The Egyptian Musician Association is organizing a press conference to celebrate Egyptian singer Hakim’s nomination to participate and sing at the Noble Peace Prize special event ceremony that will be held in Norway on December 11, 2006.
According to the London based Elaph, Hakim is considered to be the first Arab singer to participate in the prestigious event. The singer was chosen on the basis that he is considered to be one of the most popular Arab singers who performs with singers from the around the world.
Hakim has just completed recording a new duet with Latin singer Edwan Amr , as well as almost placing the final touches on his upcoming album, which is scheduled for release in the near future.
Hakim will announce at the press conference, which will be held at the Sheraton hotel in Cairo, the details of his preparations for the Noble Peace ceremony, in addition to the songs that he will sing. It is expected that the Norwegian ambassador in Egypt and head of the Musician Association will participate in the press conference.
Recently, Hakim performed at the Carthage festival in Tunisia. Hakim stated that he holds a special bond with Tunisia especially since it is the first country that hosted him when he became a singer and ever since he had not stopped taking part in different festivals.
Hakim had prepared a special song dedicated to Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq under the title “Risalah” (A Message), but is still hesitant about singing it at the Carthage Festival, because as he says his goal is to bring joy to people not to make them cry, which is what will happen if he sings the special song.
On a different note, Hakim has justified his long absence from the spotlight in the past couple of months as his way of taking time off to relax and rediscover himself, especially after the failure of his last film “Ali Spicy”.
The film, produced by the Arab Company for Production and Distribution played only briefly at select theaters, and reportedly did not generate more that 250 thousand Egyptian pounds.
The singer stated that since his film was not produced by one of the major companies it was treated in an unfair manner, although despite this treatment, the film was able to achieve some success in the short time it was screened.
Film critics described Hakim’s acting as poor, but took into consideration that it was his first film.
