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Artist
Ramy Essam
12+ albums
folkAllegyptrockacoustic
about
Ramy Essam (Arabic: رامي عصام, pronounced [ˈɾɑːmi ʕeˈsˤɑːm]; born 1987) is an Egyptian musician. He is best known for his appearances in Tahrir Square, Cairo, during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. He is a musician who became a symbol of resistance, using his guitar to amplify the calls for freedom and human dignity during the Arab Spring and continuing that fight on global stages today,. Ramy Essam was born in 1987 in Mansoura, Egypt. His song “Irhal”, which called on then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to resign, gained widespread popularity among demonstrators. The song became internationally known through YouTube and is often referred to as the anthem of the revolution. In 2011, Time Out selected “Irhal” as the third-most world-changing song of all time. Essam primarily performs hard rock, making him one of the few rock musicians in Egypt. He also publicly expressed mourning for the martyrs of the revolution on Facebook. On 9 March 2011, when the Egyptian Army forcibly cleared Tahrir Square, Essam was arrested and tortured. In 2011–2012, Essam released his debut album, Manshourat, which emerged directly from the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The album is a collection of protest songs documenting life, moments, chants, and emotions during the uprising in Tahrir Square, capturing both political energy and social narratives from that historic period. Released amid a wave of revolutionary creativity following the January 25 Revolution, Manshourat became one of the mos
