The king doesn't get older, writes Salonaz Sami, he only gets better A foreign newspaper once advised visitors to Egypt to do three things: see the Pyramids, drink Nile water and listen to Mohamed . I woke up last Friday with a smile on my face. It was the day I was going to see , my king. As I drove to the Opera House, I couldn't help but notice the change in the weather. Last night was a typical, hot, breathless summer night. But tonight was different, the temperature is cooler and there was a pleasant breath in the air, as if nature itself were celebrating the event. The opera's parking lot was completely transformed into an open-air theatre with a magnificent stage fit for a real king. We found the perfect spot and waited. All 's fans know the king doesn't start in time. However, his tardiness has never been an issue for his adoring fans, who didn't mind waiting for hours for his sake. Several times the crowd raised a cheer, only to let it die when whomever had been seen walking on stage turned out not to be . An hour passed and people were still pouring in by hundreds, and if it had not been for my male friends I would have been squashed like an ant. Finally, at 11.45pm, the lights went on and we all jumped up in joy as it was finally happening. climbed on stage, dressed casually, as usual, in a black shirt, linen trousers and his trademark bead necklace, and I started crying. I have never missed one of 's opera concerts in years, and each time I find myself crying as soon as he comes on stage. I felt touched by the passion of his fans -- and besides, he was only a few steps away from me. "I missed you," said into the microphone. "We love you!" Everyone cried out and we all started jumping up and down like little kids as he started singing Hadouta Masria (An Egyptian Tale), one of his most beautiful and well-known songs. ' I don't care about your name or address, I don't care about your colour or your country, all I care about is the human being you are, even if you were homeless. You suppressed people, this is the whole tale, the Egyptian tale,' and so the lyrics went on. As he finished the song, the 40,000 fans who had all been singing and swaying to the music just stopped still, as it were obvious that was about to say something. After thanking the Opera House for making the reunion possible, he said, "we don't know whose fault it is or who is to blame but the least we can do is support our friends, brothers and sisters who lost their beloved ones in the last Dweiqa incident." He added that the evening's concert profits would be donated to them. "God keep you for Egypt," I heard a young veiled woman whisper beside me, and I smiled and said ,"Amen." "How many Egyptian artists thought of doing that," her husband replied, and I found myself entering into the conversation. "You are absolutely right," I agreed. Earlier this month, on 6 September, giant rocks raced down a cliff at Moqattam, just outside Cairo, smashing into the shantytown of Dweiqa and burying dozens under the rubble. Along with a death toll of more than 103 the rockslide left the homes of many survivors on the verge of collapse. However, as finished singing Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi's Younis, a hit song, from his latest album Taam Al-Beyout (Taste of Homes), (and which has a controversial meaning), once again the crowds listened attentively as made it obvious why he has been crowned the King, after the title of one of his songs, for the past three decades. He explained that he had noticed a new phenomenon he did not fully grasp. "In the good old days, when a woman passed by and a man harassed her, dozens of other men would come to her rescue," he said. "But now things are unfortunately not the same," he said. "But if you really love , you wouldn't harass a woman. Let the couple of hours we spend together be different and respectful." I heard those words and started clapping and jumping in disbelief. He just never seems to stop amazing me. Then he sang the perfect song, Al-Banat (The Girls). Once the music started people were not only swaying but singing along. As he finished the song, he had yet another surprise to reveal. "Please join me and welcome our Tunisian star, Latifah," he said. Latifah walked on stage wearing jeans, a simple purple top and a huge smile. And with no music at all they sang together Taht Al-Yasmina (Under the Jasmine Tree), a Tunisian song that included in his last album. Latifah followed with Te'raf Tetkallem Baladi, which translates as "Do you know how to say it in colloquial?" "What intrigues me the most about ," Amr Darwish, a businessman, told Al-Ahram Weekly "is this," and he looked around to the strangest audience mix one could ever see gathered in one concert: a lone middle-aged woman, a married couple and two single male friends with two babies, and a group of young male friends who had the energy to keep on dancing enthusiastically throughout the concert. Next to them stood a group of four foreign girls. "There is an unwritten contract between me and the audience who come to my concerts to have a good time. This contract is fully respected as I consider live concerts my own way of worship," was quoted in the independent daily, Al-Masry Al-Yom, two days before the concert. A few songs down the road, the night was getting livelier with dazzling special effects on stage -- fireworks, smoke, bubbles, and flames. On stage, giant plasma screens proclaimed Al-Malek, The King. took the microphone once again. "When I tour outside Egypt, people ask me: 'How come you are so successful and famous, yet your fans never ask you to stay longer at the end of your concerts?' So tonight we have reached the end of the concert but I will not be ending it, you are," he said, "As long as you want me to stay, I will." But all good things come to an end. As we headed towards the gate, we discovered that getting out was harder than getting in. As we waited for the crush to ease I lent an ear to a conversation taking place in front of us. "Each of his albums has a song written just for me," a young man in his 30s was saying. "He is my brother, my friend and my mentor, who came to define my approach to life." His friend nodded. "Only with will you understand the true meaning of the word artist."
