Hamo Bika, Omar Kamal sentenced over 'Enti Ma'lema' clip with belly dancer Lurdiana

CAIRO – 28 March 2022: Pop singers Hamo Bika and Omar Kamal were given a suspended jail sentence and fined over a video clip that “violated family values,” while the Brazilian belly dancer in the clip was acquitted on Monday.

Bika and Kamal, both are controversial singers in the shaabi genre, were each sentenced to one year in prison suspended on a bond of L.E.10,000 and fined the same amount by the Economic Court of Alexandria.

The 2021 video was not official, but it went viral on social media with belly dancer Lurdiana, who was wearing a dress and a leather jacket rather than a traditional belly dancing costume, dancing with them to their song “Enti Ma’lema,” which ban be loosely dubbed into “You Are a Master.”

The case was filed with the accusations that they shot the “indecent” video with the intention of posting it on social media and making money off it.

Kamal was suspended from singing by Egypt’s Musicians Syndicate in February and Bika was suspended in June 2021. While this means they lack the license that allows them to sing at events in Egypt, they can still record songs and post them on different outlets and sing at events out of the country.

Although many people criticize their lyrics, music, voice, and performance for “lacking taste” or “spreading vulgarity,” they are two of the most famous singers in the country nowadays.