To celebrate the recent release of El Donia Shabab, the debut single from The 5 — the pan-Arab boyband who found fame on the inaugural season of the Arab X-Factor this summer — we sat down with each of the band-members.
In the third of our exclusive five-part series of one-on-ones, we got to know the group’s “big brother”, 29-year-old Moroccan singer Adil Echbiy.
Did you have any hesitations about joining a band with guys ten years younger than you?
When I first met them, I thought “how can I have a connection with these guys? They’re like babies”. But later I realised these guys don’t wait for the number of years — these guys know what they want. It’s like a football team; you find one guy who is 36 and another who is 17 playing together, almost 20 years difference, but they’re a team.
At 29-years-old, how does it feel to be labelled as a “boy band”?
I’m a big boy — I don’t mind. But I don’t love boy bands — it was never my dream. I wanted to be a singer like Amr Diab or Cheb Khaled.
Do the rest of the band give you the respect of an elder?
They call me the “daddy of the band” — I don’t like it. ”Big brother” is better.
I don’t have any more power than anybody, we don’t have a leader in the group. They don’t respect me — they make jokes about me, all of them.
Do you guys fight?
Never with hands or fists, but of course we argue — “don’t speak with me, na na na”. But later we always make-up. They fight when they play PlayStation.
Who’s the best gamer?
I think it’s Ahmed, he spends too much time, he practices all the time.
And who is the laziest member of the band?
No one is lazy in music, but in sport Kazem is lazy. He doesn’t like sport at all. And as he said, BND has sleeping issues.
Ahmed said you are the ladies's man of the band ...
You know what girls like — blue eyes. This guy, Said, with green eyes ...
Sounds like you guys have some competition.
No, because in the end we are all one band. If someone likes Said, or BND, or me ...
[BND interrupts from the other side of the room: They don’t like you!]
They like me a lot.
Who will be the first to do a Zayn Malik, and go alone?
Number six.
• Check Scene & Heard every day this week (September 20-24) for our exclusive series of Q& As with The 5. Tomorrow we speak to Said Karmouz.
Eldonia Shabab is out now on iTunes.
