Raef Haggag (; born August 8, 1982) is an

Egyptian-American Egyptian Americans () are Americans of partial or full Egyptian ancestry. The 2016 US Census estimated the number of people with Egyptian ancestry at 256,000, most of whom are from Egypt's Christian Orthodox Coptic minority. Egyptian Americans m ...

singer.

Beginnings

Raef picked up playing guitar during his time at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

where he studied computer science. After graduation, Raef worked briefly as a software engineer before leaving to teach high school for eight years. As he says: "I decided to switch careers from a software eng. to a high school teacher because I wanted to help others in a more direct way (and because it was pretty boring sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day)". Raef taught

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Music career

Teaching gave Raef more time to focus on songwriting, often performing at local coffee shops and busking at metro stations. He was introduced to the national stage after his trio rock band "Great Seneca" toured the United States of America as part of the "Voices for Change" initiative. Raef also joined the "Poetic Vision Tour"; a band of traveling musicians and poets catering to the American

Muslim community ' (; ) is an Arabic word meaning Muslim identity, nation, religious community, or the concept of a Commonwealth of the Muslim Believers ( '). It is a synonym for ' (, lit. 'the Islamic nation'); it is commonly used to mean the collective comm ...

. Raef did several Muslim-themed covers of popular mainstream songs, attracting young listeners wanting a modern take on religious music Raef signed with

Awakening Records Awakening Music (previously known as Awakening Records) is an England-based music production company. It was created in 2000 by four entrepreneurs from England and the United States. Albums produced by Awakening Music ;Live albums Artis ...

and released his debut album ''The Path'' in 2014. In the summer of 2019 he released his second album ''Mercy'' with a notable shift towards rock and country music.

Success in Indonesia

Since the release of his debut album ''The Path'', Raef has made several trips to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

to promote his music and perform at live concerts. Appearing on Indonesian national television and invited by

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

mayor

Ridwan Kamil Mochamad Ridwan Kamil (born 4 October 1971), alternatively Kang Emil or RK, is an Indonesian architect and politician who was the 15th Governor of West Java, the largest (most populous) province of Indonesia. He was also the List of mayors of ...

to perform at the

Bandung Conference The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference (), also known as the Bandung Conference, was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–24 April 1955 in Bandung, We ...

brought Raef and his music to millions of Indonesians. Raef was also the star host on 30 episodes of ''The Journey of a Backpacker'', a Ramadan TV series that aired on

Kompas TV PT Cipta Megaswara Televisi, operating as Kompas TV, is an Indonesian private terrestrial television news broadcaster. It is owned by the KG Media unit of Kompas Gramedia Group, and named after its flagship property, the '' Kompas'' daily n ...

(later

Trans7 PT Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh (previously PT Duta Visual Nusantara), operating as Trans7 or TRANS7 in all caps (stylized TRɅNS, 7, pronounced ''Trans Tujuh'' in Indonesian, formerly known as TV7) is an Indonesian free-to-air television b ...

) across Indonesia and

TV Alhijrah TV Alhijrah (stylized in capital letters; also abbreviated as TVAH) is a state-owned Malaysian free-to-air Islamic television channel, owned and operated by Al-Hijrah Media Corporation, a company under the purview of the Department of Islamic ...

in Malaysia. In August 2015, Raef was awarded the "Platinum Award" for record sales in Indonesia. Following the blueprint of Season 1 of "The Journey of a Backpacker", Raef hosted Season 2, airing on

, in which he traveled across

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, visiting 30 historic and iconic mosques.

"We Are Home" music video project

Using Detroit-based

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

platform LaunchGood, over $22,000 via online donations were raised to fund the music video for "Home," directed by Los-Angeles based director, Lena Khan. The video shows Raef walking through

American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

observing contributions made by various immigrants to the United States. The video also features contributions made by Native Americans.

"Dear America" music video project

In his second crowdfunded music video project, Raef raised over $15,000 to fund the music video for "Dear America," directed by Washington DC based film director, Anas Tolba. The video shows clips of Americans across the spectrum experiencing a shared pain, highlighting "the reality of persistent injustices and divisions that are ripping our country apart". "Dear America" won several awards, including New York Movie Award's "Best Music Video"

Philanthropy

* On 14 April 2012, Raef took part in "Send a Little Hope" charity concert organized by Awakening Records and Save an Orphan organization at London's

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

with

Hamza Namira Hamza Namira () is an Egyptian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has released three albums from the production of Awakening Records: ''Dream With Me'', ''Insan'', ''Esmaani;'' and a couple of albums from Namira production, his own ...

Irfan Makki Irfan Makki (; born 30 October 1975) is a Pakistani-born Canadian Muslim singer-songwriter. Career After signing with Awakening Records, he released the album ''I Believe'', with 13 tracks. The title track "I Believe", featuring the Swedish-Leb ...

Maher Zain Maher Zain (; born 16 July 1981) is a Lebanon, Lebanese-Sweden, Swedish Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter and music producer. He released his debut album ''Thank You Allah'', an internationally successful album produced by Awakening Reco ...

and

Mesut Kurtis Mesut Kurtis (; ) is a Turkish-Macedonian singer who is represented by and signed to Awakening Records. He has released four albums namely "Salawat", "Beloved", "Tabassam", and "Balaghal Ula" and one mini album namely "Azeem Al-Shan". Backgro ...

to raise awareness and collect donations. Over £175,000 were pledged on the night.

Discography

Albums

Videography

References

External links

*
Raef page on Awakening Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raef 1982 births Living people Muslims from Washington, D.C. American people of Egyptian descent Performers of Islamic music Awakening Music artists 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers Rotana Records artists Universal Music Group artists American male singer-songwriters Musicians from Washington, D.C.