Shaaban Abdel Rahim

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Shaaban Abdel Rahim
Origin	Cairo, Egypt
Genre(s)	Egyptian Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1980s–present

Shaaban Abdel Rahim (Arabic: شعبان عبد الرحيم), also known as Sha'bola (شعبولا) is an Egyptian pop (Sha'bi) singer, best known for catchy songs with political lyrics and his outrageously tacky and flamboyant sense of fashion.

1 Introduction
2 McDonalds Controversy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Introduction

Shaaban was born in Cairo and worked for many years in obscure poverty as a laundry worker before his songs became popular.

In 2000, Shaaban's breakthrough song "Ana Bakrah Israel" (I Hate Israel) accompanied by the catchy refrain "But I Love Amr Moussa", caused a great deal of controversy, and many were surprised that it passed Egyptian censors. Many of Shaaban's songs were sold informally on cheaply processed cassette tapes. His poor background, informal language, and frank lyrics have made him very popular with the Egyptian public.

Since then, Shaaban has continued to produce popular political songs, often quickly following current events. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, he produced a song entitled "Hey People, It Was Only a Tower and I Swear by God that They Are the Ones Who Pulled it Down." In 2003, he had a popular song entitled "Don't Hit Iraq"^[1], in 2005, a song about the Muhammed cartoon controversy entitled "We’re All Out of Patience"^[2], and in 2006 a song about the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

Islam Khalid, the songwriter responsible for "Hitting Iraq" and other politically contentious songs sung by the performer, said he had to teach Abdel-Rehim the meaning behind some of the ideas behind his songs.

[edit] McDonalds Controversy

In late 2001 Shaaban Abdel Rahim participated in the promotion of McDonald's new McFalafel sandwich by singing an ad to the tune of "Ana Bakrah Israel" (I Hate Israel). ^[3]

Once you see McDonald’s, you’ll never ever forget it.
Something New!
Try it – You’ll love it!
McFalafel Taamiya – Real, authentic Egyptian! ^[4]

Protest from Jewish advocacy groups followed, and the spots were pulled after only three weeks on the air. It is unclear whether McDonald's had given in to pressure from groups such as the American Jewish Committee, or if the ads had simply run their course. ^[5]