Mustapha Mahmoud:
By the age of twenty, he was very happy and hopeful about life, his voice was very loud… He does not mind if he interrupts you in the middle of the conversation to tell you a jock he just remembered or to wipe his tears when he talks about his love to his parents… He married, till now, a thousand men to a thousand of brides, and could make them happy. While I was having a conversation with him, he received plenty of phone calls about animating wedding ceremonies four months later… He admits to be lazy and stupid concerning relationships, and this is happening because his songs are not broadcasted on television in spite of his great popularity. His best moment is when someone calls him and tells him how much he was emotionally touched by listening to one of the songs. What a beautiful moment when he knows that some people bought his album and gave it to their friends a present. One of his audiences called him one and told him that he had cried while he had been listening to “God send me to heaven”.

Concerning his religious visions, he is inspired by Sheikh QaraDawi’s lectures and the Ex-Sheikh of Al-Azhar Jad Al-Haq Ali Jad Al-haq. Mustapha thinks that Islamic singing is weak, and says that the problem is that most of the groups sing with no feelings towards the beauty of art. Those groups pollute the artistic environment…on the other hand, he thanks God that there are some others who are truly faithful in their works.

When I told him that he was boastful, he smartly smiled and said: “I am really proud of my art and thoughts…I see that the genuine artist is the one who should be proud of his art, his way of thinking, his feelings and taste…”, he admits that he did not go to school; “I have thought about studying but currently I cannot be only Mustapha the singer since I have duties concerning my family life. Art does not fulfil all these responsibilities, though, with all my respect to education, I just try to develop myself by getting in touch with artists”. The beginning: A song in a manifestation! Mustapha Mahmoud said once about himself: “I like art and I have been tasting it since my childhood; I used to play Accordion and Saxophone at school, I used to play Org Too, and the more I grow up the more you find instruments in my room. I was the right hand of the music teacher. In the high school period, I used to love parties with disco and Heavy music. He laughs before saying: “In the beginnings of my university studies in 1992 I wanted to become a DJ…or an artist, I used to sit with my friends and sing songs of Mohammed Mounir and Hamid Ashaîri…My friends believed in me as a singer but I thought they were making fun of me. Mustapha’s life changed and started to get to know about Islamic courant at the University…The funny thing is that Mustapha started to be interested in the Islamic courant while he was attending a music party about Bosnia and Herzegovina; he liked the artistic atmosphere. Another time, he found an election march and took part in its Islamic song and dance. He said: “One of the guys recognized me and knew that I loved music, he gave me an album of a group…I remember one of the songs called “Thouwar” (revolutionaries)”. That album had a great impact on Mustapha’s principles… He sang in university parties that are made by the Islamic courant as a coral member…His first powerful appearance as an artist was in one of his friends’ wedding by a song that is called “Islamna Dah Malou Mathil” (Our Islam is unique). Mustapha says: “It was like magic…with a new rock style, then, three groups wanted me in”.

Mustapha Adds: “The next step is that I created the “Waâd” group in 1996. Some times we animate parties, and our concern is focused on Audio effects and the look of the performers”. Mustapha confidently says: “I think that the group has become, according to me, number one in Egypt in the last four years”.

His artistic experience:
He is accused of lacking artistic ideas and not having a good voice, he admits that by saying: “My vocal potential is not excellent, however, many artists and composers said that I am much better than lots of singers who has pretty voices…I know that I have some “handicaps” in some things but I am very special”.

Concerning “handicaps” he says: “I do not have a big voice surface, I don’t have much vocal floors…These surfaces are God’s gifts…and it was very know that Abd Al Halim Hafiz had vocal problems…I have enough experience concerning music and singing during the heydays of Hamid Ashaîri, Mohammed Mounir, Ali Al Hajjar and Iman Al Bahr Darouish…Even the occidental songs in the late eighties are part of me like Pop, Heavy and Metal…”

Mustapha surprised many people when he said that his success is due to his ignorance of Anasheed; He has never listened to them…He produced his own style without being influenced and could reach the peoples’ ears.

He added:” I have never listened to Islamic chants because, artistically speaking, I was listing to all kinds of music…Since my reservation about Islamic principles I only listen to some of Hamid Ashaîri, Ali Al Hajjar, Iman Bahr Darouish and Aâyda Al Ayoubi’s works; I love them all because I think they all have a special vision especially Iman Bahr…He has an artistic thinking…I think I do too…He is my ultimate idol, not only concerning singing, but concerning his singing vision. He does not focus on emotions; You don’t listen to a voice but you listen to an idea…a human being.”

Albums on cassettes:

He says about his first album (Ya tarîq / Oh Road!) 1999: “Everything was ready: Lyrics, ideas and visions. I was working on it since 1995; I even designed the album’s cover…and chose the album’s title and the main track…I started dialling some producers and art keens with no result…Then, I decided to produce it under my charges, and cost me nearly a Thousand Dollars…I talked about Human issues…for I felt like the need to listen to such style…I personally think that it worked with the people…I imagine that fifty thousand albums were sold.

Mustapha is not satisfied about all his two albums: (a great heart and Oh road); he says about them: “That’s what I really want to present, I was not thinking about the audience or the sails; my only concern was about the issues…I have never tried to satisfy tastes”.

How does he choose the Lyrics?

He was criticized about his exaggerated interference in composing and writing. He defended himself by saying that he is the only responsible for the product he is making since it bears his name. He keeps on saying: “Sometimes the song writer introduces his work to me and I choose what seems to be good to me or ask him to make some modifications. Some other times, I ask him to write about a specific object as the case of: “Saktine Lih” (Why are you silent?)…”Osrokh Ya Damir” (scream out; conscious)…”Ba qolak Ih” (I tell you what).” He says about song writers the following statement: “Some of them are just beginners and some are professional, of course it is better to be good professionally speaking and at the same time be so excited about the Islamic vision. Indeed, I have refused to work with some song writers because they did not have the least of feelings that I require.”

Although, in the musical Islamic field, the composer and song writer are not paid as the ordinary one do…but a lot of them tolerates this fact since they like the experience.

Some of the song writers that I work with is: Hussni Mahmud, a very skilled person who is mentally rich; he uses good rhymes. The one I like the most is Salah Jalal; he has intuition, a very standard choice of terms and faithfulness in his work…He has a wide and open vision concerning Islam. I am really proud of his existence in the artistic field.

As far as composition is concerned, he said: “I work with plenty of composers; each one of them has his own style, for instance: Ihab Abd Assalam; the motivated operatic inventor, Yassir Talâat who has a calm and smooth style…Ahmad Ramadan who has a traditional popular style…”

The renewing:
Mustapha is always looking for renewing his style…He worked on many humanistic themes such as mother’s love and the love of the wife…He even edited a song about his university mates, about the way of commitment to Islam and about the social critics in his song “Nobody talks about dreams”. Mustapha says: “It’s a genuine personal experience that composers go through since they had faced a lot of controversies in society…I was convinced about the experience and that’s why I sang about it”. “No to farewell” is a song about separation; a theme that interests Mustapha. He presented an English song that he described as “a supplementary song”. He did a rap song in his last album and an emotional one with an occidental slow style which is close to Hamid Ashaîiri’s…Mustapha has composed many pieces of work such as: “Why are you silent?” and “A great heart”.