If you need any more proof that being a pop-star is sometimes akin to being a hamster on a wheel, you need to go no further than Mohammed Assaf.
Normally the last single from an album heralds the end of the artist’s promotional and touring cycle.
Not so for the 25-year-old Palestinian. His new single and video for the Egyptian pop-inspired Aywa Haghani (Yes, I Will Sing) are carefully calculated to set him up for his next blockbuster album release — which he recently revealed exclusively to The National will be an album dedicated to Egyptian music stylings, which is due to be released this month.
“Egypt is acknowledged as the most important country when it comes to arts and culture and I have always loved the music and artists that came from there,” he said.
“I also admired artists who are available to sing in different styles, so it is from that perspective that I wanted to do an album that is purely in the Egyptian dialect.”
In that regard, the single should do its job in setting up the expectation for the new release. Tucked away in his debut album's middle section, it immediately stood out for it's pop-nous. Where the album's dabka-centred tracks had Assaf adopting a deeper and more muscular vocal tone, in Awya Haghani his voice is honey-sweet and its anthemic chorus should have no problem lodging in your brain.
The accompanying video showcases a day out in Cairo for Assaf. Wearing a grey blazer, white shirt and loose tie, Assaf resembles a student skipping school to wonder the city.
During his strolls he takes in kushari (traditional Egyptian street food of rice, macaroni and lentils mixed together, topped with a tomato-vinegar sauce) at a restaurant, a coffee shop were energetic games of backgammon are played and the Nile River from a bridge, before concluding with a night in a neon-lit amusement park.
The choice of Cairo as a location for the video should guarantee a big audience. Emirati pop king Hussain Al Jasmi demonstrated the potential with his 2014 Egyptian-pop hit Boshret Kheir, the video for which was also shot in the city's traditional and urban neighbourhoods, and clocked more than 97 million YouTube views.
There is no reason Aywa Haghani can't also pull off big YouTube numbers (though probably nowhere Boshret Kheir levels, as we are talking about Hussein Al Jasmi after all). If for some reason it does not meet expectations, Assaf will have a few more tries once the second album is out.
Either-way, he will be singing for sometime yet.
sasaeed@thenational.ae
