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Quotes
 English
is the language I grew up with, and it's the language I am more
comfortable talking in. But I am more comfortable singing in Arabic. I
am much more comfortable in Arabic now, especially after I went back to
live in Egypt for a year.
I
don’t really have one genre I listen to most. The most recent thing I
listened to and liked was the last Buddha Bar compilation.
The
claim that my father is Jewish is one of those things where someone had
a grudge against me and wanted to hurt me. My great-great-grandfather
was Jewish. But Jews have always been part of Arab society, so it’s
not so unusual for someone to find out that they have Jewish blood. At
the end of the day, we really are so connected.
One of the main bases for my music is the merging of Western and Arabic cultures. I feel this is most apparent in the last album, Something Dangerous.
To make more! To continue as long as people want me to and I feel I want to. One thing I would like to work on more would be music for film scripts.
I think an understanding of thinking through different cultures will be drawn, similarities will be identified throughout the many different cultures and, although differences in culture will be present, the bottom line is we are all human and we all have the same problems and we should work together to solve them.
I think its my voice, my oriental style of singing. Whatever I do, even when I am singing a cover, my voice will always bring in an Arabic style, even if its just the last line of a song.
I have picked up culture from all of these places and I have made many tracks using these personal influences from the inclusion of instruments to the fusion of reggae with Arabic percussion.
my parents were not strict at all. But I know it is very hard for so many kids who have strict parents. Is hard trying to balance both sides. I think what happens is many times similar to what I went through kids will tend to ignore one side of themselves or the other. And sometimes it does seem like they are worlds apart that theres not enough understanding
With
Something Dangerous, I would definitely say there is. In the title track
of the album, the reference to the political situation before the war in
Iraq is clear. I wanted to express my feelings as I have done
previously. It wasn’t the first time and I don’t think it will be
the last time.
It is a kind of Arabian protest music, more philosophical than political. Anything beyond this would have been banned. Shaabi also walks the sharp borderline between classical Arabian music, traditional music and other Mediterranean influences that entered Egypt about a hundred years ago. From this Shaabi developed as a kind of pop music that has been the most widespread form of music in Egypt for about twenty years
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