Ahlam (singer)

Ahlam bint Ali bin Hazeem Al Shamsi (Arabic: أحلام بنت علي بن هزيم الشامسي‎; born February 23, 1968), better known by the mononym Ahlam (Arabic: أحلام‎), is an Emirati singer. 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 remained a judge for four consecutive seasons and is now a coach and judge in The Voice Ahla Sawt singing competition.

Ahlam
Ahlam in 2014
Background information
Birth nameAhlam bint Ali bin Hazeem Al Shamsi
أحلام بنت علي بن هزيم الشامسي
Born (1969-02-23) February 23, 1969
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
GenresClassical Arabic, Khaliji, Pop
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active1995–present
LabelsQueen International
Websitehttp://ahlam-alshamsi.com/

Biography

Ahlam bint Ali bin Hazeem Al Shamsi was born in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to an Emirati father and a Bahraini mother. Her father is an Emirati folk singer, Ali Al Shamsi. 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 participated in many festivals around the Arab region and Western region, particularly the "Layali Dubai" festival. She has also been honored at several festivals across the Arab region and in the USA in Dolby Theatre. She was crowned queen of the Arab art in the Doha-Qatar festival in 2003.[4]

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 US, the Albert Hall Festival in the UK and many other Festivals in London.[4]

In 2011, Ahlam joined MBC's Arab Idol judging panel alongside Lebanese singers Wael Kfoury and Nancy Ajram and Egyptian composer Hassan El Shafei.[3]

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]

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.[6] Nidal launched a hashtag on Twitter which became a popular trend easily in Lebanon and other Arab countries called "#منع_أحلام_من_دخول_لبنان" (English: #Ban_Ahlam_from_entering_Lebanon).[6]

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. "Ahlam promises to surprise fans in Arab Idol". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  4. "Ahlam". Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  5. "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
  6. "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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