A brief newspaper interview today.

Salem played the brand new Putte i Parken festival in Karlskoga tonight so I'll be looking around the web for reviews over the next couple of days.

In the meantime I found a short but very fascinating interview today: http://www.nwt.se/ArticlePages/200807/30/20080730230020_450/20080730230020_450.dbp.asp

in which Salem revealed that he would be watching other bands at the festival (but didn't know which ones yet); that he's going to his brother's wedding soon; that he would then be going on holiday out on his boat (!); and that he bought a brand new moped this summer. The interviewer also asked what's his favourite ice cream flavour but he said that he'd be having raspberry sorbet as he's lactose intolerant.

Like I said, I found this interview fascinating as I managed to learn a few new things about Salem which I didn't know before.

Another Norrköping review.

There's a review of Saturday night's show in Folkbladet. It's yet another positive review, written by Michelle Hallberg.

Salem played to an audience of approximately 300 at the Knäppingen courtyard and it wasn't long before the audience were singing along with a mixture of old and new songs. The reviewer highlighted the happy mood throughout the concert and stated 'Salem seems to spread an indescribable joy with the public'. He closed the show after 90 minutes with, of course, "Thank You" but the audience wouldn't let him go, so he returned for a number of encores.

Full review and photo (Salem's going through his black T-shirt phase!!) at http://www.folkbladet.se/nyheter/norrkoping/artikel.aspx?articleid=3994556

Gothenburg date confirmed.

I'd previously posted about Salem playing Gothenburg in August - just to confirm that Götaplatsen is the venue, and the date will be 16th August.

Some news about Brunkebergstorg line-up

As you know, Salem will be presenting an evening's entertainment on 12 August at Brunkebergstorg as part of the Stockholm Kulturfestival. Finally got some news about the acts: Nils Berg 5 (a jazz band), Domestic Bumblebees (some good time rock n'roll!!) and Tincan (whom we've mentioned on here before) - of course that's Salem's backing band who play some great Afrobeat/bluesy music.

A very unusual, diverse and interesting line-up, but that's not too surprising given the diversity of Salem's musical tastes (even though he never listens to music....! Wonder if he still says that or not??)

Norrköpings Tidningar review of Saturday night's Norrköping show

Just when I had given up on any coverage of Saturday's Norrköping show, along comes good old Norrköpings Tidningar with a short but very good review by Jesper Frilund. He rated the show 4 out of 5, and commented that Salem as ever was on good form, laughing and joking with the audience and bursting with energy and intensity.

The reviewer stated that it was quite a long concert, with several encores and a lot of new material but it was the 'old' hits which the audience loved best. According to this reviewer, his songs are already classics. And who could disagree with that?

The full review can be found at http://www.nt.se/nyheter/artikel.aspx?ArticleId=3992484 along with a photo of Salem on stage.

Træna/Krapperup videos on YouTube

Check out good old YouTube for live footage from Trænafestivalen ("Thank You") and Krapperup ("It's True"), both very good indeed. It's interesting to see that even though these are old songs now, Salem still performs them with the enthusiasm as if they were brand new songs.

Swedes...I need your help about the Grona Lund gig in August.

Would anyone know where you can buy tickets for Salem's gig at Grona Lund in August? One of my readers from outside Sweden would like to know.

I wondered if it was the same as Liseberg, where the entrance fee also lets you into the concert - or is it a separate ticket price?

Thanks!

Salem returning to Gothenburg in August.

It's no time since Salem wowed the crowds at Liseberg...and he'll be back in Sweden's second city to play during the Gothenburg Culture Festival. The festival runs from 12th to 17th August and the programme of varied and interesting events is available if you follow the link from http://www.goteborg.com/kulturkalaset although when I checked I couldn't find the actual date of Salem's performance. (It won't be on the 12th or the 15th as he'll be in Stockholm then.) Will bring more news when I get it.

One year ago tonight...

...I discovered Salem Al Fakir and his wonderful music for the very first time. If you've been to my other blog EuropeCrazy, you will know the story of how this happened. But if you haven't, well here goes!

14.07.07. Saturday night at EuropeCrazy HQ, and the usual late night journey around the internet. The 14th of July always meant one thing to me - Bastille Day - but in Sweden it has another significance, as it's Crown Princess Victoria's birthday, and this is usually celebrated with a big concert on Öland. I knew that Måns Zelmerlöw would be appearing, so I decided to check out the rebroadcast on SVT's website. Fast-forwarding through the show, I stopped at one point to watch this young man whom I had never seen or heard before, singing and playing the piano, and I was immediately spellbound by his performance and his songs - a medley of "It's True" and "Dream Girl". The next day I returned to watch the show again, and decided that he was the best singer/songwriter I'd heard in years. The same day I caught up with "Allsång på Skansen" from 10.07.07 - and there he was again, this time with the more than aptly named "Good Song". By this time I was completely hooked!

Over the subsequent weeks and months I trawled the internet for any information I could get about Salem and his music, his concerts, his life story. I bought "This Is Who I Am" and over the past year it has arguably become my most played album of all time.

By December 2007 I had decided that Salem-mania had taken over my blog to the extent that I didn't have room for anything else, so I decided to create Planet Salem, so called because it was my little parallel universe which I could completely devote to my favourite singer. My other reason for creating this blog was that I couldn't find any fansites for him, so I thought I'd make my own.

To all of you who've ever visited this blog: many, many thanks to each and every one of you! And even though there has been little news to report this year, I hope you've enjoyed what you have read and that you will keep on visiting, as there will be lots of news once he releases his second album...whenever that may be!

Salem at Berns, this time with PH3.

Does this man never rest? Found some info on the internet that Salem, Gunnar, Jakob and Nils will be doing their thing as part of the PH3 Orchestra at rapper Eye'N'I's "Klubb Offbeat" at Berns in Stockholm tomorrow.

Two gigs, two countries, in twenty-four hours.

Salem was back on stage this week - in two countries.

Friday 11.07.08 saw his appearance at the Trænafestival in the north of Norway, and 24 hours later he was closing the 'Musikveckan' in Krapperup in Sweden.

Helsingborgs Dagblad (www.hd.se) has a feature and a couple of photos from the gig, but I haven't been able to find anything else yet. Salem still looked good considering he hadn't had any sleep for 24 hours....!

"It's True" on (yet another) Ibiza compilation

No, I haven't gone away - there's just not been any news about Salem in the last couple of weeks but this should change soon as he's got a couple of live appearances coming up this week, notably on Friday 11th July at the Trænafestival which takes place on a small island off the coast of northern Norway and has to be the most unique festival location I've ever seen!

I get a major kick out of going into a record shop and seeing Salem's name in the tracklisting. Last year the brilliant Axwell and Ingrosso remix of "It's True" appeared on almost every dance album around - and there's still no stopping this track as it's now on "Azuli Presents Ibiza 08". This time it's the Roog and Prom remix, which I don't like as much as the original.

One year on I'm still wondering why this track never really got a full single release in the UK - it should have been the follow-up to Axwell's "I Found U" and I'm sure it would have been a massive hit. Maybe it needs another summer of word-of-mouth promotion on the dancefloors?

Norrköping gig announced

Salem will be playing live at Norrköping Stadsmuseet on 26 July.

No other news to report this week...

H3FK Autumn gigs

Courtesy of H3FK's MySpace (www.myspace.com/H3FK), here is a list of the band's upcoming gigs this autumn.

9 Oct 2008
Munkkällaren, Visby

10 Oct 2008
Nefertiti, Gothenburg

11 Oct 2008
Kulturmejeriet, Lund

11 Oct 2008
Konsthall, Malmö (yes that's right, they are playing two gigs in one day - Lund in the afternoon and Malmö in the evening!)

12.08.08: Salem presents....

As part of the Stockholm Culture Festival in August, Salem will be taking over Brunkebergstorg for one night only on 12.08.08 - but he won't be playing live. Instead he will choose the guests who will present an evening's entertainment! We don't have any information yet about who will be performing, but it should be very interesting.

Liseberg!!

Two days have passed since Salem played at Liseberg and I have just been catching up with everything that was written about that show.

1) Haven't been able to find any press reviews, but...

2) Three cheers for all the bloggers who wrote about the show, mainly positive reviews. I found one blog which commented that the audience was not very responsive. I wasn't really happy to read that as Salem and his band do such a great live show that even non-fans should have been won over! And if they weren't fans then what were they doing there anyway?

3) Videos: I see that a couple of phone-videos have been uploaded to you-know-where: a brilliant "Dream Girl"/"It's True" which still sound good and fresh even after all this time, and someone has also uploaded a very brief clip of a new song - which sounds rather fabulous, how can I describe it...I'd say it's maybe in a similar vein to "Good Song". Yes, that good.

Hurry up with the new album, Salem.....I think it's going to be fantastic!

"...But he's only in my dreams...." :)))

Believe it or not, the whole not-being-in-Gothenburg thing must have been on my mind as last night, I even had a dream that I was in Gothenburg and I got to meet Salem and his band! A very nice happy dream, but unfortunately it was only a dream!!

Just realised that Liseberg was his first Swedish gig since Christmas 2007! Anyway I hope the gig tonight went well and will try to round up some reviews on here over the weekend if I find any.

I've just visited another blog which has published a picture from tonight. Big stage, new backdrop (the stripey one is gone) with Salem's name in big letters. Salem had his full band on stage with him and he was wearing a black t-shirt and pale blue jeans.

Will post more information when I get it. Very excited already!

If things had been different...

... I would have been travelling to Gothenburg this week to see Salem play at Stora Scenen in Liseberg this Thursday night, a real dream come true. However, there are a couple of reasons why I can't be there, the main ones being that I've already been away on short breaks a couple of times this year and I couldn't make it this time.

On the subject of live gigs, I notice that Tincan, whom I mentioned a few posts ago, will be playing at London's Notting Hill Arts Club on 27th June, so if you live in that area and you'd like to hear some cool Afro-beats then check them out. (And before you ask, I won't be able to go to this gig either as I live very far from London).

Anyway, Salem ....when are you coming over to the UK to play live????!!!!

Salem @ Spot Festival in Aarhus, Denmark: some reviews

Salem played his first Danish gig on Friday night at the Spot Festival in Aarhus.
I found a couple of reviews on the internet which I thought I'd share here.

At www.undertoner.dk the reviewer compared a Salem Al Fakir concert to a cake with whipped cream and strawberries!! (funny that, because that’s my favourite kind of cake), but the reviewer went on to say that there is also a lot of bite!

Anyway although the reviewer described Salem's music as cheesy, AOR-like softrock, they went on to say that even the hippest music fans must admit that the main reason to listen to music is melody, and there is no shortage of that in Salem's music.

Over at www.gaffa.dk there’s another positive review (which gave 4 out of 6) and which described Salem’s seven song half-hour set (which concentrated on songs from "This Is Who I Am", just released in Denmark) as "pure retro" The reviewer namechecked all the usual 70s influences who are always mentioned when reviewers write about Salem! The reviewer stated that Salem had a rich voice and was a very capable keyboard player who charmed the crowd. This reviewer did feel that there was a lack of originality in his songs (?), but they were melodic and full of hit potential. There was no time for an encore although the crowd wanted one. At the end, Salem said that this was his first gig in Denmark but he would like to come back again. I'm sure he will!

Anyway, readers of this blog will be well aware that I haven't been too happy that Salem's been keeping his lovely big hair hidden away for the last few months. As you will see from the two pictures above (courtesy of www.gaffa.dk) from Friday night's gig: the hair is back! Hooray!

Salem in Aarhus this Friday/Danish album reviews

Just a quick mention that Salem will be playing the Spotfestival in Aarhus, Denmark on Friday 6th June. He will be on stage at 7.00 pm.

I notice that "This Is Who I Am" was released in Denmark last month. I've been reading a few of the reviews on the internet so far and all are positive, repeating and reflecting the reviews that the album received on its initial Swedish release in January 2007. All of the Danish reviews also refer to the album's extreme musical diversity and Salem's extraordinary talent as a multi-instrumentalist, with the potential to become a massive star. Indeed!

Salem at Rockkarusellen

So Salem was special guest at the Rockkarusellen competition at the weekend. Someone's posted a couple of photos on Flickr, Salem is dressed in a black T-shirt and his (not too flattering) new headgear of choice. Oh well each to his own!!

I don't expect anyone to stay the same for ever, and maybe it's just me, but I miss Salem's old look - the hair, the shirt, the tie, the nice suits. :(((

Salem to guest at Rockkarusellen final

www.newsdesk.se reports today that Salem will be a special guest at the Rockkarusellen final on 31 May. This is a national 'battle of the bands'-type competition.

What's Salem been up to this past week?

I'm catching up with last week's events as I was away on holiday. Last week Salem was a guest at the SKAP event in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, internet reports stated that he played a new song, however no-one mentioned the title.

Then on Friday 23 May, Salem played an open-air live show in Uppsala and according to various blog/MySpace posts this was a great show and Salem played a number of new songs. This sounds very promising: could there be a new album on the way?

Back soon...

I'm taking a break for a few days and heading off to the Latvian capital, Riga, tomorrow for a short holiday.

This blog will return on Saturday 24th May!

Uppsala next Friday

Uppsala Nya Tidning reports that Salem, along with Veronica Maggio, will be playing in Uppsala next Friday 23rd May, as part of the Linnéveckan festivities. Haven't got much more information at this time but whenever I get it I will post on here.

A couple of pictures from the Stavanger show

Courtesy of the Rogalands Avis newspaper, here are a couple of pictures from Salem's live show in Stavanger last night, although I haven't been able to find any reviews yet.

Just one question....will Salem's "big hair" ever return? I hope so!!!!

Stavanger tomorrow, and a video interview clip.

If you happen to be in or around the lovely Norwegian city of Stavanger tomorrow night, then why not go and see Salem playing at the MaiJazz festival. Wish I was there (as ever)...

Hopefully some lovely Norwegian people will review this on the internet and if I find anything I'll post it on here.

Talking of Norway, if you go to http://www.abctv.no/63128 you will find a recent interview with Salem, in which he is as animated as ever (!) and this is also punctuated by clips from the "Good Song" video. I love the part when the interviewer mentions his 4 Swedish Grammy wins, and Salem's ecstatic response at winning the best composer/producer awards.

Introducing...Tincan!

I recently found out that Gunnar, Jakob and Nisse, Salem’s brilliant backing band, also have a band of their own, along with keyboard player Kalle. They are called Tincan, and they play a mixture of Afro-beat, blues and rock which can be heard over at their MySpace (www.myspace.com/tincantincan).

Tracks include "Pick It Up" (that’s my favourite), "Hold On Strong" and "Leave The Keys". The band is influenced by African music, notably the legendary Fela Kuti. Gunnar is the lead singer - not only is he a brilliant guitarist but he has a great voice too. They played their first gig at Landet in Stockholm on 30.04.08 but plan some more gigs in the next few months both in Sweden and overseas. Hope to hear more from them.

Proud and standing tall.

I have finally seen and heard "Black Sun, Black Moon", from last week's TV4 appearance, and all I can say is ......wow.

I don't usually like this type of slow ballad, but Salem managed to produce three moving, compelling minutes (and a very abrupt ending!). I thought he sang brilliantly too.

This song is totally different from anything he's ever done before, it's quite a sad and emotional song, but the chorus was stuck in my head after just one listen. (It really has an anthemic, Robbie Williams 'Angels'-type quality to it, I can imagine people waving their hands in the air from side to side...!) I'm not sure how the final version will sound: on this occasion Salem was at the piano, backed by three violinists and two backing singers, but I think this song has the potential for a massive orchestral arrangement. (Or maybe that's just my mind wandering again).

Verdict: I like it, maybe not as much all my favourite tracks on "This Is Who I Am", but it shows a new emotional depth to Salem's music. It's just great to finally hear some new material from him. Well done.

Salem was on Swedish TV tonight...

on TV4's "Humorgalan" which I don't know much about but it sounds like a Swedish equivalent of a big charity TV show like "Comic Relief" which takes place here in the UK every couple of years. The proceeds of this comedy & music show go to Unicef, so it was all in a good cause.

No videos available just yet, I was trying to get some info about what he was singing. Putting two and two together in the absence of factual journalism it may have been "Black Sun, Black Moon" as I saw a comment on MySpace about that song. Does anyone have any more information about this? I'll keep checking TV4 and YouTube in my search for video evidence!!

EDIT 02.05.08: Yes it was definitely "Black Sun, Black Moon", lots of people searching for this today - and so am I!! Will someone somewhere post the video on YouTube if they have it? I must hear this song!

Oh and by the way...thanks for visiting!!

Can we build an international fanbase ?

I've made a couple of changes to the blog today - it's still called Planet Salem, but I'm now billing it as the international Salem Al Fakir fansite. No matter where you live in the world, if you're a fan of Salem and his music then I'd like to welcome you to Planet Salem - and your comments are always welcome!

Apologies in advance if I've ranted and raved about this before, but when is Salem Al Fakir going to be launched internationally and become the worldwide star that he deserves to become???

It hasn't escaped my attention that there are many people all over the world who have discovered Salem thanks to the Axwell and Ingrosso version of "It's True", and its various remixes which are still turning up on dance compilations and getting a worldwide audience.

What this tells me is that there is obvious potential for an international fanbase for Salem's music - so why hasn't his record company (or their partner record companies in other countries) taken the opportunity to release his music in as many overseas territories as possible by now? I know that "This Is Who I Am" was released in Norway, and that Salem will be playing in Denmark this summer, but apart from this there is still no news of an international launch.

For example, here in the UK there are many Swedish acts - mostly in the 'alternative' genre - whose music has already been released or is scheduled to be released very soon (Lykke Li, Oh Laura and Those Dancing Days for example) - but considering the wide appeal and radio-friendly nature of Salem's music, I still can't believe that "This Is Who I Am" hasn't had a UK release yet and as time is moving on, this now seems less and less likely :( Maybe we now have to wait till the second album.

If you are a Salem Al Fakir fan, whatever country you live in, spread the word about his music and how wonderful he is. Let's build an international fanbase on this blog, and make it a truly international fansite for this brilliant musician.

"Sommar i P1" revisited

On 26 July 2007, Salem Al Fakir appeared on Swedish Radio P1's "Sommar i P1". This programme is a great Swedish summer tradition in which a variety of Swedish public figures - everyone from politicians and journalists to TV presenters, actors and musicians - present their own radio show, share their memories and play some of their favourite music.

Salem's musical choices ranged from classical music, to jazz, to rock. No surprises there!

It can't be easy to sit at a radio microphone and speak eloquently about your life, but Salem managed to do this perfectly. My understanding of spoken Swedish is still practically non-existent, but I understood little bits here and there.

This programme is still available on Swedish Radio's website and here is the link:

http://www.sr.se/laddahem/p1/sommar/mp3/2007/SR_sommar_i_p1_070726.mp3

Putte i Parken line-up confirmed

We already knew that Salem Al Fakir will be playing the new Putte i Parken festival in Karlskoga this summer, but today the full festival programme was announced and we can now confirm that Salem will be playing on the first day of the festival - Thursday 31st August. Other acts on the bill that day: Magnus Uggla, Pugh Rogefeldt, Those Dancing Days, Maia Hirasawa and Sirqus Alfon.

Salem to appear at Gröna Lund in August 2008

Another day, another new concert announced - Salem's summer adventures will continue at the Stockholm amusement park, Gröna Lund. He will play live there on 15th August.

That will explain why Markoolio, Hakan Hellstrom, Salem, Adam Tensta, Mange Schmidt and Eric Gadd are all sitting in a giant teacup. (Photo courtesy of Svenska Dagbladet)

But will he play "Allsång pa Skansen" this year? I hope so.

H3FK on TV4's Nyhetsmorgon

H3FK appeared on yesterday's TV4 Nyhetsmorgon, and you can find clips of the two tracks performed - "Allt Väl På Tallbacken" and "Lilledror" at http://www.tv4.se/ and follow the Nyhetsmorgon link. Salem, with his hair tied back, is sitting on a stool at the front of the stage, playing the violin, tapping his feet and looking very serious.(Unlike Nassim, who was grinning throughout!)They are certainly a group of very talented and accomplished musicians who excel at their unique blend of Arabic/world/folk/jazz music.

There was also an interview, but Salem didn't appear in this - Nassim did though, and was his usual cheerful self :)

Oh, and it just wouldn't be a Planet Salem post if I didn't describe what Salem was wearing...just for the record, he was dressed in a stripey grey jumper, blue jeans and white trainers.

20.04.08: Here are some screencaps from this TV appearance.


Above: H3FK in action.

Above: Jazz violin genius at work.

Above: Salem looking very serious!!

Find more H3Fk stuff at www.myspace.com/h3fk.

The 100th post!

I just noticed that I've already written 100 posts on this blog, which is rather good considering I haven't really had anything much to write about since the beginning of December.

Just think how much I'm going to write when Salem starts playing live again and releasing new music and appearing on Swedish television...I'm going to be very busy!!

Penguins!

Today's update from http://www.salemalfakir.se/: Salem's been checking out some penguins in Gothenburg and he's put a picture of them on his site. I visited Berlin Zoo last year and also took some photographs of the penguins there, which are the same as the ones in Gothenburg!!

So here are some Berlin penguins!!

Another live appearance in Gothenburg

Salem will be appearing at a special concert in Lisebergshallen, Gothenburg on June 13th along with Eric Gadd and Sanna Nielsen (presumably it won't be in an "Empty Room" ...sorry, I couldn't resist this ha ha) during the "Volvo Weekend" which will take place from 13th to 15th June.

We know just how much Salem loves cars so I suppose it's quite appropriate that he's involved in this event!

With two appearances in Gothenburg (12th and 13th June) I guess this means that he probably won't be playing Sweden's biggest rock festival, Hultsfred, which he played in 2007).

Salem's Scandinavian Summer

Salem will be playing the following live dates in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in the coming months:

10.05.08 Mai:Jazz, Stavanger, Norway
07.06.08 Spotfestivalen, Aarhus, Denmark
12.06.08 Stora Scenen, Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden
11.07.08 Træna Festivalen, Træna, Norway (this was the one I mentioned last night)
12.07.08 Krapperups Slott, Nyhamnsläge, Sweden
31.07.08 Putte i Parken, Karlskoga, Sweden

Information courtesy of http://www.salemalfakir.se/.

Norwegian festival appearance announced for July 2008

It looks as if Salem will be playing a few summer festivals this year after all....he will appear at the Traenafestival in Norway which will take place between 10th & 12th July, presumably he will play this either on 10th or 11th July as he is already booked for Kullabygden (Sweden) on 12th July.

Salem featured in a photographic exhibition in Visby.

Check out http://www.helagotland.se/noje/artikel.aspx?articleid=3468595 which today has a feature on an exhibition in Visby, Gotland by innovative photographer Thorn Ullberg. Salem is one of the subjects featured and you can see the photograph if you click the above link. Amazing photo too, Salem looking rather fabulous as usual in a suit, and just look what they've done to his hair!!

Salem to play at Liseberg in June

The summer concert programme for Liseberg in Gothenburg has been announced, and the line-up includes Magnus Uggla, Amanda Jenssen, BWO, Amy Diamond, E-Type, Jill Johnson, The Poodles and Eric Gadd. Best news of all is that Salem will be playing there on 12th June.

Another Swedish gig announced for July 2008

Salem and his band will be playing live in Kullabygden, which apparently is in southern Sweden (no, my Swedish geography's still not getting better) at their 'Musikveckan' from 5 - 12 July. Lots of opera, jazz, classical music....and then on Saturday 12 July, Salem will be performing live.

No time to do the washing up - why???

In his latest posting on www.salemalfakir.se, there's a picture of Salem's unwashed dishes, which have now piled up to an alarming extent.

Why has Salem not done the washing up?

Is it because:

a) he's too busy writing/recording a new album
b) he's too busy rehearsing new material
c) he's too busy planning world domination
d) he's too busy reading this blog (if only!!)
e) ...any other reason is unacceptable!! So get that washing-up done NOW!!!

:-))))

Salem entertaining the corporate suits this week....

At last some news. On Wednesday 2 April, Salem will be providing the entertainment for the businessy-types of the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce at a big event called the "Industri och Handelskammardagen" at the Scandinavium in Stockholm. Well there has to be something to look forward to after all those boring speeches I suppose!!

"Grattis Victoria" revisited, yet again, in the absence of anything else to write about.

So there is no news at the moment about Salem, and I am now having to accept the fact that this will probably be the case for most of 2008.

Still no sign of any material being released in the UK either. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that his record company will now wait till the second album is released before releasing anything over here - I had really hoped that "This Is Who I Am" would get a UK release early in 2008 but that doesn't look like happening now, but as ever I hope I'm proved wrong. This blog will continue though! Even if we don't have anything to write about :(

In the meantime, the "Grattis Victoria" concert from 14 July 2007 is still available over at http://www.svt.se/. As if anyone needs reminding, this was the night when I discovered Salem Al Fakir and my life was never the same again!!!

If you haven't seen this yet (and why not???) check out http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=867294 and at 25 minutes and 30 seconds Salem sings "It's True" and "Dream Girl". I've watched this about 300 times now but still love it, because he is such an entertaining performer who enjoys every moment of what he is doing. Brilliant!!

Salem supporting Alicia Keys in Stockholm this Saturday!

Amazing news on http://www.salemalfakir.com/ today that Salem Al Fakir will be the support act at American soul superstar Alicia Keys' Stockholm concert at the Hovet arena this Saturday 08.03.08. Am I right in thinking that this will be Salem's biggest ever live audience? (Not counting last year's summer festivals or the Grammisgalan of course).

Anyway well done to Salem for getting such a high profile show, I'm sure he will rise to the occasion and deliver the usual fantastic live experience.

As usual I will post any reviews and further information on here when this becomes available.

EDIT 10.03.08: haven't been able to find anything yet, but will keep trying, as I do :-)

FURTHER EDIT 17.03.08: still haven't found anything of note, although a couple of video clips from the gig have now been posted on YouTube ("Good Song" and "It's True"). Can't really see anything but the sound quality isn't too bad considering it's the usual mobile footage.

Official site updated

Salem's updated his news page again with a post about his day out driving in Slottet.

Nice arty rear-view mirror photo too.

Oh, and....do I detect the return of the moustache????

Swedish Charts Update

44th week in the Sverige Topplistan and "This Is Who I Am" is still hanging on at no. 54!!

The return of H3FK

One of Salem's many other projects outwith his own career is H3FK. This is a band playing a mixture of instrumental Arabic/Oriental/folk/jazz/roots/world music and is actually made up of two separate groups - the Örjan Hultén Trio and FakirKarlsson. The latter of course features Salem on piano and violin and his big bro Nassim on percussion. They made an album in 2005 called "Ayouni" but are now set to return with the follow-up "Nubiska Nätter" to be released in March. Due to Salem's numerous other commitments over the past year he won't actually be appearing on this album but is still part of the group. They will play the famous Fasching jazzclub on 13th March, and I just wonder if Salem will be part of the line-up? (EDIT 02.03.07: yes he will be!!)

Whilst I'm typing this I'm listening to some of their music at their MySpace sites www.myspace.com/h3fk and www.myspace.com/fakirkarlsson. Whilst it's not really my type of music it is very well crafted and the musicianship is, as you would expect from anything involving any of the Al Fakir family, quite outstanding.

Oh, and here is a picture of FakirKarlsson from 2006, which I found tonight whilst I was doing my research!

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - tracks 16 and 17

We now reach the end of our journey through Salem's debut album....

16. "Thank You" (3.19)

Being the well-mannered individual that he is, Salem brings the album to a close in a rather unique and touching way. "I gotta go I gotta go/I got nothing more to say/but I just wanna thank you all for listening". Since I first heard this track, it screamed "Steely Dan" at me, and still does, as Salem's vocals are strongly reminiscent of Donald Fagen.

17. "End" (3.32)

The album ends the way it started, with a short, spacey instrumental piece. If you keep listening you will find the hidden track at the end, a bluesy guitar jam which, again, is completely different from everything that's gone before.

The Ones That Got Away:

"Bright Side of Life": Yes, in case you wondered, Salem can do reggae too, and very well. Uptempo, happy and good-humoured and does what it says on the tin. This is part of the album track listing on iTunes and that's where I got it, however can't find it on the CD unless it's maybe part of the Opendisc thing, I don't know?

"Friend": I still don't understand why this track - from the "Dream Girl" EP - was left off the album, as it's a real treat. Twinkling keyboards, sweet vocals and minimal lyrics all go to make up a particular retro-flavoured delight.

Oslo gig reviews "lost in translation" :-)

Salem played 2 gigs in Oslo at this "by:Larm" thing and I've already seen a couple of Norwegian newspapers' websites reviews which would appear to be good, although I can't really tell because (a) my knowledge of Norwegian is virtually non-existent and (b) the translation sites never really made much sense.

Anyway I will attempt to translate these and any other reviews and may just post my findings later. In the meantime here are a couple of pictures of Salem from one of the Oslo gigs, courtesy of www.abcnyheter.no and www.planb.no who both published reviews of the Oslo shows.

Norwegian TV screencaps as promised.

From yesterday's "Waschera" show on TV2 Norway. The other guys on the sofa were a couple of snowboarders.

Salem on Norwegian TV2 today

Salem is of course in Oslo at the moment for a couple of gigs at the By:larm event and he also appeared on Norwegian TV2's "Waschera" programme today, which is available at the following link: http://webtv.tv2.no/webtv/?progId=218458 .

He's got his hair tied back again, but I'm used to this by now so it doesn't bother me anymore :-) anyway he was looking lovely as ever, although I'm a bit concerned that he's maybe lost a bit of weight?

I've done some screencaps and will post these here tomorrow, and hopefully might track down some reviews of his Oslo gigs too.

Swedish Charts Update

In this week's Sverige Topplistan albums chart, "This Is Who I Am" has slipped to no. 49 but is still hanging on in there!

Salem in Oslo, Thursday/Friday

The by:larm thingy has finally arrived and Salem will be playing two gigs in Oslo - one tomorrow night (OK, tonight, as it's now Thursday!) and one on Friday. I will then go in search of reviews and will post anything I find on here. Hopefully the good people of Oslo will turn up in their numbers and enjoy the wild and crazy live experience of a Salem Al Fakir gig!!

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - tracks 13 to 15

The penultimate part of my review.

13. "Hymn" (2.24)
A real Disney-type feel to this one. This needs to get itself on a soundtrack album pronto. An impossibly pretty lullaby, irony-free and dripping with childlike innocence. Maybe too sugary sweet for some, but it will do for me.

14. "Damien and Bob" (1.36)
No track could be a bigger contrast than this one. The shortest vocal track on the album, and reminiscent of Nirvana-type grunge with a twist. Initially I didn’t like this, as I didn’t like the idea of Salem doing rock music. I did change my mind and now think this would be a very good idea indeed. (purely based on "Japanese Man", anyway!) It is the only song on this album to have its lyrics in the sleeve booklet, so that must have some significance. Demented brass and headbanging all the way.

15. "Good Song" (4.14)
And so to my favourite track on this album, my favourite track of 2007 and maybe even of all time, who knows? I've already said a lot on here and over at EuropeCrazy about this song, its feelgood factor and its clever and funny video. Interestingly it is the most fully formed traditional verse-chorus-verse song structure which Salem does not usually always follow. A modern classic yet it again sounds as if it was written in 1975 or thereabouts. Musically using everything at his disposal - notably piano and strings, and the ultimate singalong which always leaves me smiling.

Coming soon: the final two tracks, and the one that got away.

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - tracks 10 to 12

10. "It's True" (3.24)
Here in its original version with its blissful twinkling piano hookline. There is an incredible optimism running all through this album - if you're looking for sad songs, then look elsewhere. The lyrics say it all....

The grass is greener on the other side/I told some people now they know it/Forget your old lawn, come over to mine/Take your first step and you will get there in time/It's true, life will smile for you.

Reinvented last summer for the dancefloor by Axwell and Ingrosso of course: that, too, is sheer bliss.

11. Magic Night (3.11)
Initially I thought the album could have done without this instrumental, reminiscent of 70s party night at the working men’s club. However, over the past few months it has grown on me in a strange way. Fast, lunatic and completely manic. Played live, I would imagine that this crosses over to another place.

12. Baroon (0.52)
I still find this an unnecessary instrumental interlude, although accept that it has to exist as a chilled-out comedown from the manic "Magic Night". Doesn’t really go anywhere and like "Jussi" I haven’t really revised my opinion of it.

Coming soon: tracks 13 to 15.

Expressen culture prizes.

The Expressen newspaper's culture prizegiving ceremony took place the other day and (of course) Salem was one of the winners. Here he is pictured above with the other winners (photo courtesy of Expressen). Looking rather serious, don't you think?

He also sang "It's True" at the ceremony and one of Expressen's bloggers described him as "super snygg" - a description which we at Planet Salem would never argue with! (Although probably a couple of marks deducted for the hair tied back!!)

Salem also played live this week at the opening of Stockholm's biggest new hotel, the Clarion Sign. Sadly I haven't been able to find any photos of him from this event.

Yet another gratuitous pic of Salem at the Grammisgalan...

Looking rather delicious too, considering he was feeling unwell that night!

Swedish Charts Update

In this week's Sverige Topplistan, "This Is Who I Am" has slipped from no. 23 to no. 36. No real surprise as everyone in Sweden should own a copy by now. And if they haven't, then they should. And come to think of it, so should everyone outside Sweden too. :-)))

Supertalent!

At last a new item of news today.

Swedish business newspaper Veckans Affärer today published its list of the 101 "supertalents" in Sweden. The list includes the usual mix of business people and the ubiquitous (and overrated IMHO) Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Anyway - guess who's in 6th place on the list??? Salem !!! Congratulations yet again!!

More MySpace stuff for all the completists out there (ok, just me then...?)

I recently mentioned Salem Al Fakir's work with Linn Segolson so it would be a logical step to mention her brother Stefan whose experimental blend of soul music gets an airing over at his MySpace (www.myspace.com/stefansegolson). There is a reworking of Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal's 80s duet "Saturday Love" by his band The Ultimates - made up of Stefan, Linn, Red Astaire and none other than Salem!

Of course Salem is also listed as a member of Linn's band 'Linn and The Skin' which also features Stefan....are you keeping up with this? And let's not forget Freddie Cruger/Red Astaire's band as well! Is Salem trying to get into the Guinness book of world records for the amount of bands he's been a member of?????

"It's True" remix on new Hed Kandi "Twisted Disco" compilation CD

OK I think I've just about given up now on the Axwell & Ingrosso vs Salem Al Fakir version of "It's True" ever getting a full commercial single release in the UK and doing some serious damage in the top 40.

I'd like to be proved wrong though eventually, in which case there will be one big party on this blog.

Anyway Dabruck and Klein's remix of the remix (!) is now appearing on the latest Hed Kandi "Twisted Disco" compilation CD. To be honest it's not really my favourite mix, I prefer the original Axwell and Ingrosso remix and that's the one I'd want as a hit single. Someday!

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - tracks 7 to 9

7. "Jussi" (0.59): This is perhaps a significant nod to Salem's classical training and musical heritage, but apart from that it doesn't really sit well on this album. I haven't really revised my opinion of this one.

8. "Devil Look" (4.47): Propelled by funky guitars and honey-sweet vocal harmonies, the lyrics muse on the nature of temptation - "it's hard to say no when the devil looks at you". This could be about a relationship ("I gotta break up/before it's too late") or just life in general. This is like two songs in one - the last couple of minutes turn into an excessively mind-boggling psychedelic synth solo, with distorted voices in the background. I can imagine this just being fantastic in a live setting.

9. "Count Me Out" (3.23): Another real favourite of mine, and yet another one which clearly shows off a strong 70s musical influence - I mean that as a compliment! Soulful vocals, beautiful string arrangements (all Salem's own work of course), layered vocal harmonies and a truly brilliant brassy finale. The lyrics of this break-up song are again simple and straightforward and easy to identify with. All in all, a rather beautiful song.

Coming soon: tracks 10 to 12.

New photo on Salem's website

Check out the latest photo of Salem and the boys from his band having lunch after rehearsals. Umm....interesting headgear!

Anyway it's been a month since the Grammisgalan but there's still no news to report and nothing on the horizon apart from the two Norwegian gigs later this month. No news is good news? Or just, no news is .... no news?

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - Part 2

Today I'm featuring tracks 4 to 6.

4. Two Long Distance To Great Thoughts (2.33)
An instrumental where folk music meets prog rock now. No don’t switch off, because here is Salem showing us a couple more styles that he not only can do, but can do in a dazzling manner. It starts off sounding like a traditional Swedish violin folk tune and then turns into a Focus-style 70s prog number. By now you have learned to expect the unexpected.

5. Dream Girl (4.27)
And now to the first of the album’s three most significant songs, placed at tracks 5, 10 and 15. "Dream Girl", his first single, does not sound as if it was written in 2006, for it is far too accomplished and timeless to come from this throwaway decade. "Dream Girl" has no chorus, but has a spectacular piano hookline and when played live this song just soars. Magnificent may just not be enough to describe it. Some people have made rather negative comments about Salem's voice but I happen to love it, and it suits his songs perfectly.

6. It’s Only You (3.13)
Nearest thing to a ballad as it gets, this is just too pretty for words and Salem’s voice is so sweet and full of warmth. Although many of the songs on this album have complex layered musical arrangements, this is straightforward and simple and gorgeous. It is one of my favourite tracks on the album.

Coming soon - tracks 7 to 9.

"This Is Who I Am" revisited - part 1

I previously did a review of Salem's debut album over at EuropeCrazy back in July 2007, but now that I've got this site, and now that a whole new audience have discovered him since the Grammisgalan and put the album back into the Swedish Top 10, I thought it would be a good time to revisit this album and do a more in-depth review, track by track.

Tonight I'll start off with the first three tracks.

1. "Begin" (0.56)
We know that Salem Al Fakir is fond of structure, beginnings and endings. Therefore the album begins with a short, spacey, synthesized overture which provides no clue as to the album's direction. That's because there isn't one. Prepare for the most varied, crazy, brave and ambitious collection of songs and tunes on an album which defies convention.

2. "This Is Who I Am" (3.28)
Arguably the real beginning of the album, lyrically this is Salem's mission statement. Take him or leave him, this is who he is and he cannot do anything about it. And we wouldn't want him to. Salem plays every musical instrument on this album (apart from brass instruments, played by his brother Sami). Musically, this is a very accomplished track, with brass and strings keyboards and is an early indication of the 'retro' nature of his music, which I find appealing anyway.

3. "Tell Me" (2.52)
Another song brings another style - this time a strong soul music influence. At the time of this album's release, the Swedish media often labelled Salem as "Sweden's Stevie Wonder" which was a rather lazy comparison but still kind of understandable in a way. Anyway, this is just such a feelgood track despite the 'why did the sun stop shining/why did the fire stop burning' lyrics. I particularly like the line "too bad you stole the sun and froze it". Layered vocal harmonies and brilliant piano playing. This is one of my favourite tracks on this album.

Coming soon: tracks 4 to 6.

New summer festival appearance confirmed

In 2007, Salem appeared at a number of Swedish summer music festivals, but his name hadn't figured in any of the line-ups announced so far for the various festivals in summer 2008. Until today, when some of the acts were announced for a brand new festival in Karlskoga in Central Sweden. Salem will appear at the festival which is called Putte i Parken and will run from 31 July to 7 August.

Other acts in the line-up for this festival include Maia Hirasawa, Those Dancing Days, Adam Tensta, Fibes! Oh Fibes! and Timo Räisänen.

Hopefully Salem will be making some more live appearances during the summer!

New Linn Segolson video footage on YouTube

There's a live video of Linn Segolson been added to YouTube, in which she and her band are performing the extremely funky and jazzy "Say It Out Loud" which features Salem playing keyboards. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WstH99D4qOs and I guarantee that you will be dancing around the room in no time. It's impossible not to tap your feet to this!

Salem will also be working on Linn's debut album, coming soon. Check out her Myspace - www.myspace.com/linnsegolson - there's a great live version of "Be Thankful" on there too.

Swedish Charts Update

In this week's Sverige Topplistan album chart, "This Is Who I Am" has gone down from no.9 to no.16, but has still had an impressive chart run with a total of 40 weeks spent in the chart out of the last 52 weeks since it was released.

Salem appearing @ Stockholm Citypriset tomorrow

The Stockholm City newspaper will hold its annual Citypriset award ceremony tomorrow night at Nalen in Stockholm. Salem will be appearing there as will Maia Hirasawa and Swedish rap's man of the moment, Adam Tensta. I don't really have much more information about this show at present, but I'll keep my eyes open for reports/photos etc this time tomorrow.

UPDATE: well, nothing to report - couldn't find any reviews/photos but I'm sure that Salem was wonderful as usual.

Swedish Charts Update - This week's Digilistan

In P3's download-version of the Swedish singles chart, "It's True" has slipped from no. 25 to no. 34 whilst "Good Song" falls from no.33 to no. 51. I suppose that both songs will drop out of the chart next week, and that will be it until the next single is released. (Hopefully sooner rather than later, I'm getting impatient!!)

"Good Song" video finally on YouTube!!

Here it is - it's well worth the wait!!!



No other news to report of course, apart from the fact that we failed to mention on 24.01.08 that "This Is Who I Am" was released exactly one year ago, a fact well worth celebrating!!

No award tonight for Salem :-(

I watched the Rockbjörnen awards gala tonight (review over at EuropeCrazy) but anyway I had resigned myself to the possibility that Salem probably wouldn't get the Best Newcomer award. That award went to Måns Zelmerlöw but I’m not really complaining as I like him too, and as I said before it’s more of a populist award ceremony so it wasn’t entirely unexpected, as although Salem has gained many new fans he is still not at that level of mass popularity yet.

Anyway that's the Swedish awards season over till the same time next year. Fingers crossed that Salem gets his second album out in time for the next round of nominations, although I've also now resigned myself to the fact that it will probably be 2009 before the next one.

As I said last night, expect less frequent updates on this site, now that Salem will be taking some time out for a while.

Swedish charts update

In this week's Sverige Topplistan album chart "This Is Who I Am" has slipped from no.6 to no.9.

Whilst in the singles chart, "It's True" falls from no. 42 to no.56 and "Good Song" drops to no.59.

Rockbjörnen tomorrow / what happens next?

Hoping that Salem will take home the Best Newcomer prize at tomorrow night's Aftonbladet Rockbjörnen gala, although again I'm not 100% confident as (IMHO) I kind of get the feeling that this newspaper is not really too keen on him - I know it's the readers who choose, but again I've just got this vibe and I don't know why. Hope I am wrong though.

After tomorrow's ceremony - the last of the Swedish music awards for 2007 - it will be like the end of a chapter, closing the door on last year. I really don't know what's going to happen next for Salem, apart from the two Norwegian gigs next month. (I contacted EMI Sweden for info regarding future plans/possible UK launch/gigs but as yet have had no reply. Oh well.)

As Salem is (and always has been) such a workaholic, I'd guess that he'll now throw his considerable energy and talent into writing that eagerly awaited second album. No news on any Swedish tour dates or summer festival appearances yet, I could speculate on what that means ... but I won't. OK then, I will. Maybe recording new album? Maybe playing gigs outside Sweden? Maybe working with Snook again? Or maybe none of the above?

Whatever happens next, I'd anticipate that the postings will be less frequent over the next few months if Salem is taking some time out following what's been a high-profile, busy and successful year for him. Nevertheless this site will continue to post all the news, gossip and happenings in relation to Sweden's greatest living musical genius!!

(And don't forget to visit Salem's official site - http://www.salemalfakir.se/)

2 live shows next month in Oslo

The annual by:Larm music conference/festival takes place next month in Oslo and will feature live performances by lots of Nordic artists. It's described as a Nordic version of the South x Southwest event. Salem will be there, playing two gigs as follows:

21.02.08 Cosmopolite, Oslo - at midnight!

22.02.08 Sentrum Scene, Oslo, at 21.30.

Hopefully this will bring his music to the attention of yet another new audience.

Swedish Charts Update - This week's Digilistan

Three of Salem's songs have re-entered Swedish Radio's Digilistan singles chart this week, following his big success at the Grammisgalan.

"It's True" is at no. 25, "Good Song" is at no. 33 and "This Is Who I Am" at no. 39.

Google-searching "Related blogs"...!

Tonight I went to http://blogsearch.google.com/ as usual and typed in "Salem Al Fakir", to discover that this blog is the first one to come up on the page and has its own little mention under "Related Blogs".

My fifteen minutes of blogging-fame have arrived :-)))

P3 Guldgalan: empty-handed in Gothenburg, and I'm not happy.

I've been watching the P3 Guldgalan on SVT Play tonight (full review over at http://europecrazy.blogspot.com/) but all I want to say here is that Salem was robbed. Although I enjoyed the show, I was extremely disappointed that he didn't win anything at the P3 Guldgalan.

Next, and final, Swedish music awards ceremony for this year is Aftonbladet's Rockbjörnen (the Swedish people's music prize!) on Thursday 24th January, which is being broadcast live at http://www.aftonbladet.se/ on the night. Salem should, and must, win that best newcomer prize.

Back in the Swedish charts / P3 Guldgalan preview

Doing my Swedish charts update tonight for EuropeCrazy, I noticed that "This Is Who I Am" has gone back up to no.6 in the Swedish albums chart this week. It looks as if Salem has got himself a lot of new fans since the Grammisgalan, and people who didn't previously take much notice of his music are now beginning to listen and like what they hear. And so they should.

In the singles chart, "Good Song" has re-entered at no. 36 whilst "It's True" is no. 42 and "This Is Who I Am" is no. 43.

Tomorrow sees the P3 Guldgalan awards, Salem is nominated in two categories - Best Live Artist : other nominees are Säkert / Laakso / Mustasch / Timo Räisänen, and Best Male Artist: other nominees are Lars Winnerbäck: "Daugava" / Jens Lekman: "Night falls over Kortedala" / Mange Schmidt: "Känslan kommer tillbaks" / Danny: "Heart.beats". I'm not so confident about these awards as I was about the Grammys, because it's a more "alternative" kind of awards thing (well, apart from Danny !!), but nevertheless we wish Salem good luck for tomorrow night and will hopefully have some good news to report soon!

"You know it's true, I'm so good...!"

You know you've really made it when you get parodied. Meet Per-Arnez, a witty Swedish guy who has created a parody of Salem, named Sune Al Frisyr, with his own MySpace page (www.myspace.com/slemalfrisyr) featuring a song called "I'm So Good", the vocal and musical style of which should raise a chuckle and be very familiar to anyone who has ever heard the real Salem. :-)

I also had a right good laugh at the info section in this page, which should be a big in-joke to Salem fans, and will probably go over everyone else's head:

Band Members: Me and my frisyr and my brothers Göran Al Frisyr, Benny Al Frisyr, Sonny Al Frisyr and Åke Al Frisyr
Influences: The great Stevie Wonder, which I never actually have listened to...
Sounds Like: I don´t listen to music, so how would I know...???

Well I thought it was quite funny anyway. Obviously Salem does too, as he's one of Mr Al Frisyr's friends on his MySpace page!

Meanwhile over at the real Salem's website...I'm loving these little 'sitting here at home' posts, the last of which saw him sitting on the floor and wondering what he should eat. Can't wait for the next one Salem!

11th best selling album of 2007.

Today Expressen published the list of the 20 top selling albums in Sweden over the past year. "This Is Who I Am" was the 11th best selling album of the year. Kent's "Tillbaka Till Samtiden" is the top seller.

Here are some of Salem's videos, because I like them.

"Dream Girl": Salem's first single, released in the autumn of 2006. Timeless, classic song with an unforgettable piano hookline. The video is rather nice and is our first introduction to the man himself, complete with his wonderful big crazy hair:



"This Is Who I Am": title track of a rather brilliant album. Like all Salem's songs it's deceptively simple but full of musicality. The video sees him in many disguises and ends with the 'real' Salem, in his trademark pullover of course! :



"It's True" - the original version, not the Axwell/Ingrosso remix (I've now given up on this ever being released here). Such a positive and uplifting song, and a compelling video with Salem wearing a suit, walking into the sea. As you do! :



(The above three videos can also be seen at http://www.salemalfakir.se/)

The video of "Good Song" is only available on the EMI site (follow the link from http://www.emi.se/artists/salem/tiwia/index.htm ) - I'd recommend you check it out as it's very funny and perfectly shows off Salem's bright and bubbly personality. However, here is my favourite live performance of the best song of 2007, and possibly one of the most uplifting songs ever written, taken from last summer's Allsång pa Skansen TV show:

Swedish radio appearance yesterday.

Salem appeared on P3's "Morgonpasset" yesterday. The interview is on P3's website at http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/p3/nyhetssidor/amnessida.asp?ProgramID=2024&grupp=3720, in Swedish of course. I'm going to listen later and attempt to guess what he was saying. (If anyone out there is able to translate this then I would appreciate it!!)

Some more pics of Salem from the Grammisgalan...

This is my 50th post since I started Planet Salem (of course I've written many more posts about him prior to 01.12.07 over at http://europecrazy.blogspot.com/) . so what better way to celebrate than with some more pictures of Salem from the Grammisgalan!!

Above: On the red carpet prior to Wednesday's show. Shame he wasn't feeling well because otherwise I thought he looked really nice - I liked his hair and his suit - very unusual for him to turn up without his trademark tie!

Above: getting presented with one of his awards by Martin Stenmarck. Two lovely Swedish men on stage at the one time!

Above: Salem winning yet another award. He deserves all of them and more!

Above: This is from Swedish Radio P4's site - isn't he just lovely!!

The next award ceremony is Swedish Radio P3's Guldgalan next Friday, 18.01.08 at which he is nominated for Best Male Artist and Best Live Act. This will be broadcast on P3 and SVT1 and once again we hope that he can add to his long list of trophies.

I read recently that Salem will now be doing up his house - he might need to build an extension to hold all these awards!!

Swedish lyrics versus English lyrics?

An article from today's Arbetarbladet today, http://www.arbetarbladet.se/culture_article.php?id=592023&avdelning_1=0&avdelning_2=0# in which the writer Hans Carstensen suggests that Salem, and other Swedish lyricists like him who write in the English language, should switch to Swedish in order to truly lyrically express themselves. The writer stated that Salem deserved his Grammisgalan victory as he is an exceptional entertainer, songwriter, singer and musician with great stage presence, but was worried that he may suffer a similar fate to similarly talented 90s star Rebecka Törnqvist, who has continued to write lyrics in English and her career has suffered as a result.

I remember reading an interview with Salem once which said that he prefers to write in English to Swedish. It will be interesting to see what direction he goes in as he develops as a lyricist. I would like to hear him write and sing in Swedish too, maybe he could do a Swedish-language album someday as a one-off project once he is a confident enough lyricist? Why be talented in one language when you can be talented in two? (Just ask Annika Norlin!)

Salem's official website: inspirations

Last year, Salem famously stated that he never listens to music, but therefore it was good fun finding out that he has a little section on his website devoted to his musical inspirations: Glenn Gould, Bad Brains, The Band, Joey Jordison, Cameron and Paco De Lucia, Billy Joel and Humble Pie. Interesting mix - but he really needs to get Steely Dan in there. Every time I listen to "Thank You" from "This Is Who I Am", I just think of how much it reminds me of Steely Dan.

Life will smile for you, unless you're Markus Larsson.

Not that we need an excuse for another picture of Salem and his four Swedish Grammys of course! Aww. Hope he's feeling better today.

Anyway his victory on Wednesday night seems to have been received quite positively - but you can always rely on one dissenting voice to spoil the party. "It won't be no surprise..." that the dissenting voice is none other than Aftonbladet's music correspondent Markus Larsson, the man who last year achieved his five minutes of worldwide fame for giving the Rolling Stones gig a bad review only for Keith Richards to ask him for an apology.

Following the Grammisgalan, Mr Larsson targeted Salem for one of his famous attacks, asking why someone who 'sings through his nose' should win 4 awards.

Who said 'green-eyed monster'? How many awards have you won, Mr Larsson? Let me know.

An apology.

Watching Salem sing and collect his awards at the Grammisgalan, I thought that he didn't look too well but had (wrongly) assumed that this might have been as a result of over-celebrating, resulting in a sore throat.

I would like to apologise therefore, because I got it wrong. I have now found out the truth about Wednesday night. Salem had been very ill before the awards and there was a strong possibility that he wouldn't have been able to perform. He had been treated with cortisone throughout the day but deteriorated prior to the show. Crisis meetings ensued backstage. But in the spirit of "The show must go on" Salem bravely soldiered on and sang "It's True" in a lower register.

Well done Salem - and get well soon!

Salem now has an official website!

When I made my daily visit to Salem's MySpace today I discovered that Salem finally has his own official website at last! The address is http://www.salemalfakir.se/ and interestingly, the site content is in English, not Swedish. Delighted to see an official site at last and will keep checking it for news and other stuff. I've also posted a link to it over there in my sites list.

Still excited!

I woke up this morning and wondered if it had all been a dream last night, that Salem had won four awards. But it wasn't - yaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!

Tonight I'll probably watch the video clips of the acceptance speeches and his, "different" performance of "It's True" from last night.

You can never get enough of Salem, well I know I can't!!!!

It's been uploaded to YouTube so just in case it may not be around for long, here it is!

"It's True" from tonight's show

Thanks to TV4's website for putting up the footage of Salem's acceptance speeches and his version of "It's True". Lemur - I see what you meant about his voice, he had to sing the song in a lower register and he probably needs to give his voice a rest now! It may not have been his best ever version of the song, but it is certainly the most significant. A superstar is born.

He was obviously very happy and "tired and emotional" (as we say here in the UK) !!!! :-)))

Time to celebrate!

FYRA.

Fyyyyyyrrrrraaaaa.

Fyra Grammis.

That's four Swedish Grammy awards, by the way.

Tonight, Salem Al Fakir became the winner of four awards (voted for by the Swedish public) for best newcomer, best male artist, best composer and best producer. (He should have won best song as well, but I'm so happy tonight that I might just leave my rant about that until another time).

I am so happy, deliriously happy, that this incredibly talented young musical genius has been recognised and rewarded not only by the Swedish media and music industry, but also by the general public in his home country.

Grattis Salem.

Now go and have some time off.

And then go and conquer the world.

Grammisgalan tomorrow!

I'm so excited! This time tomorrow it will be all over and we will know who has won the Swedish Grammy awards, the most prestigious of all the Swedish music award ceremonies and this time of course it's "power to the people" as the Swedish public will have chosen their favourites. Hopefully Salem will be among the winners, we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will win.

Now it's time for a blast from the past.

There is footage on TV4 Nyheterna's site http://tv4nyheterna.se/ of Salem's appearance on "Nyhetsmorgon" from 14th January 2007, yes almost a year ago. I had previously seen the clip of "Good Song" on the same show before, but hadn't seen him singing "It's True". Wow! Salem's performance of this is so sweet, captivating and full of charm. Why do I love this man and his music? Watch this clip and you will understand why. There is also a nice interview with him on the same Nyhetsmorgon show.

EDIT 15.01.08: This has now been removed from that website, but they've still got all the Grammisgalan stuff.

So...what was Salem doing in 2005?

Answer: playing violin on a song called "The Tree", an acoustic-jazz number in the style of Norah Jones, sung by a pleasant young lady called My Engstrom Renman. The video has finally appeared on YouTube and the reason I mention it here, is that our favourite man is in the video, playing the violin and wearing an extremely silly hat. :-))

Another Expressen poll.

In the lead-up to the Grammisgalan, Expressen has been asking its readers whom they think will win the "Best Album" award. Kent's "Tillbaka Till Samtiden" is narrowly in the lead with 25.8%, and Salem's "This Is Who I Am" is a close second with 25.3%.

Two days to go....

Firstly the Expressen prize, now the Expressen polls.

Ooh I love the Swedish tabloids' websites with all these polls to vote in!!

After the great news that Salem won the Spelmannen prize, Expressen asked its readers whether or not he deserved it. Well, it's not good news at the moment as 53% of voters say "nej" :-(( of course I wasn't one of those voters - it's a ja! from me...

There is another poll on the Expressen website asking "what's your favourite Salem Al Fakir song?"

Results stand like this at the moment:
"Good Song" - 45.4% (I voted for this as my favourite too)
"It's True" - 23.4%
"This Is Who I Am" - 21.3%
"Dream Girl" - 9.9% (thought this would have been higher?)

I don't know how long these polls usually run for, but I may check back tomorrow to see if the results have changed.

Salem versus the mobile phones....the debate starts here!

Interesting comment by Salem in his Expressen interview today when he said that during a gig in Lund he had started playing "Good Song" and then stopped because of the number of people in the audience holding up their mobile phones to record this. He said that he was "enraged" that people were doing this.

I understand the point that Salem is trying to make, when good artistic efforts are diluted in this way, (and I certainly get annoyed at gigs when everyone is taking pictures or video on their phones yet you aren't even allowed to take a camera into a concert venue) however as long as this technology exists, and websites exist to allow such material to be uploaded, then it would appear to be a losing battle.

Since I discovered Salem's music 6 months ago, I visited YouTube and watched every single video posted there, whether official or not. The quality of these vary from good to extremely poor, but I'm still glad that they exist as it has given me the chance to see his promo videos and live performances - especially as I don't live in Sweden and therefore have never had the opportunity to watch him play live either at a concert venue or see him on television.

What I would really like Salem to do over the coming year or two - apart from the international launch and the release of the second album - is to bring out a live DVD, then we could all enjoy his top quality live performance on an equally top quality DVD instead of inferior mobile footage on YouTube!

Salem wins the Expressen Spelmannen 2007 prize!

Very happy to report today that Salem has won Expressen newspaper's Spelmannen prize. There is also a good new interview with him in today's Expressen, find it at http://www.expressen.se/kultur/1.990939/lustans-fakir . No information about future plans though, all he says is that he's now off to write some more music and that his next album will be a little more "serious".

It really has been a fantastic 12 months for our favourite singer, and it's not over yet - 3 days to go till the Grammisgalan....

"Black Sun, Black Moon" : here yesterday, gone too soon :-(

Was over at YouTube last night and much to my delight someone had posted a clip of Salem's 25.12.07 Stockholm gig, in which he was singing a new song called "Black Sun, Black Moon".

It was a slow and quite sad song (a bit of a change for him), which he played solo on the keyboard, and was rather nice even if it sounded a bit unfinished.

I wanted to hear it again today so went back to YouTube only to find that the video had been removed by the user. Not happy about this, don't know why it's been removed. I hope there's a valid reason for removing this video..

More YouTube: Snook, and some mad dancing

Still over at YouTube, found a clip of Snook performing live at Grona Lund in September 2006. Not only did I find myself yelling "back in the day" at the computer screen, but halfway through I had a right good laugh at Salem doing a silly dance on stage with the boys. Even "back in the day" he couldn't stand still! :-)))

Couple of new videos on YouTube.

In the absence of any real news this week I notice that two short clips from last August's Way Out West festival in Gothenburg have been posted on YouTube: they feature "Good Song" and "Dream Girl" - nice to hear everyone singing along too.

If anyone has any footage of any new songs from the recent Swedish tour - can they please upload this to YouTube!!

6 days to go till the Grammisgalan....hoping that someone posts any clips of Salem playing live and/or when he goes up to collect his awards next week!

Things we want to see in 2008.

Salem winning at the Grammisgalan, the P3 Guldgalan and the Rockbjornen - as many awards as possible!

A new album - we can't wait to hear some new material!

And most of all... an international launch, particularly here in the UK - more than anything I would love to see Salem and his band play live because they are brilliant!

Salem - I don't know if you are aware of the existence of my site, but maybe one day you will discover it and hopefully enjoy what I've been writing about you. I just want you to know that your music has brought so much happiness to me and to many others, and you are such a talented musician, singer and songwriter who deserves worldwide success.

Tack så mycket for your wonderful music, and good luck for 2008.

Nisse's band Conrytmo featured in Göteborgs Posten

I didn't know that Salem's drummer Nisse has another band, but he does! It's a group of five drummers called Conrytmo (like the Blue Man Group only without the blue paint :-) ), and there's a feature in today's GP about them. Seemingly they will play a show in Gothenburg at New Year and they also have a show lined up in Las Vegas next March among other things. I don't know where this leaves his commitments to Salem's band though?

Swedish Grammys: how many will he get then??

Over at my other blog EuropeCrazy I've been doing predictions for the Grammys. Much as I would love Salem to win all seven, I need to be objective and realistic and therefore I think he is likely to win the following:

Best Newcomer
Best Song
Best Composer

I would really really love him to win Best Album too, as "This Is Who I Am" is utterly fantastic.

Final list of nominations for Swedish Grammys announced today - SEVEN NOMINATIONS!!!

Today the final list of nominations for the Swedish Grammys was announced, with the initial lists of ten nominees in each category now narrowed down to the final five.

Absolutely brilliant news that Salem is nominated in seven categories - he is the artist with the most nominations this year, closely followed by Kent (six nominations).

Salem is nominated in the following categories:

Best Album
Best Male Artist
Best Song
Best Lyricist
Best Composer
Best Newcomer
Best Producer

When the initial list was published (nine nominations) I didn't want to get too excited until the final shortlist came out, but now it has.....I'm excited. Very excited indeed. I'm realistic enough to know that he won't win all seven, especially now that it's decided by the Swedish public and not the industry professionals, but surely now he must win at least one or two?

Anyway big congratulations on the nominations - well done Salem, you deserve it!

Stuff from another blog, about last night's Stockholm gig

I read a Swedish blog just now, the person who wrote it went to see Salem at Debaser in Stockholm last night. Not surprisingly it was a very good review, the band were great as ever and the songs were even better live than on record. There were apparently a lot of new songs and the blogger said that there could be a new album in the spring - I know Salem's very prolific but this might be wishful thinking, although how good would it be if that was to happen?

A festive appearance on SVT's Bolibompa...!

Have only just come across this one: SVT Play has a video clip of Salem's appearance on "Bolibompa" which of course is presented by his big brother Nassim. Rather funny clip of Salem playing "Jingle Bells" on a number of musical instruments. OK so kids' TV isn't the most credible thing in the world, but if it gets him some new fans then bring it on!

Find it at: http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=1002195

Salem playing Stockholm tomorrow night

Still no real news to report apart from this: Salem plays his last gig of 2007 at Debaser, Stockholm tomorrow night. Hopefully there will be a bigger turnout than at his last gig in Gavle :( anyway I hope someone from the Swedish media will review this at some point. Good luck for this gig Salem, hope it's a great one.

Right I'm off now to get ready for Santa Claus!

End-of-year polls (part 1)

Another no-news week, but things should pick up as all the end-of-year polls are coming around.

At the end of every year Swedish news agency TT Spektra commissions a poll of all music reviewers for their Swedish and international albums of the year. The results for 2007 are as follows:

Best International Album:

1. Arcade Fire: "Neon bible"
2. Feist: "Reminder"
3. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: "Raising sand"
4. MIA: "Kala"
5. UGK: "UGK"
6. Band of Horses: "Cease to begin"
7. LCD Soundsystem: "Sound of silver"
8. Amy Winehouse: "Back to black"
9. Ryan Adams: "Easy tiger"
10. Foo Fighters: "Echoes, silence, patience & grace"

What we're interested in of course is the Best Swedish Album list:

1. Säkert: "Säkert"
2. Anna Järvinen: "Jag fick feeling"
3. Jens Lekman: "Night falls over Kortedala"
4. Kent: "Tillbaka till samtiden"
5. Sahara Hotnights: ""What if leaving is a loving thing"
6. Eldkvarn: "Svart blogg"
7. Laakso: "Mother, am I good looking?"
8. Salem Al Fakir: "This is who I am"
9. The Tough Alliance: "A new chance"
10. Moneybrother: "Mount pleasure"

We'd have "This Is Who I Am" at no.1 of course but 8th isn't doing too badly, as this is one of those "trendy" polls (!) Good to see Kent and Moneybrother in there too.

My top 50 songs of the year (over at my other blog)

This afternoon I completed my countdown of my 50 favourite songs of 2007 over at my other blog EuropeCrazy (http://europecrazy.blogspot.com) and inevitably there were a few appearances from Salem!

No.1 - Good Song.
No.2 - Dream Girl.
No.7 - Count Me Out.
No.9 - It's True.
No.13 - This Is Who I Am.
No.17 - It's Only You.

Grammisgalan appearance confirmed

Only 24 days to go now, till the Grammisgalan: Expressen revealed today that Salem Al Fakir will be playing at the show, also on the bill are Lars Winnerbäck (sorry but I can't understand his appeal), Maia Hirasawa, Lasse Stefanz, 50 Cent, Westlife and Motorhead. If that's not a diverse bill then I don't know what is. Fingers crossed that TV4 are as good as SVT at putting stuff on the web for us non-Swedes to drool over :-)

Gävle gig review in Gefle Dagblad

Another four-star review of Salem's gig from Thursday night can be found in Gefle Dagblad: http://www.gd.se/Article.jsp?article=121264 . The heading reads "Big entertainer - small audience" and the reviewer highlights that despite the poor turnout, Salem ("Mr 100 percent") took it like a professional and provided those present with a high quality show. I liked the reviewer's comments that if there was a "most humble" and "most charming" category in the Swedish Grammys, Salem would win. The reviewer also highlighted that Salem and his band are at their best in smaller venues such as this one. The review also stated that Salem has taken Sweden by storm this year, with many hit songs and sell-out concerts (and a bigger tour bus now) but looked forward to what he'll come up with next, as he's got much more to give. We certainly agree with that. Here's a picture from the gig, courtesy of Gefle Dagblad:

Gävle gig review in Arbetarbladet

There is a great review of Salem's gig from last night on the Arbetarbladet website http://www.arbetarbladet.se/PGarticle.php?id=586955&avdelning_1=111&avdelning_2=173 . The heading read "Al Fakir hot - but Gävle dead" in which the reviewer Erik Suss expresses his disgust that only a very small crowd (50?) turned up at the Slick City club for the show, which was the only gig on Salem's current tour which wasn't sold out. The review stated that in spite of the low turnout, Salem put on the same high quality show which he gave when playing to thousands at the summer festivals this year, and the reviewer described Salem's band as one of Sweden's best. It was everything you'd expect from a Salem gig by now - headbanging, swinging from the lights, running around from one end to the other whilst delivering a mixture of everything from pop to soul to heavy rock. Mr Suss apologised on behalf of the people of Gävle for not coming along to what was an amazing gig, and said that this gig proved that Salem was worth every one of his Grammy nominations. Here is a picture of Salem from last night's gig (courtesy of Arbetarbladet). Wink wink!

Marlene: we salute you

Over the past week I've been enjoying Marlene Gustafsson's blog posts on the Klubb Smart blog on the Örebro Expressen website. She is a big fan of Salem's and she was the person who had the dream about Salem's hair being made of foam rubber. Her latest blog post revealed that at last week's gig she had to conscientiously examine his hair - in the public interest of course!!!! - and she said it was definitely real, exceptionally curly, fine and newly cut. Thanks Marlene - I love your attention to detail! :-)