed the chance during our week together to ask him a few questions about his roots, his online bass school, and his two new albums, Touché and Sunday Morning.

Tell me about your new project with the trio MalaFede.