Salem Al Fakir

Born on October 27, 1981, in the Stockholm metropolitan area, multi-instrumentalist Salem Al Fakir grew up as the youngest of four children under a Syrian father and Swedish mother. At the acclaimed Södra Latin School he honed his skills on both violin and piano. By age 12 the prodigy had already embarked on solo violin tours across Russia. Over the following years he redirected that technical command toward an array of pop-focused instruments, chiefly keyboards along with drums, bass, guitar, and less common ones such as xylophone. His debut single, “Dream Girl,” introduced listeners to his childlike vocal timbre and unabashedly melodic style at the close of 2006, setting the stage for the January 2007 arrival of his first album, This Is Who I Am. Praised for its striking compositional depth and wide stylistic range—encompassing rock, soul, gospel, and classical—the release held a place in the national Top Ten for multiple weeks and attained gold status in short order. After that achievement Al Fakir concentrated his live work within Sweden and its immediate surroundings.