Hamid el-Shaeri was born in the Libyan city of Benghazi, studied aviation in England, studied music in Cairo, and settled permanently in Egypt in 1974, after witnessing Colonel Gadaffi's public burning of western musical instruments. A refugee from his own country's hostile anti-modern policies, he steadily made a name for himself as Egypt's leading champion of westernized synthesizer pop, known as Al-jil (generation music). More a deft blending of sounds than a simple music importation