Meshwar mohamed mounir biography

At a time of tension between Muslims and the West, when pundits talk of a conflict of civilizations, the voice of Egyptian pop singer Mohamed Mounir calls for peace. Originally from the southern Egyptian region of Nubia, Mounir pioneered the introduction of Nubian artists and influences in Egypt 's Arab-dominated music scene, becoming a national voice known both for his music and his acting roles in more than a dozen Egyptian films.

Already the king of politicized pop in his own country, he won recognition in the West after his post-September 11, , religious quest culminated in a musical call for reason and religious tolerance. Mohamed Mounir was born in the mids to an affluent Nubian family in Aswan, a city the southern part of Egypt. Nubians, a dark-skinned people of mixed Arab and African descent, are a culturally endangered minority in both Egypt and Sudan.

Nubian music is characterized by soft, distinctive rhythms, melodies, chants, and intonation, which Mounir absorbed from an early age.

Mohamed Mounir is an Egyptian singer and actor, with a musical career spanning more than four decades.

As a teenager in the early s, after Nubia was flooded by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, he and his family were forced to join other Nubians in an exodus to Cairo. While studying art at Cairo University, Mounir began his musical career, and continued to sing during his military service in the s. His distinctive voice, musical sensibility, and ethnicity, however, made him an outsider, setting him apart from the Arabic sounds that dominated Egyptian pop music.

For example, while Arab singers usually dressed in suits and performed with orchestras, Mounir appeared on stage in jeans, and startled his audiences by jumping, swaying, and dancing while he sang. He was an odd and eccentric artist who didn't even hold a microphone like everyone else. Nonetheless, the Egyptian public eventually accepted his individuality and made him a national star, opening the door for other aspiring Nubian artists.

Thanks in part to Mounir, Nubian chanting styles and intonation have won remarkable acceptance among non-Nubian Egyptians and Sudanese. According to Khalil, the idea was to mix American jazz, Nubian music, Western instruments, and Arabic and Nubian lyrics to create a new sound, and Mohamed Mounir's voice was just what he needed. Their musical mixture was an immediate success, as was Mounir's adoption of Western musical technology, such as synthesizers, and Occidental rhythms.