Mai Selim

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Mai Selim
Background information
Origin	Egypt/Middle east
Genre(s)	Arabic music
Years active	2004–present

Mai Selim Hamdan (Arabic: مي سليم حمدان) (born in 1983 in Dubai), commonly Known as Mai Selim, is a young Arabic artist who started off her singing career in early 2005. Sister of Comedian Mais Hamdan.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Stages

hemdan made her appearance to the community through her two video clips which are "Alby Byehlam" and "Tāl" which were directed by both Ahmad Yousri and Caroline Labaki. The two video clips/songs noticed a huge acceptance by the Arabic audience, in fact they were both a remarkable successes for this new artist.

Like many Middle Eastern artists, Mai sings in the Egyptian dialect, though she was born to a Jordanian father and a Lebanese mother. She's been living in Egypt ever since she was at a young age and as stated she almost lived her whole life there. She gained a Degree of Business Studies from Maritime Academy in Egypt. Though the fact that Mai has always aspired to be a Ballerina when she was young, and at a later time of her life she wanted to join Institute Of Cinema in Egypt. Mai was talked out of it by her parents, who were worried for her to have an unstable future for her if she pursued in this field.

Mai herself admits that luck has played big part in her being of where she is right now. She said:

"I won't lie and give you the clichéd line of I've been working towards this all my life since I was a child and all that stuff. I knew I had a very strong artistic side to me, and I had a strong passion towards music, but I never thought I'd make a career out of it one day" - source: www.fame-music.net

It all started when Mai was invited over to a dinner and she has met Tarek Al Arian, who is a well known director/producer and one of the co-founders of Fame Music (music production company & record label). Throughout the conversations and discussions, Al Arian knew about Mai's singing talent, and so he gave her an appointment to audition for Fame Music. Immediately, Mai has become one of Fame Music's artists and was off to the preparation.

[edit] The Workshop

Mai took around 1 whole year to prepare her debut album and appearance. She started off to get Vocal Rehearsals by Dr. Jehan Nasser (Professor at The Higher Institute of Arabic Music). Mai has described her experience through the preparation with the company as a total star makeover, where you get to learn how to Walk the walk, and talk the talk. It wasn't so hard for her, still it was something she enjoyed because she was pursuing her dream.

On another level, Mai had to prepare and record her album. Many well known composers and producers has worked with Mai on the album like Mamdouh Salah, Mahmoud Yehya, Amr Tantawi, Mohammad Nour, Ahmad Fahmi, Tarek Tawakkol and Osama el Hendi. Her album was titled "Albi Byehlam" which means My Heart Is Dreaming.

[edit] The Visuals

As stated, Mai's first video was "Alby Byehlam" which was directed by the talented Caroline Labaki and was shot in Beirut, Lebanon. The video is a story of a simple girl with a crush of the guy who is living right opposite to her flat. The video contains some chreography and slight acting.

The next video was "Tāl" by Ahmad Youssri, this video differs a bit from the first one. The video got no specific storyline, but just a theme of bright colours (white) and in a large studio. The director is Egyptian and the video was shot in Egypt.

Mai was also featured in the patriotic song "Akeed Fi Masr" (For Sure In Egypt) with Mahmoud El Esseily and Mahmoud El Keilany. The video was made along with others for an Egyptian patriotic campaign. Although many has directed questions to Mai of why she participated and she's originally Jordanian-Lebanese, but she stated that she considers Egypt her hometown because this is where she lived -still living- her whole life.

Mai had an appearance in Hala Sarhan's talkshow, Hala Show along with the first Arabic all boy band WAMA. Noticed that 3 out of 4 members of WAMA has contributed in Mai's debut Album. She showed other talents in the show, like acting and imitating in an atmosphere of humor. This was a big step for Mai to be widely recognized since Hala Show is an important art talk show in the Pan Arab audience.

[edit] External links

• Mai Selim's Official Website
• Fame Music Music Production Company Official Website
• Mai Selim Pictures and Wallpapers