“The First Disciple” by Tamino

by George Spencer · Published May 2, 2022 · Updated May 2, 2022

Some listeners have interpreted “The First Disciple” as a soliloquy, which it may well be. Throughout the song, we have the vocalist addressing some unidentified figure. This figure reads a lot like a musician himself, someone who perceives poetry as his “calling”. As the song progresses, said individual is further depicted as a person whose career moves forward. His success has garnered him obsessed admirers and all.

But it is perhaps more logical to conclude, at least based on certain parts of the song, that “the First Disciple” is someone besides Tamino, a fellow musician alright, though one that for a moment in time the vocalist perceived as sort of a prophet. And the reason Tamino seems to be criticizing him now is because instead of keeping his ambitions pure, the subject instead used the admiration of others as a means to guise his own “shame”.

Or let’s say for the sake of simplicity, since this is a bit of a complicated piece, that this musician set out to use external factors to mitigate internal issues. And since fame itself is, shall we say a vanity, particularly in terms of a musician attempting to use it to “wash away… shame”, it’s as if along the way his artistry has suffered. So now Tamino is longing for yesteryear, when “the First Disciple” was truer to the game.

The Shame

Concerning the aforementioned “shame”, it is revealed that said sentiment revolves around the subject having mistreated a loved one, i.e. his “only friend”.

Takeaway

So if this is a case of Tamino singing about himself, then obviously his conscience is still bothering him concerning how he behaved in a past relationship. But if “the First Disciple” is in fact someone else (this poet whom he once idolized), then what Tamino is apparently telling him is something akin to becoming a celebrity is not going to make his mistakes of the past magically disappear.

Who is Tamino?

Tamino is a singer from Belgium though of Egyptian descent. He is the grandson of a renowned 20^th century Egyptian singer/actor named Muharram Fouad (1934-2002). Tamino, who has been professionally active since the mid-2010s, is 25 years old as of the writing of this post. He has thus far dropped three EPs and one LP, the latter being a 2018 project titled “Amir”.