Romantic representative of indie rock: Who is Tamino?

Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad, born in 1996, was born in Antwerp as the first child of a Belgian mother and an Egyptian father. The young singer's great-grandfather is Egyptian singer and actor Muharram Fouad. Tamino, who has vocal and musical talent as a family inheritance, received vocal training from the Amsterdam Royal Conservatory at the young age of 17.

Stating that there was always someone making music at home, Tamino's mother often played the piano as a hobby. He wrote his first song at the age of 14, inspired by coming from a family and home surrounded by music. The young star states that it was a big moment for him when he sat down at the piano with this song. In November 2016, his first single, "Habibi", was released.

Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad (born 24 October 1996), known mononymously as Tamino, is a Belgian-Egyptian singer, musician and model. He is the grandson of Egyptian singer and movie star Muharram Fouad. Before commercial success, at age 17 Tamino trained vocally at the Amsterdam Royal Conservatory.

After appearing in various festivals and tours, he fascinated his music lovers with his albums Amir in 2018 and Sahar in 2022. Tamino's brother Ramy Moharam Fouad completed the videos for "Cigar" and "Persephone" from the Amir album. Despite his busy schedule, he tries to help his brother as much as possible during his tours. We can say that these are the good results of being a family interested in art.

When asked if there are any Belgian, Egyptian, or Lebanese artists who have directly influenced his musical aesthetics, Tamino lists names such as Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Moharam Fouad, Fairouz, Marcel Khalife, dEUS, Balthazar, Zita Swoon and Kapitan Korsakov.

In another interview, he mentions that questions or comments related to his roots or identity can be problematic. He argues that his roots, of course, have an impact on his music, but this should not be the main issue to focus on.

However, “I think there is a trend of identity politics in general. And I think in music, in art, in the way we look at artists, there's a tendency sometimes to be more interested in who the artist is than what they do. And that's something that I personally don't agree with or can't really relate to. “I always think work comes first,” he explains.

Tamino adds that he realized his connection with his roots more clearly when he found his grandfather's guitar during his trip to Cairo at the age of 15-16.

"Nowadays, I go on stage with my guitar, me and my oud," says the young artist. Radiohead's bassist Colin Greenwood, producer and sound engineer PJ Maertens, and drummer Ruben Vanhoutte also contributed to his latest album, Sahar.

We can say that he added a different depth to his music with the presence of a more local instrument such as the lute in the same album. Adding that he has a controlling side during the production phase of the songs, Tamino adds that he always prefers to work with people whose ideas and art he trusts.