#without photoshoot

[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."

[chavezicons]

[lauradonnelly]

JOE LOCKE & KIT CONNOR BTS of Teen Vogue

[mrgaretcarter]

Ted and Keeley similarities

[alexturner2005]

Arctic Monkeys by Zackery Michael, 2022

[editfandom]

TASTE, 2024 | Sabrina Carpenter

[glenicons]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

💙❤️Happy Holidays!❤️💙

[iconslizzie]

like this post if you save or use by @eolsenbrasil.

[jinikaris]

HYUNJIN // SUPER ELLE DECEMBER 2024

[taminoarticles]

— Tamino for Gazet van Antwerpen, February 2017 (x)

Child prodigy Tamino, after recognition in 'De Nieuwe Lichting': “I don't want to be the new Jeff Buckley”

Finding shelter with the management of dEUS and Balthazar, and being allowed to debut on the record label of Het Zesde Metaal and Trixie Whitley: things are going fast for Tamino. A week after the 20-year-old from Antwerp was chosen as one of the laureates of Studio Brussel's De Nieuwe Lichting, he captivated Flanders with the captivating song Habibi. “But I don't want to be the Flemish Jeff Buckley,” emphasizes the confident young man.

gunter jacobs Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 8:53 PM

Tamino impresses. In November he already made jaws drop when he was a guest in Trix in the Radio 1 session of Het Zesde Metaal. Listeners from Studio Brussels voted him last week in the final of De Nieuwe Lichting as one of the laureates from more than 800 promising young artists. Since then, more and more people are discovering this special twenty-year-old singer-guitarist.

The comments on YouTube under the clip of his first single Habibi do not lie. "It's been a long time since I've been so overwhelmed by a voice and a melody," someone writes. “Absolutely beautiful. Beautiful chord progressions and what a vocal range,” another new fan exults.

Tamino does not come completely out of nowhere. “I've been playing music in all kinds of groups since I was fourteen, from punk and desert rock to more danceable music. Solo I now bring the music that I have to make on my own.” His name has been buzzing in Antwerp for a long time. Last year he also did support programs for Trixie Whitley and Bazart.

Nice reactions

“Especially after the Radio 1 session in Trix, I noticed that suddenly a lot of people had discovered me. When I performed in café Trefpunt in Ghent afterwards, not everyone could even enter. With De Nieuwe Lichting I have gained a whole new audience. While I didn't even expect to make it to the final. I even doubted for a long time whether I should register; I don't like competition in music. That is why I will no longer participate in competitions, although I received many nice reactions after De Nieuwe Lichting. A friend who has seen that it is now starting to work out for me, let me know that she is inspired to do her own thing as well. I think that's super cool.”

Named by his opera-loving parents after the prince from Mozart's The Magic Flute, Tamino's full name is Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad, has partly Egyptian roots and lives in Mortsel with his Belgian mother. “I do want to live alone, but for now I find living at home especially useful,” he confesses. “I lived in Amsterdam for 2.5 years to study at the conservatory there. Two weeks ago I decided to take a break. Because my education really can't be combined with my career for a while.”

From Mortsel to Amsterdam

“At the conservatory I follow the pop training. The focus is on their own music. When I was seventeen I went there on my own. Believe me, going from Mortsel to Amsterdam was a huge step. There I learned to stand my ground and become more assertive. The fact that students come from all over, from Denmark and Germany to Latvia and Israel, has broadened my horizon.”

“I can also easily do my thing in Antwerp. I don't belong to a particular scene, but thanks to Tom Pintens, with whom I recorded my first record, I do get to know many well-known musicians. When we were recording at his house, Gregory Frateur and Het Zesde Metaal would sometimes drop by.”

For that first record, a five-song EP that will be released in May, Tamino has a deal with Unday Records, the record label of Het Zesde Metaal, Trixie Whitley and Dans Dans, among others. In anticipation of that debut, the compelling Habibi has been launched as a digital business card. “That number is already old. I wrote it two years ago, when I was eighteen, in Amsterdam,” the young man clarifies. To add with a timid laugh: “Like many songs, it is about love. I don't want to say more about it. Let people make their own interpretation of it.”

Tamino's partly oriental roots shine through in Habibi. His grandfather, Moharam Fouad, turns out to be a well-known singer-actor in the Arab world. “Unfortunately he passed away when I was five. Well, I didn't know him. Yet my grandfather plays a role in what I do. At home, my mother always puts on Arabic music, including my grandfather's. I have many recordings of him that inspire me.”

Tamino tells how he rescued a decaying guitar from his grandfather's house while cleaning up. He is currently having it refurbished to give it a second life. Although he was born in Belgium, his heart also leans towards the Middle East. “I lived in Egypt for a while, but unfortunately I don't know Arabic. I would like to learn that someday. The intensity in my singing and the romantic character of my music come much more from that world. Jeff Buckley also listened a lot to Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, hey.”

Melancholy

The fact that many label Tamino as the Flemish Jeff Buckley only bothers him a little. “On the one hand I feel flattered, on the other hand every boy with a guitar who sings high and emotionally is quickly called that. I didn't even know Jeff Buckley's music when friends pointed out the similarity to me. Ever since I listened to a live CD of his at my mother's, I get it. But I sing with the voice I have. I don't want to be the next Jeff Buckley. I think it's okay that people describe my music as 'for fans of Jeff Buckley'.”

Just like the lamented American cult hero - drowned in 1997 and best known for his Leonard Cohen cover Hallelujah - Tamino brings his soulful songs without much frills; sometimes subdued and with a deep crooner voice, then fiercely lashing out with an angelic falsetto. There is a spiritual and melancholic edge to his intriguing songs. “Sincere melancholic music,” Tamino calls it himself.

“Everything I do stems from that melancholic feeling. That's why most of my songs are slow. But I also have uptempo songs, you know. Dynamics in a show is important.”

However, Tamino also turns the Arctic Monkeys hit I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, which he covers for Studio Brussel, into a ballad. “I first wanted to do something by Leonard Cohen, but they thought that was too unknown at Studio Brussels. I'm also a fan of Arctic Monkeys. By playing that song slower, I make it my own.”

“I myself listen to a wide variety of music, from Vashti Bunyan and Thelonious Monk to Nick Cave and Radiohead. And don't forget: dEUS! That's a group I grew up with and look up to. I think it's really cool how Tom Barman and also Mauro (who played his last concert with the group on Friday in the Lotto Arena, ed.) have always done their thing.”

Tamino is proud that he has now found accommodation with Musickness, the management of dEUS and Balthazar, among others. “Compared to three months ago, it feels like I've climbed a step higher,” he muses. “From now on I'm going to be selective with performances. I've performed so many times, sometimes in pubs for ten people. From now on it is important that the setting is right and that people really come for my music. Ticket sales for my concert in the AB-Club in Brussels have just started. There I will present my first mini album on May 16.”

Tamino undeniably has a bright future, but not a dream scenario. “I hope that I can gradually play all over Europe and mean something to a small audience everywhere. Then I would be very satisfied. I may also play with others in the future. I don't always want to keep making music on my own.”

INFO

Concerts as support act for Het Zesde Metaal on 16/02 in Antwerp (De Studio), 10/03 Ghent (Handelsbeurs), 17/03 Hasselt (Muziekodroom). Also 30/04 Ghent (De Vooruit) and 16/05 Brussels (AB, CD presentation).

[chavezicons]

[taystuffz]

i hereby conduct this post mortem. one line please, the meeting with the chairman of the tortured poets department just started.

[lauradonnelly]

JOE LOCKE & KIT CONNOR BFFs or Enemies?

[liviesicons]

• billboard

» like or reblog if you save 🖤

[sustancy]

Coloring by SUSTANCY ✿ PSD 0004 ✿ If you happened to hit the download button:

Do not forget to like or reblog

Do not claim it as yours

Feel free to adjust some layers