LONDON: Mohammed Assaf, the 28-year-old singer, won the second series of “Arab Idol” in 2013, with one judge nicknaming him “Asaroukh” (“The Rocket”).
But the singer almost missed his chance at famer because of problems getting from Gaza to Egypt. Arriving too late to register, he began singing to the waiting contestants.
On hearing Assaf, contestant Ramadan Au Nahel, also a Palestinian, gave him his audition number, saying: “I know I won’t reach the finals, but you will.”
Tamer Nafar
The rapper formed the Palestinian group Dam with his younger brother Suhell, and Mahmoud Jreri.
The three men grew up in Lod, 20 kilometers from Jerusalem.
Dam’s music fuses Middle Eastern rhythms and melodies with urban hip-hop.
