Abu Bakr Salem Belfkih

Abu Bakr suffered from health problems for the last ten years of his life. He had an open heart surgery and suffered a kidney failure when he was being treated in Munich, Germany. He was admitted in a clinic for several months afterwards. He also went at intermittent periods to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His last public appearance was on the Saudi National Day celebration at the Red Sea city of Jeddah in September 2017. He was not able to continue singing, however, due to his long-term illness. He died three months later on December 10, 2017, at the age of 78 years.

Some of Abu Bakr's patriotic odes to Yemen celebrated historical events such as the abolition of the monarchy in the north in 1962, the independence of the south in 1967, and the unification of both the South and North Yemen in 1990. In addition to the Yemeni nationality, Abu Bakr also held Saudi nationality after he moved to Saudi Arabia in the 70's. He worked with other Khaleeji music pioneers including Talal Maddah, Tariq Abdul-Hakim and Shadi Gulf. His last release was a duet with young Yemeni singer and winner of the “Khaleeji Star” (a singing competition on the television) Fouad Abdulwahed.

In 1958, Abu Bakr left to Beirut to find more opportunities as it had a well established regional music hub through its plethora of performance venues, radio stations, and well-designed recording studios. He released a series of popular singles such as 24 Saa’a (24 hours) which sold more than one million copies and became a hit in the Arab world in a relatively short time. It is still considered one of the classics of the Arabic music Tarab genre. Abu Bakr fled Beirut when the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975.

Abu Bakr began singing at organized parties and events and performed on Aden TV. In 1956, he made his big hit through a broadcast with his first song using his first poem Ya Ward Mahla Jamalak.

Abu Bakr Salem Balfaqih (Arabic: ابو بكر سالم بلفقية) (March 17, 1939 – December 10, 2017) was a Yemeni singer, poet, and composer. He is also nicknamed 'Abu Aseel, The Father of Khaleeji Music' (Arabic: ابو الغناء الخليجي) and 'the one with the golden larynx' (Arabic: صاحب الحنجرة الذهبية). Abu Bakr is known in the Arab world by his unique voice.

Abu Bakr was born on March 17, 1939, in Tarim, a historic town situated in the Hadhramaut Valley in the south of Yemen. His family was Ba 'Alawi sada. After his father died he was raised by his mother, grandfather, and uncles. His grandfather Abdel Rahman Balfaqih was a poet in Hadramaut.