Salem al Fakir-

After a short nap and a shower in my gold plated and marble bathroom, I decide to join the denizens of Malmo at their festival. All ages are represented, and it’s a prime spot for people watching. I grab an assortment of foods and sweets from the various vendors, along with a big mug of cold Carlsberg. At about 11:00pm I find myself in Malmo’s main square, where the largest of the Festivals nine stages has been erected. The headlining band for the night is just about to begin, and a crowd of thousands has assembled. The backdrop and drum head read “Salem al Fakir” so I decide to stick around for their set. I’m glad I did. Salem Al Fakir is a Swedish pop/rock singer, and he is clearly very popular. The crowd of mainly young revelers seem to know the words to every one of his songs. Salem plays the keys and sings, a melodic pop that falls somewhere between Coldplay and the Scissor Sisters, and his backup band can seriously groove. Salem seriously knows how to work the crowd, running to the sides of the stage and leaping into the crowd. The girls go wild. I stick around for the full 90 minute set, and make a note to get a copy of this guys CD while I’m here. I want to check out Malmo nightlife, so I hit some of the larger clubs. Its clear I’m in the touristier spots, and as in new York, the Saturday night crowds at the highly publicized places are a bit of a riff-raff. It’s nearly three am and logic tells me to go home, but how often am I in Sweden, so I press on. I head across town to an area that’s supposed to be favored by the local youth, in hopes that I’ll find something there. Wandering the streets without much success, I come across a group of nattily dressed guys and decide to ask them for suggestions on where to go. The guy in the fedora looks oddly familiar to me, and I realize that I’ve stumbled across Salem al Fakir and his band! I tell them how much I enjoyed their show and show them my hand written “Buy Salem al Fakir” note, which they get a kick out of. They are headed to their afterparty at a local rock club and invite me to join them. The bar is a super cool crowd of local Swedish kids, and we are well taken care of. I learn that Salem is somewhat of a musical prodigy, he recorded his first cd all by himself, playing every single instrument a la Dave Grohl and the first Foo Fighters CD. They have been wanting to come to New York and by 5am they have agreed to play Snitch some time in November. They are hoping to get a buzz in America so my record industry folks- Lauren Amsterdam, Kate Landau, et al- you should really check this kid out, he’s something special.