Faisal Salah, known by his stage name ‘Facesoul’ is a London-based artist born in East Africa. At 19 he began travelling the world, performing for different communities and sharing his story through his voice. These travels proved to be a formative step for his development as an artist, in which he discovered that these people, even with their apparent differences in race, language and environment, shared the same common internal emotions and feelings. And in that they were not separate. Faisal’s upbringing with traditional Islamic roots have been paramount to forming his truth and identity and his sense of spirituality is imbued in his practice.

When he started performing at 15, he would combine his love of singing, poetry and storytelling as a tool to escape from the constraints of inner city living, and aspire for something better. The creative force behind YSRA has come from a period of personal grief and solitude after the passing of a dear friend in an accident during the recording period. It transformed the project into a creative documentation of his emotional reconnection himself and the journey home after losing a loved one. It celebrates and honours vulnerability, exploring themes of grief, sorrow, joy, love, family and the human experience.

Description supplied by the event organiser.