The year that punk broke | Haba Fouk We Haba Taht (1974)
Still from the 1974 film "Al-Fatina Wal-Sa'look" "A Little Bit Up, A Little Bit Down" was, according to the singer himself and those who appreciated him, "a sincere comment on class disparities resulting from Egypt's economic opening." However, some of Ahmed's critics deemed the song "nonsense" and the singer himself, in the words of one journalist, "a foul outcome of the infitah, not one of the phenomenon's most astute observers." Ahmed releases another three 45 RPM 7" singles in 1974; he also cameoes in two films and likely releases two cassettes through Sout El Hob. Mohamad al-Masri, who wrote 1973's "Aha Ahu," pens his first huge hit for Ahmed, "Haba Fouk We Haba Taht," the first of the three 1974 discs listed by Discogs, As Andrew Simon explains, "A Little Bit Up, A Little Bit Down" was, according to the singer himself and those who appreciated him, "a sincere comment