Malakoff Kowalski, born Aram Pirmoradi on 21 June 1979 in Boston to Iranian parents, is a German-American-Persian musician and composer. He grew up in Hamburg after his family relocated in 1979 and later settled in Berlin in 2007; his mother, pianist Annie Pirmoradi, guided his early musical development. After co‑founding the duo Jansen & Kowalski in 2004 and releasing their debut Action in 2006, he launched his solo career with the album Neue Deutsche Reiselieder (2009), whose single "Andere Leute" earned a nomination for Best Music Video 2010 at the International Short Film Days in Oberhausen and a Spex Video of the Month award. Kowalski’s subsequent releases include Kill Your Babies (2012), I Love You (2015), My First Piano (2018), Onomatopoetika (2020), Piano Aphorisms (Sonata in Four Movements) (2022), and Songs With Words (2025). His work appeared in the 2026 Tatort episode Nachtschatten. He has collaborated with DJ Hell, Chilly Gonzales, and Igor Levit, and contributed music to stage productions by Angela Richter, earning a nomination for the 2023 Opus Klassik in the Classical Music Without Borders category.
