}) is a Lebanese composer, musician, producer and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

. He is best known as a composer, guitarist, and keyboardist with indie rock band

Mashrou' Leila Mashrou' Leila ( ar, مشروع ليلى, link=no, Latn, ar, Mashrūʿ Laylā, ; sometimes transliterated as Mashrou3 Leila or translated as Leila's Project) was a Lebanese four-member indie rock band. The band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2008 ...

and the co-founder of

Last Floor Productions Last Floor Productions is an independent film and television production company, headquartered in London. Last Floor Productions is specialized in the creation of projects that have an Arab focus. The company was founded by Nasri Atallah, Firas A ...

Biography

Firas Abou Fakher was born on April 26, 1988, in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

to Lebanese/Venezuelan parents. His interest in music started at an early age and he taught himself to play guitar at the age of 13. While studying architecture at the American University of Beirut, Abou Fakher co-founded

as a reaction to the lack of quality Arabic Music. He started learning the piano at age 20. Abou Fakher is a multi-instrumentalist and currently plays guitar, keyboards, bass, and percussion.

Career

Mashrou' Leila

Abou Fakher is one of the founding members of Mashrou' Leila along with

Hamed Sinno Hamed Sinno ( ar, حامد سنّو; born 25 April 1988) is the Lebanese-American lead singer of the alternative rock band Mashrou' Leila. Early life Sinno was born to a Lebanese father who had lived in the United States and a Jordanian mother ...

Haig Papazian Haig Papazian ( hy, հայկ Փափազեան, ar, هايغ بابازيان) is a Lebanese-Armenian multidisciplinary artist, composer, and architect born in Beirut and currently based out of New York. He is a founding member and violinist of Le ...

and Carl Gerges. He started playing guitar and composing songs with the band in 2008 and eventually started playing keyboard and bass after the departure of former members Omaya Malaeb and Ibrahim Badr. In 2017 Abou Fakher taught a graduate workshop at the Hagop Kevorkian Institute for Near Eastern Studies at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

as part of Mashrou' Leila. Abou Fakher has been featured on the cover of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

editions of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' and GQ Middle East as part of

Last Floor Productions

In late 2019, he co-founded

with two longtime friends, writer and

Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts The Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA; french: Académie libanaise des Beaux-Arts; ar, الأكاديمية اللبنانية للفنون الجميلة) was originally a stand-alone Lebanese institute, now one of the faculties at the Unive ...

screenwriting professor

Daniel Habib Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

and writer Nasri Atallah. Last Floor Productions is focused on the creation of genre film & television, centered on telling stories about Arabs around the world. The company's first production, Al Shak (Doubt), was written, shot and released entirely during the early phase of the coronavirus lockdown of 2020. It was produced as a Shahid Original for the leading streaming service launched by

MBC Group MBC Group ( ar, مجموعة إم بي سي), is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Middle East and North Africa region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved to its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 then moved to Riyadh in 2022. MBC ...

. Last Floor Productions second series, Fixer, was released later the same year. Both series were co-created, co-executive produced and scored by Abou Fakher.

Independent work

Firas Abou Fakher has given talks and lectures as a composer and designer at ING Creatives and has received the Areen Projects Award for Excellence in Architecture and the Omrania CSBE award. He has scored several films, 'Kaleidoscope" by Lebanese director Dania Bdeir in 2014 which received numerous awards and most recently 'LOVE' by Lebanese Director Henri Bassil which won the 'Best Narrative Short Film' Award at the Moscow Short Film Festival in 2019. In 2019 Abou Fakher performed at

the Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

as part of British artist Oliver Beer's Vessel Orchestra Exhibition alongside several notable artists including John Zorn,

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...

and several others. Abou Fakher composed the music and sound design for the VR experience AVRA, an installation experimenting with sensory virtual reality.

References

External links

Firas Abou Fakher Instagram

Mashrou’ Leila: The Soundtrack of an Arab Generation

Interview with Reorient Magazine

Interview with ArtKentro Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abou Fakher, Firas Lebanese rock musicians Lebanese composers Lebanese architects Alternative rock musicians Musicians from Beirut American University of Beirut alumni Lebanese multi-instrumentalists 1988 births Living people