Salem Al Fakir

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Live in November 2007.

Lars Salem al Fakir, born on 27th October 1981, is a Swedish pop musician and singer. His father Nabil al Fakir originated from Damascus, Syria and his mother, Inger, from Sweden. Salem is the fourth of six siblings, Aminah, Ayman, Nassim, Salem, Sami and Fares.

Salem learned to play violin at the age of four and subsequently toured Russia as a solo violinist at the age of fourteen, but returned to Sweden to study jazz piano. During his career he has worked with artists including Robyn, Wille Crafoord and Snook. Along with elder brother Nassim he was a member of the FakirKarlsson trio which teamed up with fellow jazz musicians the Örjan Hultén Trio and released an album.

In the autumn of 2006 Salem released his first single, the "Dream Girl" EP, and his debut album was released in January 2007 to commercial success and critical acclaim. The album was recorded in Salem's basement and bedroom, and he was solely responsible for writing, mixing and producing the album. Salem also played all instruments on the album himself apart from horns played by his brother Sami.

"Good Song" and "This Is Who I Am" were also released as singles. Dance producers Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso have also released their own remix of "It's True".

He has played a number of live concerts and festivals in Sweden in 2007 and was also part of the "Parksommar - Just Another Summer" tour with Moneybrother and Sakert! Also in the summer of 2007, Salem appeared at the "Grattis Victoria" concert which took place to celebrate the 30th birthday of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria.

In September 2007 Salem was named as one of the winners of the Monica Zetterlund-stipendiet, a prize awarded in memory of the late Swedish jazz singer.

In October 2007 Salem received the Swedish music publishers' award for "Best Newcomer".

In January 2008 Salem was announced as this year's winner of the Expressen newspaper's "Spelmannen" prize.

Salem Al Fakir was nominated in seven categories for the Swedish Grammis (Grammys) which took place on 9th January 2008, at which he also performed "It's True". The categories are: best album ("This Is Who I Am" / newcomer / producer / male artist / song ("Good Song") / composer / lyricist. He won four awards, for best male artist, best newcomer, best composer and best producer, the most awards for any one artist at this year's ceremony.

Salem was also nominated in Aftonbladet newspaper's "Rockbjörnen" music awards in the best newcomer category, whilst he received two nominations in Swedish radio station P3's "P3 Guld" awards, in the best male artist and best live act categories. However he failed to win any of these awards.