POP STAR KICKS BACK BLAME FOR EGYPT’S WORLD CUP WOES

Mohamed Hamaki speaks out to Saeed Saeed about the blame placed on Egyptian pop stars who followed the national team to Russia to sing for fans

Not even Mohamed Hamaki’s easy smile could hide his agitation. It wasn’t because he was about to meet regional press just hours before his much publicised concert at the Mawazine Festival in Morocco. No, it was due to the fact that we were meeting him 30 minutes before Egypt would play its final football match as part of the World Cup, and he was raring to race back to the hotel to catch the kick-off. A self-confessed football-lover in addition to a pan-Arab pop star, to say that Hamaki has closely followed his nation’s football exploits at the tournament is an understatement. He arrived in the Moroccan capital of Rabat after spending a week in the World Cup host nation Russia as part of a group of Egyptian artists who entertained family and fans of the national team with both private and public concerts.

“It was of course like a dream come true,” he told us. “The atmosphere is great and you are doing your bit to help the national team. It was a great experience.”

Perhaps he was being too generous. With the Egyptian national team bungled out of the tournament on Monday after it was defeated in all of its three matches, the local press and social media began aiming their ire at the visiting pop-stars, claiming their appearance as part of the Egyptian football team delegation was ultimately a distraction. Understandably, Hamaki, who we spoke to again after the defeat, didn’t take the accusations too kindly.

“You know, everything is amazing and you are praised when the team is winning,” he says. “But with the team performing not well people began looking for things to blame, so they point at the singers. I read online that certain members of the team’s coaching staff apparently skipped training to attend my concert. This is not true; the show was for the family of the players. Then again, if that actually happened and we were winning, I would be celebrated.” Beyond football

Hamaki shrugs this all off as he is now focusing on his own winning streak: ever since entering the limelight with his moderately received 1997 debut Leqa’ El Nogoom, the 42-year-old has diligently worked on building a steady

career with

Wahid Tajani Mohamed Hamaki performed at Mawazine Festival in Morocco this week. With the Egyptian team performing badly in the World Cup, people began pointing the finger at pop stars including Hamaki