Amir (Deluxe) is a majestic debut for Tamino

This past October, singer Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad, better known as Tamino, released the deluxe version of his debut album Amir (2019), which contains virtually all of his significant work to date. Listening through this album — with many tracks on repeat over the following days — I was floored by Amir’s creativity and excited about English-Arabic fusion music being explored in an authentic way. 

I first heard Tamino when a friend sent me his live performance of “Intervals” recorded with the Nagham Zikrayat Orchestra. I was immediately struck by the grandeur of his composition, by how Tamino gracefully builds up a ballad that is complete with streaks of Middle-Eastern melody. His crooning voice and confident presence convinced me he was a star in the making. As it turns out, Tamino is indeed making waves in Europe and the Middle-East.

Amir carries a certain mythical air about him. Undoubtedly his voice and handsome visage play no small part in this image, but his distant, confident demeanor appears truly unique. His background may have something to do with it: Amir was born and brought up in Belgium but hails from Egypt. His grandfather, whose guitar inspired him to pick up music, was a beloved actor-musician known popularly as “The Sound of the Nile.” Amir holds his grandfather’s legacy close to heart and colors his music with influences from Egypt.

“Habibi,” the first song on the album, introduces Tamino’s novel vision. Over dissonant chords derived from scales exotic to western ears, he begins in a mellow voice and builds intensity through the song. On each chorus, Tamino creates space by cutting out instrumentals to direct focus to his sublime falsetto. Tamino, with great ease, sings notes that would strain a soprano.

A defining feature of Amir, and especially in the live versions included in the deluxe version, is the presence of the Nagham Zikrayat Orchestra, a Middle Eastern instrumental orchestra based in Belgium. Many of the orchestra’s musicians are refugees from Iraq and Syria who bring a unique spirit to the album. Their sound is evocative of regal Arabic tradition with focus placed on accompanying the lead singer. In “So It Goes,” the orchestra shadows Tamino’s melody, careful to never outshine his presence. What results is the sort of meditative elevation found throughout Tamino’s music.

Appearing mid-album, “Indigo Night” is the account of a young traveller’s sensual awakening and one of Amir’s finest songs. “I have seen the world’s most beautiful places/Still I feel as If I’m a walking machine” he writes, connecting Arabic folksiness and modern metaphor. Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood also features on “Indigo Night” with a groovy baseline.

Closing out the album are two tracks “Intervals” and “Persephone” that epitomize Tamino’s mystical lyricism. His lyrics are often cryptic, but always moving. “Persephone” is a rare track where the meaning is clear: Tamino describes the Greek god of the underworld Hades’ guilt about trapping his lover, Persephone, in the underworld. The song also holds its own apart from its Grecian context as the cry of a guilty-ridden lover. “Yes my love, I confess to you/I am only here to break your heart in two” he sings with characteristic simplicity, and it is not hard to believe Amir is a heartbreaker himself.

Tamino’s tracks flow into one another, and to ears unaccustomed to Arabic music, his songs can sound melodically and structurally similar. A Tamino song is likely to begin with grounded vocals over a plucked guitar, build up orchestral intensity, and crescendo with a chorus or refrain in falsetto. Yet, rather than diminish any single song, these parallels provide Amir’s project with a cohesiveness that far exceeded my expectation for a debut album.

Amir is bringing Arabic music into the modern western context. I can’t wait to see where he takes this vision next.

Article by Shankara Srikantan