He’s supported Lana Del Rey, collaborated with a member of Radiohead and been compared to Jeff Buckley – but the Belgian-Egyptian-Lebanese singer doesn’t try and force a cross-cultural sound
In the video to Tamino’s 2018 single, Tummy, the Belgian singer is covered from head to toe in gold paint, eyeliner dramatically drawn on to make him look like a pharaoh. He stands in front of a European aristocratic townhouse shirtless in a long white skirt holding up a crook and flail – the ancient Egyptian royal symbols of authority but also responsibility. Later, he mumble-sings: “I’m no longer found / Sex got all my pride,” as he crowd surfs above a throng of people who clutch and paw at him as if reaching for a deity. For the 23-year-old, the video is a playful wink at artistic bombast but also how the west views and perpetuates images of the east.
“[In that video] we wanted to show a living statue who depends on the attention of people to earn money – but sometimes the attention becomes too much. It’s a metaphor for what the life of an artist is like,” says Tamino when we meet at the sculpture park, Middelheim Museum, in his home town of Antwerp. “It seemed funny to use a pharaoh figure, yet [look at] Orientalism.”