Music

Remember when performing to an Egyptian song to find out what the words mean first!

You can always find someone to tell you the meaning and/or the title of the song even if you can't get a word for word translation.

Oum Khalsoum and Abdel Halim Hafez are icons of Egyptian music and Ahmed Adaweyya is the king of Shaabi.

Some of the best contemporary artists to look out for are:

Shaimaa el Shayeb:
A young girl with a beautiful voice and range from Om Khalthoum to contemporary styles (few recordings available).
Gawahar:
Hasn't produced much of late - contemporary Egyptian - quirky but with really good beat, great dance music.
Marwa:
The new Gawahar.
Hisham Abbas:
Contemporaray - lovely voice . Still producing good stuff.
Nadia Moustafa:
Brilliant singer of a whole range of music. Extremely danceable, raw, wonderful stuff.
Diana Haddad:
Can be a bit smooth but really good contemporary songs on the whole.
Amr Diab:
A bit hit and miss lately but past stuff great and new CD to come.
Armany:
She has made a couple of tapes full of oldies but goldies - show length versions to a live audience.
Fadl Shakr:
Wonderful soulful, as well as upbeat, music.
Nancy Agram:
Great beat - risqué Lebanese singer.

Other contemporary singers include: