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Ahmed Fakroun
Song Writer...

Born in Benghazi (Libya). He who invented the modern Arabic World Music. Early at the age of 6, the dream of Music started with the fascination of rhythms. It was his first instrument The Precision, then the mouth organ, the guitar, the piano and traditional instruments like (Luth, Mandol, and Saze). The music he used to listen to at that time was the world music, from desert to India, from India to Scotland, from East to West and from North to South.< Created his first group in Benghazi in 1970, giving concerts for students. Himself when he was a student in England (for five years) realized his first record with "Tommy Vance" a producer from Radio Capital and BBC. At the same time, he formed his second group with three English musicians, giving concerts in different places in England.< For the love of Music, he was searching for knowledge and trying to understand humanity in different cultures around the world. His return to his homeland with a 45' Single "Awedny (Promise me)" and "Nojoum Al Layl (Night Stars)" was a boom for a new born star.

He signed a contract for Five years in Italy with the Italian label "Ricordi", then after "Midem" he signed a contract with "Polydor and Phonogram" and a record company in Venezuela "Columbia".

His second 45' single was realized with his second contract with "Phonogram". Then he started to produce himself until he moved to Paris and recorded "Soleil Soleil" with the "Bain Douche", this title became very popular in France and Europe, with the video clip produced by "Jean Batiste Mondino" and the French Comedian "Coluche" who wan an OSCAR in 1984.

Ahmed Fakroun, during his carrer has worked with many producers around the world like, Papatanassio Vangeles, Nicholas Nicorelli, Tommy Vance, Group Enod, Jean Ferre and Marc Hanris. Ahmed is still producing himself to date.

Ahmed Fakroun extends his appreciation to modern technology, which he has followed since it's inception. This technology which gives him the possibility of realizing his dreams and to keep him going around the world of music

E-mail: info@ahmedfakroun.com

WALID ROUISSI " Desert Shadow "
â€œJeelâ€ Music - Generated by Libyan musician, Ahmaed Fakroun, this artistic phenomenon first appeared in the early seventies, then it gradually spread through the Arab world until the early eighties, when another Libyan artist, Hameed al-Shaari, developed it in striking musiccal force with original rhythms that are full of the vitality of youth. It has since aquired such popularity it is now changing the profile of Arabic musical expression altogether.
Meanwhile in Vienna the Tunisian singer Walid Rouissi has created a modern hybrid style based on two totally different worlds of music. Afro-Arabic rhythm serves as the bases, combined with European sound, producing a new kind of â€œDance Musicâ€. Not authentic RAI as he says himself, but a mixture of Reggae, Folklore and Jeel music.
The origin of his music is found in Calypso and various Arabic-African as well as Latin-American music forms.
Inusing different kinds of melodies and by not allowing himself to lose sight of his Arabic musical roots, his music remains impressive.
Walid Rouissi has taken on many activities in the music business. Some of these activities included playing his new wave music for festivals all over Tunisia, these festivals are undertaken every year of which groups from many parts of the world come to play. He also did a variety of performances in Austria, France, Yugoslavia, Holland and Germany for which they were all very successful

Ilham Al Madfai
Ilham AL Madfai was born in Baghdad in the early forties were he grew up.

His talent was recognized at the age of 12, where he is one of the best guitar players. He formed his first musical band “Twisters” in the year 1961, which contained an electrical guitar, a base guitar and drums. It was the first musical band in Iraq and the Middle East that sang the traditional Arabic songs with western instruments. Madfai also improved on the western instruments to suit the Arabic songs, and not visa versa. Doing all this, a new generation of Arabic and Iraqi songs was born.

Madfai faced a lot of opposition for doing such a big step, where a lot considered him to be very far away from the Arabic Music path. But he was able to prove after a while that what he did was not far from the fundamentals of the Arabic Music. He also faced disagreements from his family for he came from a very well known family in Iraq.

After some years, Madfai left to study engineering in England, where he played in Al Beit Al Baghdadi (The House of Baghdad) Restaurant, which was very popular for its coffee. At that time he was able to attract a lot of people, such as Paul McCartney, Donavan, George Di Fame, and many many others from all around the world.

Madfai went back home to Baghdad in 1967, where he founded his new band that was know as Thirteen and a Half, but this time Madfai introduced the Spanish guitar from Andalusia to the Traditional Iraqi Folklore. This had a major impact on the new generations where they were introduced to their traditional songs and loved it with Madfai’s style.

Madfai continued with his music and in a couple of years was able to reach many countries, where he played concerts and parties in more than 60 countries around the world, passing through America, Italy, England, Spain, Korea, Australia, Morocco, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and many others. Madfai also sang International songs in many languages such as English, Italian, Spanish, French and others.

After that, Madfai went back to Iraq in 1990 where he formed another band know as Ilham Al Madfai’s Band. It is a mixture of Western and Iraqi Traditional instruments, like the Qanoun and the Jouza (an instrument that dates back to 3000 years).

Madfai worked with a lot of Western and Eastern musicians, such as Donavan,Art Blacky, Johnny Hars, Moneer Basheer, Nathem Al Ghazaly, Sabah, Hols Jentry and others. He also composed many Arabic Poems for well known Arabic Poets, such as Nizar Qabani, Abdel Wahab Al Beyaty, Abu Al Qasem Al Shaby, Bader Shaker Al Sayyab, and many others.
Today, Madfai has the number one selling album for his last album “Ilham Al Madfai” (which contains 14 songs, 7 of which are his lyrics & music). On the other hand, his album is still the Number One selling album in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and most of the gulf countries. It is also named the Platinum Record at E.M.I VIRGIN, the production company of Ilham Al-Madfai, which happens to be one of the top production companies’ worldwide.

Madfai participated in most of the biggest festivals in the Middle East. He also spends a lot of his time recording songs from his lyrics, composition and singing.

This is a small summary from Ilham Al Madfai’s biography. Madfai is the only musician that has a huge popularity between all generations in the Arab World

Tunisian Singer : Zohra Lajnef