Hamza Namira, Cairokee to Perform in Saudi Arabia

Egyptian musician Hamza Namira will perform live at the Abu Bakr Salem stage, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, June 10.

Meanwhile, rock band Cairokee will perform live at the Layalina stage, on Sunday, June 12.

Namira and Cairokee will present the concerts following an invitation from Counselor Turki Al Sheikh to give live shows in Saudi Arabia.

Namira is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His music is mostly marked by a recurring sociopolitical theme, perting from love songs and focusing on topics of general humanist interest, like hope, alienation, generational change, and oppression.

He is also interested in reviving cultural heritage. Having been dubbed "Voice of the Revolution", works of Hamza rose to prominence during the 25 January revolution, in which he personally participated, and were considered a symbolic figure thereof.

Cairokee was founded in 2003 but rose to fame with its revolutionary music after the 2011 Revolution due to its politically inspired lyrics and protest songs released following the revolution.

The band consists of lead vocalist Amir Eid, lead guitarist Sherif Hawary, drummer Tamer Hashem, keyboarder Sherif Mostafa, and bass guitarist Adam el-Alfy.

They were friends ever since they were young during their school days and Hashem was already a drummer back then.

In 2003, Eid and Hawary had already started an English band initially called, “Black Star” and started playing cover for English songs along with an Egyptian song entitled “Ghariba” that was highly admired by their audiences.

Cairokee was mainly influenced by “The Beatles” and “Pink Floyd”.