The story of Amr Diab, one of the most iconic figures in contemporary Arab music. The origins of Amr Diab Amr Diab was born on October 11, 1961, in Port Said, under the name Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab.

He began pursuing music in 1983, earning a degree in music from Cairo University just three years later. He quickly gained recognition for his catchy songs, but it was the advent of music videos that marked the first decisive step in his career.

Amr Diab was in fact the first major Arab star to take this aspect into great consideration, distinguishing himself with carefully studied and catchy music videos that also made him successful from an iconic point of view. The great successes In 1996, his first proper album, Nour El Ain, was released, which is still considered an absolute and timeless hit in Arabic music, allowing him to immediately become one of the world’s brightest stars and opening the doors to collaborations with masters such as Cheb Khaled.

His other major success, unmatched to this day, was Tamally Maak, an album released in 2000 containing the hit of the same name, which Rolling Stone named one of the 50 most iconic Arabic songs of all time. These successes cemented Amr Diab’s reputation, making him the true master of Egyptian music in the digital age, thus securing his leading role in the present and future.

Like artists like Balti, Tinariwen, or Cheb Khaled, Amr Diab has transformed himself over the decades from a great artist to a figure who transcends time, becoming one of the absolute and timeless reference figures in Arabic music. Amr Diab will be one of the protagonists of Medio Oriente e Dintorni’s ‘Guide’ to Egypt, due out on 25 January, playing a central role in the section on the 1990s.

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