Karim Fanous

When the Riyadh born Karim Fanous cites AC/DC as one of his truest musical loves, you could be forgiven for neglecting the fact that he is a classically trained musician, with a history in the clarinet, who didn't actually get into playing the guitar until he was 16. With influences ranging from the aforementioned heavy rock heroes, to Britpop stalwarts Oasis, all the way through to folk icon Joni Mitchell, Karim has had a very broad schooling in popular music - and it shows.

2007 was a breakthrough year for him, debut album ‘Stir Crazy’ received widespread critical acclaim and his arrival on the UK music scene was confirmed when he scooped The Best Singer-Songwriter award at The Glasswerk UK New Music Awards in London in November.

Karim's music takes an interesting perspective and original approach, through strong melody driven pop, rock, folk, ballad and groove. Karim has spent most of his adult years in the UK and this is reflected in his songwriting which sees him mix a wide range of influences with a very British psyche underpinning each track, sometimes with a dash of humour, sometimes self effacing, sometimes quirky, sometimes melancholy, always beautiful.

As a former philosophy student, he certainly has an interesting perspective on what he wants his music to achieve. In a live environment is where this is most notable, of which he says, 'To connect with the crowd is the most important thing. When the audience associates with what I'm singing about it's the biggest rush in the world and so beautiful because it is so inclusive. The real excitement for me is the connection with people and creating a feeling between yourself and the crowd, so the song can do what it was written to do'.