For Michael Isaak, The Carpet Maker opens a more personal chapter. The Egyptian-American musician's debut album turns towards heritage and the experience of diaspora through a sound he describes as Arabesque Folk. From his position between Egyptian roots and an American upbringing, the New York-based artist builds a record shaped by identity, family memory and belonging.
The project began after a trip to Egypt in 2023, an experience Isaak has described as both personal and creative. Back home, he returned to the Arabic music that had surrounded his childhood, reconnecting with a part of himself that had stayed in the background for years. “I began to go back and listen to all of the Arabic music from my childhood and reconnect with my culture. When I was back at home, I'd sit at the TV with my dad almost every night, and he would show me a different piece of music, Fairouz’s Andalusyat; the Bombotaya, a traditional folkloric song and dance from my dad's hometown of Port Said, Egypt; many pieces from Umm Kulthum, the most beloved and prolific singer from the Arab world,” he explains.
That process also moved through literature. Isaak has pointed to writers such as Naguib Mahfouz, Khalil Gibran, Hisham Matar and Noor Naga as inspirations, placing the album close to memory and storytelling as much as melody. During its making, he learned to play the oud and explored Arabic modal systems known as maqams, gradually developing the sound that defines the record.
Across tracks such as The Carpet Maker, Hold Your Keys, Grandpa’s Name and Eastern Rain, Isaak approaches these questions through stories that feel both intimate and familiar. Family history, possible lives and the act of hearing old songs from a new angle run through the album without making it heavy-handed. The Carpet Maker is the sound of an artist working out where he comes from, and what he wants to say from there.
