Hakim

Hakim is the king of the young offshoot of Egyptian sha'bi street-pop known as jeel, a man who's sold more than six million records at home and the first of the young Egyptian singers to make any kind of breakthrough internationally. Born in 1962 in the village of Maghagha, he began singing at school parties and caught the music bug early. By the time he was 14, he had a band, performing hits of the older sha'bi stars, adding more modern instruments, like guitar and keyboards, and performing all over the Minya area. There was a break in the early '80s when Hakim moved to Cairo -- not to play music, but to study communications at Al Azhar University. He chose that, he said, because "it was normal to go on and study, my family expected that. I studied communications so I could be close to music, working with radio and things like that. At that time I couldn't study music." After graduation he returned to Minya and continued to play with his band until 1990, when he took the plunge and returned to Cairo as a singer.

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