Shaaban Abdel Rahim ( ar, شعبان عبد الرحيم), also known as Sha'bola ( ar, شعبولا), (15 March 1957 – 3 December 2019) was an Egyptian pop (

Sha'abi Shaabi ( arz, شعبي'' '' ) is an Egyptian musical genre. It is a form of popular working-class music which evolved from Egyptian Baladi in the second half of the 20th century, it's the core of Egyptian people music in streets and wedding ...

) singer, formerly working as ''makwagi'' (man who irons clothing) and known for catchy songs with political lyrics.The Fool Sings a Hero's Song: Shaaban Abdel Rahim, Egyptian Shaabi, and the Video Clip Phenomenon
by James R. Grippo, TBS 16, 2006He Hates Israel, Too
Meet Islam Khalil, the brains behind ''I Hate Israel'' and makwagi crooner Shaaban Abdel Rahims other political hits, by Yasmin Moll, EgyptToday May 2004

Introduction

Sha'bān Abdel Rahīm was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

, Egypt and worked for many years in poverty as a foot-operated laundry presser before his songs catapulted him into stardom. Following a string of sensationalist hits, Abdel Rahīm became one of the most popular Egyptian sha'bī singers. Egyptian Sha'bī is a category of popular class music that can be described as urbanized folk music. In 2000, Sha'bān's breakthrough song "Ana Bakrah Israel" (I Hate

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) accompanied by the catchy refrain "But I Love

Amr Moussa Amr Moussa ( ar, عمرو موسى, , Amr Muhammad Moussa; born 3 October 1936) is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 to 1 July 201 ...

", caused a great deal of controversy, and many were surprised that it passed Egyptian censors. Many of Shaaban's songs were sold informally on cheaply processed cassette tapes. His poor background, informal language, and frank lyrics have made him very popular with the Egyptian public. Since then, Sha'bān has continued to produce popular political songs, often quickly following current events. After the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, he produced a song titled "Yā 'Amm 'Arabī" (Literally: "Oh Arab People," meaning "Hey Arabs"). His song "Bin Bin Bin Bin Laden" was on the Egyptian airwaves before startled state censors banned it.Anti-war song a hit in Egypt
by Philip Smucker in Cairo, 12 March 2003 In 2003 He got back at the top of the Arab hit parade with "The Attack on Iraq" / "Don't Bomb Iraq". The hit could be heard from taxis in downtown Cairo streets:

''Enough!''
''Chechnya! Afghanistan! Palestine! Southern Lebanon! Golan Heights!''
''And now Iraq, too? And now Iraq, too?''
''It's too much for people! Shame on you!''
''Enough! Enough! Enough!''Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
by Anthony Shadid, page 16

In 2005, he produced a song about the

Muhammed cartoon controversy The ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, da, Muhammedkrisen) began after the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'' published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhamma ...

entitled "We’re All Out of Patience", and in 2006 a song about the

2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

. During 2010 Ramadan season, an episode with Sha'bān, in Ibrahim Issa's Hamra (Red) television talk show, was focusing on defending the right to smoke

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a cannabis (drug), drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. Eu ...

. Islām Khalīl, the songwriter and an Arabic teacher at an elementary school in Qalyubia responsible for "I hate Israel", "Bombing Iraq" and other politically contentious songs sung by the performer, said he had to teach Abdel Rahīm the meaning behind some of the ideas behind his songs.

Death

Abdel Rahim died on 3 December 2019 at the age of 62 in Cairo due to heart failure.

References

External links

Shaaban Abdel Rahim: All of our patience has run out (Youtube)Shaaban Abdel Rahim: Just for two soldiers (Youtube)Shaaban Abdel Rahim: Saddam Hussein (Youtube)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdel Rahim, Shaaban 1957 births 2019 deaths 21st-century Egyptian male singers Musicians from Cairo