Fadel Chaker will perform his first concert for 14 years at Riyadh Season this month.
The Lebanese singer's first concert in Saudi Arabia is to take place at Abu Bakr Salem Theatre in Riyadh's Boulevard City on October 22. Titled Awdat Al Ghayeb, or Return of the Absent, the show takes its name from Ya Ghayeb, one of his best-known songs. Tickets are to go on sale on Wednesday.
Chaker is to perform three months after Lebanon's military court approved his release on bail while legal proceedings linked to his former association with radical cleric Ahmed Al Assir remain unresolved.
Chaker, who has repeatedly denied taking part in 2013 clashes between Al Assir's supporters and the Lebanese army in Sidon, is due to appear before Lebanon's Permanent Military Court on October 21 – a day before the Riyadh concert. A September 23 hearing was postponed after his lawyer, Amata Mubarak, presented a medical excuse.
Chaker was tried in his absence in 2020 and sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison over his support for Al Assir's armed group. After about 12 years in Ain Al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near Sidon, he surrendered to Lebanese authorities in October last year.
He turned himself in after reaching a deal in which the convictions issued in his absence were vacated and a new trial ordered.
In May, a Beirut criminal court acquitted Chaker and Al Assir in a separate case over an alleged attempt to kill Hilal Hammoud, a cleric aligned with Hezbollah, in 2013. Chaker still faces proceedings before the military court over the Sidon clashes.
He continued to make music while living in Ain Al Hilweh. His first attempt to return to the mainstream came in 2018 with Shab'an Min Al Tamtheel. The song was intended for Egyptian Ramadan drama Ladayna Iqwal Ukhra, but production company AG Group removed it following criticism over his legal situation in Lebanon.
In a 2018 interview with Arabic Post, he described having musical arrangements recorded abroad and sent to him before adding his vocals and returning the files to be mixed and mastered.
His 2025 releases included Ahla Rasma, Elhob W Bass, Hawa Aljnoub, Rouh El Baher and Kifek A Fira’i. By June, Ahla Rasma had passed 40 million views on YouTube.
Released on July 7, Kifek A Fira’i, a duet with his son Mohamed, was included in The National's 50 best Arabic songs of 2025. The ballad about separation and loss was described as “a fine piece of balladry” and potentially “one of the defining Arabic songs of the year”.
More releases followed, including Sahak El Shouq, which won Favourite Song at the Joy Awards in Riyadh this year, while Chaker was named Favourite Artist.
Chaker's career took off in the late 1990s, with songs including Baya El Qolob, Aash Mn Shafak, Ma'oul, Law Ala Albi and Ya Ghayeb establishing him as a star act across the region. He also recorded collaborations with Sherine Abdelwahab, Yara and Elissa, including Al Aam Al Jadid, Khidni Maak and Gowa El Rouh.
Chaker was still performing major concerts in 2012, including the closing concert of Abu Dhabi Festival at Emirates Palace. One of his last major public performances before withdrawing came weeks later at Morocco's Mawazine festival on May 19. He stepped back from mainstream music later that year.
