Fadel shaker

Fadel Shaker ( Arabic فضل شاكر Fadl Shaker ; actually Fadel Abd ar-Rahman Shamandar ; Arabic فضل عبد الرحمن شمندر; born April 1, 1969 in Lebanon ) is a Lebanese singer with Lebanese and Palestinian roots. Shaker is an advocate for Palestinian rights, which also contributed to his success. From Mahmoud Abbas , he received honorary Palestinian citizenship.

Fadel Shaker performing in 2008

family

Shaker's father is Lebanese and his mother is Palestinian. He grew up in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon . In 1989, when he was only 20 years old, he married his Palestinian wife Nadia. He fell in love with her after she attended one of his concerts. He has three children with her, Alhan (1990), Muhammad (1994) and Rana (2002). After their third child, the couple separated. He owned a three-story villa with a swimming pool, valued at $ 4.5 million, near Sidon and a private orchard. Shaker had opened a restaurant in Sidon.

Career

1997: Early commercial successes

1997 Shaker was discovered by an agent of the label Al Khouyoul Records and signed a contract for three albums.

He published his first album Wallah Zaman in 1998. It contained eight songs, of which Meta Habeby Meta , Maserak Habeby and Ya Tkon Habeby were composed by Shaker himself. Some of the songs on the album were composed and written by well-known Arab stars such as Salah El Sharnoby and Ahmed Sheta. With the success of the album, he had his first breakthrough.

Baya'a El Qolob , the second album, was released in 1999. Here, too, Shaker composed a song, Malet Ana A'azar. Within the first week, the title song reached number 1 in the charts and was very popular on radio stations in the Middle East. Due to its great success, Shaker produced a video clip each for Baya'a El Qolob and Eesheqtak .

2000-2002

In 2000 the third album El Hob El Adem was released . It contained well-known songs such as Ash Men Shafak . This album also had great success in the charts. His fourth album Hobak Khayal was released in 2001 and contained 10 songs, u. a. Hazzak Ya Qalby , Men Kotr Hoby Feek , and El Maraya .

Shaker released the first duet in 2002 with the well-known Arab singer Nawal. It topped the charts and stayed there for five months. Music critics voted the song the best duet in the music history of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf . A music video was also shot for this song, directed by Ahmed El Doghajy.

2003-2011

Since 2003 he has been publishing with Rotana Records . With the release of Ya Ghayeb , Shaker became a star in the Arab world. Even before the CD was released, the song was played by several Arabic radio stations and voted Best Song of 2003 many times . Because of this, it was already a hit before it was released on CD. Shaker acquired the rights to the melody of the song from the Greek singer and composer Sotis Volanis . The lyrics are from Prince Turky Bin Abdel Rahman El Sudairy, who also wrote the song Dehkat El Dony .

Shaker had many appearances at major Arab festivals, e.g. B. in Egypt , Lebanon, Jordan , Kuwait , the United Arab Emirates and other countries around the world. Since 2002 at the latest he has been considered one of the most successful singers in the Arab world, and he has also received several awards. He was nicknamed Malek El Romansia ( King of Romanticism ) by his fans . Shaker attached great importance to the preservation of the traditional Arabic music style (see Maqam ).

politics

Relations with radical Islam

Triggered by the 2005 assassination attempt on Rafiq al-Hariri , a Lebanese ex-president of the Sunni denomination, Shaker, also a Sunni , turned more and more to radical Islam. Back in 2007, when he broke off a European tour, he started thinking about retirement. In 2008, reports came out of an altercation between Shaker and Ragheb Alama , a Lebanese singer of the Shiite denomination. Alama even received death threats from Shaker. In 2010 Shaker made the pilgrimage to Mecca and has since taken fewer appearances.

After the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011, which also flared up the religious conflicts in Lebanon , Shaker announced that he would support the insurgents and be a close supporter of the Lebanese Hezbollah- hostile Salafist preacher Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir . He appeared together with Al-Assir in public and on talk shows and thus became the face of the group alongside Al-Assir. Through Shaker's fame she reached a large audience. In 2012 he performed at a festival in Morocco with Mariah Carey, among others . Shaker then announced that he would give up his music career because music was haram . He apologized for being part of this “superficial” culture and wanted to focus on Islamic studies. He sees Shiites as a danger to all of his Sunni fellow believers and must defend himself against it.

After an attack by Al-Assir fighters on Lebanese soldiers on June 23, 2013 in Sidon, in which 17 soldiers were killed, Shaker claimed in a video that he himself was responsible for the deaths of two soldiers. In other videos, Shaker boasted of the deaths of his enemies, calling them "dogs and pigs". The Lebanese authorities issued arrest warrants for Shaker, Al-Assir and 122 other members of his militia. Shaker is charged with several crimes, including participating in an armed rebellion and murder. In the worst case scenario, Shaker faces the death penalty. His brother Abu Abed Shamandour was subsequently killed and his nephew arrested. During the events, Shaker's villa was ransacked and set on fire. Shaker and Al-Assir disappeared and the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp was suspected to be their whereabouts. In the military buffer zone between the barricades of the Lebanese army and the civilian areas of the camp, he appeared several times during Ramadan under the protection of the Sunni Jund al-Sham militia.

While many fans were appalled by Shaker's change, close acquaintances and friends were less surprised. Shaker has always been emotional, naive and easily influenced. With increasing success he got increasingly into bad circles, and he was under family pressure. His brother in particular tried to convince him again and again to give up music because singing is forbidden in Islam.

On March 8, 2015, Shaker announced in an interview with the Lebanese television broadcaster LBC that he wanted to return to his "normal life". He denied having been involved in the 2013 attacks on the Lebanese army or having ever held a weapon in his hands. He only felt “sympathy” with Al-Assir, and his relationship with him was strained. He protested his innocence and said that he might turn himself in. According to rumors, Shaker is said to have negotiated with the Lebanese government, according to which he would have to publicly give up his ties to Al-Assir and distance himself from his radical statements, in return that Shaker could leave the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp, where he has been stuck since 2013. The interview is intended to rehabilitate Shaker's public image. The Lebanese army denied such an agreement.

Shaker's appearance met with mixed reactions from the Lebanese population, and many users reacted critically on social networks.

Discography

Albums

• 1998: Walah Zaman (Al Khouyoul Records)
• 1999: Baya 'El Oolob (Al Khouyoul Records)
• 2000: El Hob El Adeem (Al Khouyoul Records)
• 2000: Sahrat Tarab (Master Melody)
• 2001: Hobak Khayal ( Al Khouyoul Records)
• 2003: Layali Beirut ( Rotana Records)
• 2003: Sa'at Taram maa Fadl Shaker ( Rotana Records)
• 2003: Sidi Rouhi ( Rotana Records)
• 2004: Saharni El Shok ( Rotana Records)
• 2006: Allah Aalam ( Rotana Records)
• 2009: Baada Aal Bal ( Rotana Records)

Web links

• Ya Ghayeb on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Fadel Shaker: Crooner Turned Fugitive Militant . Naharnet.com. June 25, 2013.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Fadl Shaker: Lebanon crooner turned fugitive militant . GlobalPost. June 25, 2013.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Once a 'King of Romance,' Now an Angry Militant , The New York Times July 27, 2013
4. ↑ الرئيس عباس يمنح الجنسية الفلسطينية لـ "فضل شاكر" , Al Arabiya.com March 13, 2012
5. ↑ ^{a b} How Fadel Shaker went from Lebanese torch singer to firebrand Salafist , theguardian.com, August 20, 2013
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Fadl Shaker: Arab Pop Star Turns Salafi ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , al-akhbar, March 6, 2012
7. ↑ ^{a b} What Happened to Fadel Shaker? ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , al-monitor.com, July 4, 2013
8. ↑ Lebanese troops say they have overrun cleric's compound after days of fighting , theguardian.com, June 24, 2013
9. ↑ Report: Fadel Shaker's Bodyguard Wounded in Bomb Attack , naharnet.com, January 2, 2015
10. ^ Famous Lebanese singer of romance turns into strict salafi , Biyokulule.com, November 14, 2012
11. ↑ Lebanese Army storms Assir complex, preacher flees , The Daily Star, June 24, 2013
12. ↑ ^{a b} Fadel Shaker says he wants to return to “normal life” , LebaneseExaminer.com, March 9, 2015
13. ^ Army Storms Asir's Security Zone, Cleric Disappears after 16 Troops Martyred . Naharnet.com. June 24, 2013.
14. ↑ ^{a b} When Re-Invention Goes Too Far: Singer-Turned-Salafist Fadel Shaker Wants Out , stepfeed.com, March 10, 2015
15. ^ Fadel Shaker's Brother Killed in Abra Clashes. In: Naharnet.com. Retrieved June 24, 2013 . 
16. ↑ بالفيديو ... فضل شاكر يغني لـ'صيدا 'ويتحدى الإعدام - وكالة وطن للأنباء . Wattan.tv. August 8, 2013.
17. ↑ "جند الشام" متخوفون من إستهدافهم ... وفضل شاكر يدعوهم للتأهب . SlabNews.com. August 13, 2013.
18. ↑ Ruth Sherlock: Lebanese singer becomes wanted fugitive after joining militant clashes . Telegraph. June 25, 2013.
19. ↑ ^{a b} Fadl Shaker is back. But is he welcome? , al-Araby, March 10, 2015
20. ↑ Pop singer-militant, on run since 2013, plans to surrender , The Daily Star.com, March 10, 2015
21. ↑ ^{a b} Shame On LBCI and Lebanese Authorities For Cleaning Fadel Shaker's Image , stateofmind13.com, March 9, 2015
22. ↑ Lebanon Army says no deal made with fugitive pop singer Fadel Shaker , TheDailyStar.com, March 12, 2015