First pictures shared of Egyptian singer Hassan Shakoush's engagement

The news came as a surprise to fans, who did not know Shakoush was engaged

Hassan Shakoush, pictured with his new fiance and photographer Omar Maro. Courtesy Omar Maro / Instagram

The first pictures of mahraganat singer Hassan Shakoush's engagement have been shared on social media.

The pictures, of Shakoush and his mystery fiance, have surprised many – Shakoush has not spoken publicly about being engaged, and has shared nothing previously about being romantically linked to anyone. Media reports in Egypt suggest the woman is Shakoush's neighbour.

The pictures of Shakoush and his bride-to-be were shared on Monday, by photographer Omar Maro, who conducted the shoot.

The engagement shoot was held at Hilton Pyramids Golf, a resort located in the Egyptian city of Giza, near the the Giza pyramid complex.

In his Instagram stories, Maro shared a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the pictures, as well as some insight from Shakoush himself.

Several videos shows Maro in a pretty standard photography set-up, sitting on the ground as the happy couple walk along in front of him.

However, things get progressively more interesting from there, with another video showing Maro atop the shoulders of a burly helper, in order to photograph the couple from above.

A video posted of Shakoush and Maro show them joking around on the shoot, and Shakoush singing a personalised tune for the photographer.

Shakoush sings: "It is an honour to have you. The whole world envies us. The goodness in your heart shows in your eyes."

He then says: "Here's Maro, the global figure. If you haven't had a session with Maro, you have not had a [worthy] session in your whole life. May Allah bless you, my dear."

Shakoush is a famed mahraganat singer in Egypt, whose show played a role in the country's move to ban the genre of street music that took Egypt by storm earlier this year.

Egypt’s union of musicians in February said that the music, known as mahraganat or festivals, corrupted society with innuendo-filled lyrics, reinforced immoral customs and applauded decadence.

On Valentine's Day, Shakoush performed his latest hit – Bent el Giran, or the girl next door – at a 100,000-seat sports stadium in Cairo filled to capacity.

The union took exception to a line that fans enthusiastically sang along with in the concert that was broadcast live on regional television networks.

“If you leave me, I will hate my life, I will be lost and will not find myself again and use alcohol and hashish,” goes the offending line of the chart-topping song that has more than a 324 million views on YouTube.

In March, he defied that ban by releasing a new mahraganat song titled Oud Al Batal. 

This lead him to become a top-trending search term in Egypt at the time, and garnering the song 6.9 million views on YouTube.