"Keep On Walking" - Salem Al Fakir. And so, finally, to the no.1 in my annual countdown of my favourite songs of the year. Not only was this my favourite song of 2010, but it has been perhaps the most significant song in Salem Al Fakir's career to date.
With just one Swedish television appearance - admittedly on the biggest television show of the year - Salem went from a reasonably well-known artist on the fringes of the mainstream, to a household name overnight. Salem participated in Melodifestivalen as an experiment, to get his music out to as wide an audience as possible, rather than with any end goal of winning. So it was all the more remarkable that he came so close to becoming Sweden's representative at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
Salem was glad that he didn't win, as it gave him the opportunity to fully focus on the promotion of his third album "Ignore This", and then he embarked on a lengthy tour which lasted for the bulk of 2010. And I was lucky enough to see him perform live again, in Gothenburg in March, which became a new contender for "best night of my life".
"Keep On Walking" is a life-affirming anthem about picking yourself back up again when you've been down - a universal sentiment which touched so many people in Sweden and internationally. It's a timeless song which I played more than any other this year, and would probably be my favourite song of any year, and completely deserves its no.1 position in my chart.
Official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbn3mip8-UU
Melodifestivalen heat 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8wevM-tpcA
Melodifestivalen final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KahSZ3fWwoE
4 comments:
Hehe) Never had a doubt the song that made your year Laura :)
However I think it was better for Salem to stay second to stay independent artist and no to go the road of Ark - firstly MF turned their status from original indie-musicians to schlager-artists and ESC put a stamp of schlagerfiasko-artists. I wouldn't wish the same to Salem.
Unsurprisingly I completely agree with this being your number 1! It brought Salem and his wonderful music to my attention, and is totally deserving of all the airplay and interest it's had in Sweden and beyond.
I've really enjoyed reading your chart, there were some songs in there that were new to me, and lots I've loved this year too, particularly Kent, Alexander Stenerud and Paula & Ovi. I've discovered loads of great European music this year, with Salem being the definite highlight :)
Glad to be of service Claire, in your musical journey of discovery :) Of course Salem is always the musical highlight of any year. 2011 looks like being a quiet year on the Salem front though, which will probably give me more time to focus on my first-born blog and discover some more exciting new music and blog all about it!
Of course Damian :)
I agree it was better for him not to win - he certainly wouldn't want to be considered a schlager artist. Although I wonder if his participation in MF had any effect on the limited number of Grammis nominations he received?
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