Don't forget to watch "Dom Kallar Oss Artister" tomorrow night!

The programme will be shown on SVT1 at 20:30 Swedish time and later on the web on SVT Play - I'll post the link tomorrow night.

Enjoy the show - and remember you can leave your comments about it here.

"Split My Personality" is Song of the Day on Popjustice!

One of the biggest and most influential pop blogs in the UK, Popjustice, has chosen the Bassflow remix of "Split My Personality" as its Song of the Day: http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5233&Itemid=279

That's great news of course - although I don't agree with their description of the original version as "a bit like crap Erik Hassle", but I guess we are all entitled to our own opinion :)

Anyway, at least it will bring the song to the attention of a wider audience.

Dom Kallar Oss Artister: sneak peek

SVT now has some clips from the eagerly-awaited first episode of "Dom Kallar Oss Artister" which will be broadcast next Monday night on SVT1 at 20:30 Swedish time...and hopefully later on SVT Play so that all of us Salem fans living outside Sweden can watch it too. The programme will take a look behind the scenes of Salem and the band's last gig of the summer tour in Gävle, and will also take a journey with him out on his boat.

Go to http://svt.se/2.135508/dom_kallar_oss_artister?lid=20110131&lpos=SVT1_0000_sitelink&from=tabla and you'll find the trailer and links to clips from the show.

This looks as if it's going to be a very promising series featuring some great Swedish artists - of course the first show will feature the best artist of them all :))

Salem in Falun this Thursday

According to http://www.stjarngalan.com/program.aspx, Salem will be one of the special guests at this business awards ceremony which will take place this Thursday at the Falu-Kuriren Arena in Falun.

Salem's MySpace Glasgow gig mystery???

Late last night I found out some information which briefly sent me into a state of extreme happiness and euphoria. On Salem's MySpace page, www.myspace.com/salem, it says that he will be playing a live show in Glasgow on 17th February.

For a brief moment, it felt like all my dreams had come true - Salem Al Fakir, playing in Scotland, in my local, favourite, city. At last.

However, I don't think this is true. For there are also a couple of other bands out there who are also called Salem - I mentioned this in a previous post in 2009 http://planetsalem.blogspot.com/2009/08/whats-in-name.html and I think it may be one of them. When scrolling down Salem Al Fakir's MySpace page and you reach the Music (Albums) section, there are a couple by one of the other Salems, but when you go to the Music (Playlist) section, you find 'our' Salem. So there is a problem with the MySpace page.

Also , when checking other websites which also mention the gig, they just mention that Salem is appearing, rather than Salem Al Fakir. So, for all these reasons, I don't think he will be coming to Glasgow this time. (But I wish he would!!)

Am I right or wrong? Can anyone tell me if 'our' Salem is coming to Glasgow or not?

No awards for Salem tonight :(

He may not have won anything at the Grammis tonight - but the competition was very strong this year, so congratulations to all the winners!

And one thing never changes - Salem, we love you, and you will always be a winner to us!!

Good luck Salem at the Grammis!

I'm just posting this now as I won't be around till late tomorrow night, and I'm not allowed to blog from my computer at work any more :(

Anyway I just want to wish Salem all the very best for Monday night's Swedish Grammis ceremony where he is nominated in the 'best song' and 'best male artist' categories.

Lycka till!

"I'm So Happy" in "Solsidan"

The very popular TV4 programme "Solsidan" is back for a new season, and the title theme song is none other than the la-la-la la-la-la-la riff from "I'm So Happy".

Congratulations Salem - Sweden's best dressed man :)))

Salem was named Sweden's best dressed man of 2010, by fashion magazine Elle at the annual Ellegalan awards which took place in Stockholm on 14th January. Congratulations Salem - I've always thought you were the best dressed man in Sweden, so it's about time you officially got the prize :)

Lots of coverage of the Ellegalan on the internet, so check out the following links:

Expressen's video interview with Salem and September (Petra Marklund), another of my favourite Swedish singers who was named best dressed artist: http://tv.expressen.se/noje/1.2291069/salem-och-september-prisade

Expressen's interview with Salem and September: http://www.expressen.se/mode/1.2291278/september-om-elle-priset-jag-blev-skitglad

Stureplan.se's red carpet pictures:
http://stureplan.se/bilder/event/2011/01/14/elle-galan-2011

Rodeo magazine's interview:
http://rodeo.net/blog/2011/01/elle-galan-intervju-arets-bast-kladda-man-salem-al-fakir/
In this interview, Salem describes his fashion style as "simple, stylish and elegant". He says there's a big difference in his on-stage clothing and his everyday wear, which is more casual, particularly since he became a dog-owner! He goes on to say that there's no point in being stylish if you're sitting on a tour bus for 6 hours, but he's had some opportunities to dress up over the past year. Salem has also had the opportunity to work with designers that he really admires, but he wouldn't say that he follows trends.

Salem went on to say "It feels quite anxious to be named this year's best dressed man. I will not be able to go outside the door anymore but to reflect on this accolade...especially in Sweden, which is such a well-dressed country that you could go outside the door and find ten people who deserve this award".

But you deserve it most of all Salem, so... well done!

EDIT 16.01.11: Interview and a nice picture of Salem with September at http://www.qx.se/Xtra/attityd/16420/de-klar-sig-bast-i-sverige

Posh24.se has red carpet coverage of the Ellegalan including a picture of Salem and Caroline:

http://www.posh24.se/salem_al_fakir/ellegalan_2011

...and check out this picture of Salem on Daniel Lindström's blog for Cafe magazine : http://daniel.cafe.se/elle-galan-2011/elleg9/

Melodifestivalen: the last word

I promised not to mention the "M" word on Planet Salem again, but I couldn't help it one last time after reading the news about the changes in the voting system at Melodifestivalen 2011, Swedish juries will be axed in favour of international juries and televoting. According to this article at Aftonbladet today, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/melodifestivalen2011/article8393449.ab if the new system had been used at Melodifestivalen in 2010, "Keep On Walking" would have won.

Salem's songwriting tips on P3 Star!

According to this article on the P3 Star website, http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2907&artikel=4284433 P3 Star's songwriting school will be starting, with Salem and Linda Sundblad passing on some songwriting tips on the next show on 15th January.

You can hear the programme on P3 this Saturday from 1403-1600 Swedish time and later at the P3 website. Don't miss it!

Vote for "Keep On Walking" in the Swedish Grammis!!

One week from tonight the Grammisgalan will take place in Stockholm. Voting in the 'årets bästa svenska låt' category is still open at http://www.expressen.se/noje/musik/1.2251582/rosta-pa-din-svenska-favoritlat-under-2010 so don't forget to vote for "Keep On Walking".

Voting closes at midnight next Sunday night - so rösta, rösta, rösta! And pass it on....tell all your friends to vote too! Salem has the best fans in the world, so we need to show our support more than ever, because he deserves this award so much.

Salem (and Otis) on Mix Megapol and The Voice this morning

"Äntligen Morgon" returned to the Mix Megapol airwaves this morning - and the first guest of 2011 was none other than Salem, who brought along a very special visitor: Otis, who is now 20 weeks old!

Pictures courtesy of http://www.mixmegapol.se/:


Nice :)

Salem and Otis also dropped in to "Vakna med The Voice" and here's a picture of Otis from their website - http://www.thevoice.se/on-air/vakna/item/8858-se-salem-al-fakirs-nya-kärlek

Last chance to vote in the P3 Guld awards!!

You only have an hour and a half left to vote for "Keep On Walking" in the Sveriges Radio P3 Guld awards - voting closes at midnight tonight Swedish time!

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3964&artikel=4226387

Good luck Salem :))) hope you win - you deserve it!

"Split My Personality" - Rix FM Veckans Hitvarning!

I'm a regular listener to Rix FM - it's one of my favourite Swedish pop radio stations and it just got better, with the news that "Split My Personality" has been chosen as the station's first "Veckans Hitvarning" of 2011. This means that the song will get lots of airplay on Rix FM! http://www.rixfm.com/musik/veckans-hitvarning

Hopefully the song will get lots of airplay on other radio stations too...talking of which, SR P4 recently published its list of its most played songs of 2010 - and "Keep On Walking" was the second most played song on the station last year. ("Monday Morning" by Melanie Fiona was no.1). http://radionytt.se/nyheter/?p=6580

One final piece of radio news - Salem will be the special guest on Mix Megapol's "Äntligen Morgon" which returns on Monday 10th January. http://www.mixmegapol.se/on-air/antligen-morgon

No iTunes Christmas present for me :(

I hope you all managed to get the free iTunes download today.

Unfortunately, as I predicted, it was not available over here for those of us with a UK iTunes account :(

This would have been a great opportunity to promote Salem to a worldwide audience, however I notice that various countries are offering different downloads by different artists so I guess that it wasn't going to happen this time.

I also noticed on iTunes tonight that "Ignore This" is one of the featured albums on the iTunes homepage in Sweden, Norway and Finland. This will probably have helped the album to climb the iTunes album charts again in Sweden (currently at no. 24) and in Norway (no.61)

Trettondagskonsert - Jönköping, Wednesday and Thursday

Salem will be appearing at the Jönköping Concert Hall on 5th and 6th January along with the Jönköpings Sinfonietta under the direction of Hans Ek. Also on the bill is the soprano Maria Keohane. The shows are billed as "Musik över Gränserna" which is very appropriate as when it comes to Salem's music, there are no boundaries of course :)

Both concerts begin at 16:00. If you haven't already got your ticket then I think there are still tickets available so don't miss out - there won't be many opportunities to see Salem play live this year, and this should be a very special show.

If you are going to any of the concerts, remember to leave your comments here and tell us what you thought of the shows.

"Keep On Walking" - or should that be "Keep On Waltzing"???

"Keep On Walking" is a fantastic song, you will all agree. And it is a very versatile song too....not only has Salem performed many different versions of the song, but various Swedish television shows have also used the song over the past year - sung by a choir (Körslaget), and performed by a dansband (Dansbandskampen).

Now get ready for the new series of TV4's "Let's Dance" which starts this Friday, 7th January. Denise Rudberg and Tobias Wallin will be dancing the waltz to "Keep On Walking", now that should be interesting :)