Mohammed Abdu

Mohammed Abdu was born on June 12, 1949,[3][4] in Abha, the capital of Asir province. Some sources report that he was born in a small town called Al Darb a governorate in Jizan city.[5] His father, Abdou Othman Al-A'asiri, was a poor fisherman in Tihamah, in the Asir area, who had six children with his wife Salma Nasr-Allah. Saudi Arabia at that time had a Smallpox epidemic, and almost all of their children died, including a three-year-old 'Mohammed'. The couple vowed to name their next child in memory of him. After that time, the family decided to move to Jeddah where their new son, Mohammed Abdu, was born. His father left his job as a fisherman and became a bricklayer. In 1953, Abdou Othman Al-A'asiri left the family after he fell ill; he died before Mohammed could even take his first steps.

As an orphan aged only 3, Mohammed went with his mother and his other two siblings to an orphanage house called Ribat Abu-Zinadah; it was a Yemenite hostel for orphaned families. With the financial help of the soon-to-be crown prince Faisal, the children were accepted. Mohammed Abdou commented on the home saying "... I learned how to live and depend on myself." After his graduation from sixth-grade, he started taking multiple menial jobs until he joined a vocational institute to make a living for himself and his family. He eventually moved back with his family and bought a new house with the little money he'd been given as a graduation gift by the time he'd finished.

In 1989, his mother died, and Mohammed stopped singing altogether. It was "one of the saddest moments in his entire life," as he put it in more than one interview. She was the real love of his life and the person Abdou sang for. Mohammed Abdou was so saddened by her death that he decided not to release any more albums from 1989 until 1997.

Finally, in 1997, he sang in a National Day celebration to an audience amazed at how mature his voice had become; his voice was marvelous and more tact. That year, he went to London to sing at three concerts with Warda Al-Jazairia and released five albums in the following three months.

The next year saw his official comeback when he sang at the Abha Music Festival in 1998, releasing another three albums concurrently. Follow-up concerts in Qatar, Dubai, and Cairo were the much-needed efforts to put him back on the Arab musical map.[6]

Abdu early in the start of his career

Mohammed Abdu began his music career at the beginning of the 1960s. He entered the world of singing at an early age, during his time at the Institute of Industrial Jeddah, where he graduated in 1963.

Abdou's music was based on the older generation's ageless talents and songs of deep heritage. He was credited with preserving many songs called mawrouth (the inherited songs) without changing them significantly. His Chaabyat albums that he released through his label "Voice of Al-Jazeerah" in the 1990s were his attempt at documenting that old tradition. These jalsat (sittings) were where his talent was best showcased; the oud was the instrument which he connected with most; only some musicians have shown this connection; these include: Farid al-Atrash, Baligh Hamdi, and Talal Maddah. Abdou even sang one of Baligh's compositions, 'Sert Al-Houb' (Love Story), for Umm Kulthum on her 69th birthday.

His earliest songs that he used to sing were religious chants and anasheed (Islamic songs that people are allowed to sing) and reciting the Quran after prayer time or in his school's celebrations. Students and teachers alike used to gather around him to hear him sing at breaks. Fearing that he might quit school to follow a career as a singer, his mother asked him to sing only by invitation when the older singers were around so that her son would stay a pupil to these established singers. His voice and oud playing overcame this fear when jaws dropped after he gave a rendition of an old Yemeni adwar (old songs of known Maqama) known for their near impossibility for a young singer to master. These songs were old chants that Yemeni singers sang and competed against each other with, to take each other to tarab.[7]

Mohammed Abdu in Egyption Opera House 2019

From 1983 until 2009, Mohammed was married to Umm Noura with whom he has seven children. In 2011, Mohammed married a French woman in Paris, where he was recovering from a stroke.[8]

• Media related to Mohammed Abdu at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website