#last year it was tamino and this year he has one song in my top 100

[alexturner2005]

every year i’m in a different artist’s top 0.05 or 0.01 or whatever percent of listeners, and then the next year they have maybe one song in my top 100. is this a normal way to listen to music

[taminoarticles]

— Tamino for De Limburger, May 2017 (x) (Original Dutch text)

The new sweetheart of Flanders

ANTWERP BY KIM NOACH

The 20-year-old singer-songwriter Tamino is conquering musical hearts in his homeland Belgium in record time. Performances at Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop and his first EP rocket to the top position of iTunes. The talent can be heard on Sunday at Mama's Pride in Geleen.

My dear, Tamino sings to you in his high falsetto, grant me one last dance…Dear, please, I'm on fire…With these words singer-songwriter Tamino sings in his debut single Habibi (Arabic for sweetheart) directly to the hearts of music lovers in Belgium.

With the song, Tamino's musical career took off in record time last year: sold-out performances in the small hall of pop temple AB Brussels, a prestigious Belgian pop award lands on his mantelpiece and this festival season, performances at Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop will follow, among others. The Netherlands is also about to be conquered. But judge for yourself on Sunday with a first introduction at Mama's Pride in Geleen. The success of the young singer certainly has to do with his special voice. Seemingly effortlessly, he switches from a deep crooner's moan to a towering falsetto. This vocal cord acrobatics earned him the predicate 'the Belgian Jeff Buckley'. But comparisons with Elliott Smith and Radiohead singer Thom Yorke have also been made by pop connoisseurs. Big shoes to fill for an up-and-coming talent of just 20 years old. Tamino remains calm about it. Having just finished a mini-concert in Antwerp, he says - in a Flemish modest way - that he is especially flattered when fans compare him to big names in the music business. But in the end he wants to be Tamino above all. And just sing his songs. What does the public do with that? Well, who is he to say anything about that?

To melt His songs are beautiful listening songs with guitar that Tamino (partly) composed from his Amsterdam room last year. He follows a course at the conservatory in the capital. He has temporarily stopped his studies in order to be able to attend all performances and interviews. “Very strange,” he says when it comes to his ever-growing popularity. “I don't fully understand it yet. It would be nice if I could live off my music at some point. That is not self-evident for every artist.”

To melt With his dark curls, full eyelashes, 'pirate' earring and shy smile, singer-songwriter Tamino is sure to melt many hearts. His looks are the result of his Belgian mother and his Egyptian father. His Belgian mother named her son after Prince Tamino from Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte.

It is the Arabic roots that also influence him musically, as can be heard in some melody lines on his nameless EP. And at home he not only plucks the guitar, but also the oud, the Arabic lute, and listens to Egyptian music. This in combination with Western music by Thom Yorke, Eels, but also Soundgarden and the Belgian noise band Steak Number Eight. What does he hope for next Sunday? "Come on..." There's a pause.

"That I am able to give everything and people know how to appreciate it."