E!Maam Skeet: Singing Saudi Superstar

By Hanitizer

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A former imam of a Saudi mosque had a surprising announcement to his countrymen: he is releasing his first music album.

Abdullah Al-Skiti, the imam from the mosque of Alkhabra, is wiping the dust of his small town from off his shoes and going public with the declaration of his rather controversial ambitions. He’s currently living in Cairo where he is attending Cairo’s Music Institute so he can work on his talents as a composer, a singer and all the jazz that comes with studying music. Clearly, Al-Skiti isn’t joking around: he plans to return to Saudi Arabia and to open up a music institute to benefit Saudis—mainly Saudi men would be my guess.

He is currently collaborating with a number of Saudi poets and Egyptian musicians to releases his much anticipated and for the moment, rather nameless album. I use the word anticipated only because they will probably be burning copies of his work, like they burned the Dixie Chicks’ album in 2003.

A number of artists have actually donated their time and their talents to see this album become a reality. Going along with his work on his album, Al-Skiti will also be releasing a music video entitled “الفقر” (“Poverty”) that will be translated into English and French. His music video will be given to local, national and international television stations for free, a practice that will ensure that the artist remains poor—much like the title of his video clip.

Al-Skiti is fully aware of the controversy he generated along with the threat all the Internet forums pose to his work and his newly chosen profession. “I don’t like gimmicks, I am a frank person. I flat out told them I am making a music album, not a music album disguised as a religious one,” he was quoted as having said in a public statement made shortly after announcing his decision to make the music album. A common practice among Nasheed music (Religiously themed albums) is to sing, but without the use of any musical instruments.

It remains unclear whether this album will be any good, but one thing is for sure: While I would not expect to see Al-Skiti opening at a concert for Haifa anytime soon, this imam has some serious guts to take on much of the Saudi taboos and to then turn them their own heads.

And whoever said Saudi Arabia is boring, probably now is wiping their mouth after helping themselves into another slice of humble pie.

[Tarboush Tip: Carlos]