Ahmed Fakroun

Ahmed Fakroun (Arabic: أحمد فكرون; born 1953) is a singer and songwriter from Benghazi, Libya. He is a pioneer of modern Arabic World Music.^[2]

John Storm Roberts, of Original Music, AllMusic, wrote that among raï singers, the pop-oriented Ahmed Fakroun stands out on two grounds. First, he is influenced by Europop and French art rock, not just the generalized rock of the others. Second, he's a multi-instrumentalist in both traditions as well as a singer. He plays bouzouki-like saz, mandol and darbouka drum, as well as guitar, bass guitar and keyboards. Sometimes he seems overly crossover-oriented: but on form, his crossover deepens into telling biculturalism.^[3] It has also been noted that Fakroun was a pioneer in bringing disco music to raï.^[4]