Al-Ahram Weekly On-line
8 - 14 February 2001
Issue No.520
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Current issue | Previous issue | Site map
Usually illiterate and often deemed crude or base, the sha'bi singer is a streetwise voice that speaks for millions. But is he really the village idiot the media takes him for?
Shaaban!
Man on the street
Neither simple nor innocent, sha'bi music has been called everything from vulgar to revolutionary. Mohamed El-Assyouti traces the sha'bi tradition from grassroots popularity into modern commercial success		 Sha'bi stars!
The money mawaal
How sha'bi singers escape the narrow confines of the microbus market is the key to their success or demise. Tarek Atia charts the course

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