Ahmed Adaweya

Ahmed Adaweyah shocked and delighted Egyptians for decades with his always acceptable yet borderline risqué songs. He first worked in a café, but in 1971 he began performing songs forged in the crucible of the Cairo streets, full of working-class slang and double entendres. Like many shaabi (working-class) musicians, Adaweyah specialized in mawal (vocal improvisation). From the beginning, he worked the music scene hard, performing not only in Egypt but also on the English club circuit, and he began to rocket to stardom. Despite his considerable newfound wealth, he remained a champion of the working class and a sly critic of middle-class complacency, stances that kept Egypt's censors working overtime. Later, Adaweyah became the subject of some criticism when he introduced drum machines and synthesizers to his music in the early '90s, which was seen by many as a step backward. Meanwhile, rumors also circulated that the great singer had been emasculated during a 1989 assault by an angry Kuwaiti emir after Adaweyah wrote a lewd song about a Kuwaiti princess. After a lengthy spell recovering, he returned to recording in 1990 and occasionally released new material through the 2010s. Adaweyah died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 79. ~ Leon Jackson, Rovi