Ahlam (singer)

Ahlam
Background information
Native name أحلام علي الشامسي
Birth name Ahlam Ali AlShamsi
Born (1969-02-13) February 13, 1969
Muharraq, Bahrain
Origin United Arab Emirates
Genres Arabic Music
Occupation(s) Singer
Years active 1995–present
Labels Platinum Records
Website http://ahlam-alshamsi.com/

Ahlam Ali Al Shamsi (Arabic: أحلام علي الشامسي‎) (born February 13, 1969), commonly known as Ahlam (Arabic: أحلام‎) is an Bahraini, Emirati female singer from UAE. In 2006, she sang to the major record label, Rotana. She has released a total of ten albums including two, El Thokol Sana'a (2006) and Hatha Ana (2009) under its name.[1][2] In 2011, Ahlam joined MBC's Arab Idol judging panel,[3] and retained as judge for four consecutive seasons.

Biography

Ahlam bint Ali bin Hazeem Alshamsi was born in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to an Emirati father and a Bahraini mother. Her father is an Emirati folk singer, Ali Alshamsi. Ahlam was raised as a child in Bahrain. She is married to the famous Qatari rally champion, Mubarak Al-Hajiri, with whom she has three children. She is one of the Arab Stars in the Middle East. Mohammed Abdo, a prominent and well-known musician within the Arab world, gave her the nickname: Star of the UAE. however, Ahlam was crowned queen at the Festival in Doha 2003 Qatar.[4]

She participated in few festivals around the United Arab Emirates, particularly the "Layali Dubai" festival. She has also been honored at several festivals in Kuwait. She was crowned queen of the Festival in the Doha-Qatar festival in 2003.[4]

Festival

She performed at the Unisco Festival and Ledo Festival in France where she was the first Arab singer that sang twice. She also had the honour of performing at the Washington Festival in the USA, the Albert Hall Festival in the UK and many other Festivals in London.[4]

Joining Arab Idol

In 2011, Ahlam joined MBC's Arab Idol judging panel alongside Lebanese singer Wael Kfoury and Egyptian composer Hassan El Shafei and Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram.[3] Ragheb reportedly left due to her "tackiness".[5]

"The Queen" TV show

In March 2016, after the first episode of her show "The Queen" was broadcast on Dubai TV, a trending Twitter hashtag was launched by viewers and other people demanding that the program gets stopped for multiple reasons such as the "lack of manners, degrading acts, returning us to the age of slaves" and various other claims made by the Arab world and the people of UAE.[5][6] In the show, Ahlam asks contestants, who come from across the Arab world, how much they love her and if they are willing to do everything she asks of them, one of the contestants went by far to say that she's willing to cheat and betray anyone for Ahlam.

Several other journalists and known personalities such as Nidal Al Ahmadieh and Adel Karam and a few others; took the opportunity to further trend the hashtag and even insult Ahlam, and Ahlam used her Twitter to insult them back first by retweeting a poem written by one of her fans which accuses Lebanon of being "falafill peddlers" and then Ahlam tweeted said: "I'm telling the beggars so they won't keep on talking about their mistress and queen. Let them prove they love their country and pick up the rubbish from their streets" which majority of people considered to be a disrespectful generalization to the people of Lebanon.[7] Nidal launched a hashtag on Twitter which became a popular trend easily in Lebanon and other Arab countries "Arabic: #منع_أحلام_من_دخول_لبنان‎" (Ban Ahlam from entering Lebanon).[7]

After that, Ahlam reportedly took other news channels to explain the situation that she referred only to few people which she doesn't consider journalists or media and that she wouldn't even insult the sand of Lebanon, let alone insulting Lebanon as a whole, she never apologized because according to her she never made a mistake.

Whether directly or indirectly, she was reportedly replaced as judge with Samira Said for Arab Idol Season 4.

Discography

Albums

  • أحبك موت (I Love You Till Death) (1995) [4]
  • مع السلامة (Goodbye) (1996)
  • كيف ارضى (How Do I Agree) (1997)
  • ما يصح الا الصحيح (Nothing is Right But Right) (1998)
  • طبيعي (Normal) (1999)
  • مختلف (Different) (2000)
  • لعلمك بس (Just To Let You Know) (2001)
  • أحسن (Better) (2003)
  • الثقل صنعه (Weight) (2006)
  • هذا أنا (This Is Me) (2009)
  • موعدك (Your Time) (2013)
  • أبتحداك (Challenge You) (2015)
  • يلازمني خيالك (Your Fantasy Is Living With Me) (2016)

Awards and nominations

She was rewarded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the United Arab Emirates by his Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed at the "Lamst Wafa" honouring Event. On July 21, 2011, it was announced that Ahlam would be on the judging panel of "Arab Idol", the Arabic version of the American Idol. Based on online statistics, Ahlam is first in terms of social media followers in the Middle East, one of the most active people online and her name has been one of the most searched keywords in the Google search engine.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Ahlam joins Rotana". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Ahlam films in Beirut". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Ahlam promises to surprise fans in Arab Idol". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ahlam". Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  5. 1 2 "Ahlam dethroned as "Queen" by Dubai TV!". Daily Mail. 19 March 2016. Emirati singer Ahlam's show "The Queen" has been axed by Dubai TV.
  6. ↑ "Ahlam dethroned as "Queen" by Dubai TV!". Al Bawaba. 20 March 2016. Emirati singer Ahlam's show "The Queen" has been axed by Dubai TV
  7. 1 2 "Emirati pop star Ahlam enrages Lebanese calling them 'falafel-peddlers'". 25 March 2016. The Lebanese are fuming after pop-star Ahlam labelled them as "falafel-sellers" and "beggars", prompting a Twitter hashtag to have her banned from entering the country.
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