Salah Edin

Abid Tounssi, also known as Salah Edin is a Dutch rapper. He was born and raised in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. He lived in Morocco for about 2 years. After a brief career in English, Salah began recording in Darija Arabic.

Salah Edin, named after the Muslim warrior who defeated Richard the Lion Heart in the crusades and conquered back Jerusalem, is determined to bring back the essence of music to where it originally came from, Arabia.

As Hiphop is swiftly taking over the world, the Arabic world is opening its doors to Hiphop music. One of the most prominent and successful artists in Arabic Hiphop is Salah Edin, the eminence of poverty. Intrigued by the influential power of Hiphop he made it his craft in the early ‘90’s. After a brief career in English, Salah left the English language for what it was and returned to his mother tongue of Darija Arabic as spoken in his country of origin Morocco.

Mohalim, the wonder child producer who has produced all of Salah Edin’s music since 1998 is responsible for the distinct Salah Edin sound, an innovative and unique contribution to Hiphop embedding the Arabic sound like never heard before. In 2003, Salah Edin met with Moroccan Wu-Tang Clan member Cilvaringz and soon after Salah signed an exclusive management deal with the Ringz & Partners Entertainment Group. The deal included live performances in 28 countries as the opening act of a variety of prominent Hiphop artists including the second leg of the Cilvaringz & RZA World Tour which became the biggest international world tour in the history of Hiphop (37 countries).

Albums

• 2003 - Hakma (Demo)
• 2006 - The Official Mixtape (Mixtape)
• 2006 - HORR (Pure) (Album)
• 2007 - Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie (Album)
• 2009 - HORR (Album)

Fitna controversy

In the first edition of the film Fitna, and subsequently removed from the second release, when referring to the murder of Theo van Gogh, instead of the murderer's face (Mohammed Bouyeri), a picture of Edin is displayed. The picture was shot for the rapper's album Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie (Netherlands' Worst Nightmare), which, according to the singer's website, was shot to be "exactly like the mugshot of convicted killer Mohamed B". A 2007 article by Dutch newspaper De Dag had captioned an article about the killer with the shot. On that occasion, Salah Edin's received an out-of-court libel settlement for the publication.[1] The photo was said by the rapper to be intended to depict "the way the average white Dutch citizen sees me, as a young Moroccan Muslim radical. That's why I chose to do this picture and use it for the front cover of my album. It is in no way supporting the deeds of Mohamed B". Edin has accepted a settlement of 25,000 euros for the infringement.[2]

External links

• Salah Edin – official website.