Ahmed Fakroun

Ahmed Fakroun Singer songwriter Hailing from Benghazi, Libya, Ahmed Fakrun is widely considered the foremost pioneer of modern Arabic World Music. He has collaborated with numerous talented international producers throughout his career - including Papathanassiou Vangelis, Nicholas Nicorelli, Tommy Vance, Group Enod, Jean Ferre and Mark Harris - and recorded for world-class labels.

An early childhood fascination with rhythmic harmony led to his choice, as first instrument, of the Fender Precision Electric Bass. This was soon flanked by harmonica, guitar and piano, as well as traditional stringed instruments such as the ud, the mandola and the saz. From the very beginning, he listened intently to music from every corner of the planet - from the Libyan desert and the temples of India to the Scottish highlands and streets of New York - absorbing a rich variety of influences that would lead to his unique, personal style...

His first band, formed in1970 in Benghazi, played extensively at local school dances and events. Then, in England for five years of upper school, he made his first studio recordings with Tommy Vance, a producer for Radio Capital and the BBC. Joined by three English musicians, Ahmed started performing widely throughout England.

Ahmed continued his pursuit of musical and cultural understanding and harmonizing of the world's heritages, returning to his homeland with the hit single - "Awedny (Promise me)" and "Nojoum Al Layl (Night Stars)" - that launched him to instant stardom in the Arab world. He was soon back in Europe, signing contracts with Italy's Ricordi label, the Polydor/Phonogram label (for whom he recorded his second single) and the Venezuela branch of the Columbia label. A major break was the single "Soleil Soleil" - recorded with the Bain Douche paris dic label during Ahmed's lengthy sojourn in Paris, promoted with a videoclip produced by Jean Battiste Mondino and starring popular comedian Coluche (winner of an Oscar in 1984) - which took off in France and many other European countries, winner of the festival youth in 1986 in Maroco.

A. Fakroun has been producing - and marketing world-wide - new material on his own for many years now, from his well-appointed home studio , surrounded by all the latest in musical technology (the evolution of which he has always followed closely). This technology allows him to continue sharing his passionate vision of global musical friendship with fans everywhere.

Ahmed Fakroun.Born in the Libyan city of Benghazi, he spent long periods in the UK and France in the 1970s and 1980s, recording a handful of singles and albums.
Reduced to a mere mention in specialist music encyclopedias after Libya's years of international isolation made it difficult for him to market his music to the outside world.
However, he recently came to prominence among obscurity-hungry club DJs when some of his early songs were rediscovered, re-edited and reissued anonymously.
Ahmed Fakroun looked set to make his mark in world music circles in the mid-1980s when his album Mots D'Amour, combining traditional Arab instruments and melodies with electronic music and dance rhythms, was released on the Celluloid label in France.
But then came the US aerial bombing of Libya in April 1986, followed by years of international sanctions, as evidence of terror links turned Libya's government into a pariah of the West and seriously impeded its citizens' freedom of movement.

"When I look to my press book, I found the articles stopped in 1986," he told the BBC.
"It was so difficult for me to be in two places at the same time".
"To take a plane to go from my home town to any part of the world, I had to go across the Tunisian border to Jerboa, about 700km, or take a boat to Malta overnight, then [travel] the next day to the other part of the planet. Imagine the rest of the story."

As it happened, record companies did manage to market Arabic pop to international music fans at that time, but Fakroun missed out.
Instead, all the action came from neighbouring Algeria, as Khaled, Cheb Mami and others introduced the world to the North African sound known as rai music.
And that seemed to be that, until about a year ago. Then a New York-based DJ known as Prince Language unearthed an old Ahmed Fakroun track called Soleil Soleil, re-edited it and put it out on a 12-inch single, renamed Yo Son.
"Prince Language delivers an edit of an 80s obscurity that sounds like it could have been an outtake from Talking Heads backing an Arabic R group," said one.
A few months later, some French DJs working under the name of Les Edits Du Golem released a 12-inch EP featuring a tune called Pyramide - in reality, a re-edited version of Fakroun's 1977 single Nisyan.
Even though neither record was authorised by Fakroun, he was grateful for the renewed exposure.
"I was very happy that these tracks are still alive in people's minds," he says.
"Thanks to those DJs from all over the world, playing and re-editing and refreshing those tracks. No, I don't mind. It's good for me to hear them in a good re-edit or mix, as long as they respect copyrights"

Amended and edited from bbc website 14/06/2008