Khaled Al Kammar

Khaled Al-Kammar? The guy’s basically hijacked the Egyptian soundtrack scene in record time. We’re talking over 25 projects, everything from moody TV dramas to films — and not just a bunch of filler, either. The man’s got awards piled up, local and international, including the State Encouragement Award in Arts in 2021, which isn’t exactly handed out like candy. He kicked things off with Asham back in 2012 — took home Best Soundtrack from the Cairo Film Society for that one. Then there was DECOR in 2014, a project with Ahmed Abdalla, which snagged the Best Music Award at the Egyptian Catholic Center for Cinema Festival. Not bad for a guy who started out in engineering at the German University in Cairo, right? He even went to Edinburgh for his master’s in soundtrack composition, graduating with honors. Overachiever much? While he was still figuring things out, he worked under big names like Hesham Nazih and Khaled Hammad, picking up tricks of the trade on everything from AFRAH EL-QOBBA to VALENTINO. What sets him apart? He’s got this freakish ability to dig into a character’s emotional mess and turn all that turmoil into music that actually means something. Not just background noise—actual storytelling. His breakthrough? QABEEL, hands down. That one bagged him a Hollywood Music in Media Award—the first Egyptian ever. Since then, he’s been reworking what “soundtrack” means, like in Netflix’s PARANORMAL, ditching tired horror clichés for actual atmosphere. And he’s got a serious knack for weaving feminine depth into his themes, especially with strings. Whether it’s military marches in AL-EKHTEYAR or playful mandolins in KHALI BALAK MN ZIZI, Al-Kammar’s soundtracks don’t just play—they talk.