After an impressive sporting career in rugby, former international Omar Hasan became a lyric singer. A return to his first passion, music.
Former Argentine rugby player Omar Hasan sang the song for a long time during the third halves. Today, at 53, he is living a new life as an opera or tango singer. Based in Toulouse since 2004, Omar Hasan first had a rich career as a professional player. Trained in Argentina, he successively played in New Zealand (Wellington), Australia (ACT Brumbies), then in three historic clubs in the southwest of France: Auch, Agen, Toulouse.
A unique journey
During the 2007 World Cup, with his teammates from the Argentina team Agustin Pichot and Juan Martin Hernandez, he twice brought the Blues to their knees, taking 3rd place in the competition, contested in France, just like the current edition (September 8-October 28). It was “the apotheosis of my career”, remembers the right pillar. Six months later, at age 37, he retired.
“I am the only professional rugby player converted to singing. After rugby, I felt the need to have an artistic activity”, he confided on September 22 while sipping a mate (Argentinean infusion), sitting in his living room to watch Argentina-Samoa. He follows, religiously, all the Pumas meetings at the 2023 World Cup.
It all started in the 1970s in the province of Tucuman, at the foot of the Andes Mountains. As a child, he sang almost all the time, with the elementary school choir or at family reunions. In a 2021 interview with France 3 Nouvelle Acquitaine, he emphasized that he encountered music at the age of 7, before rugby. A way of confirming that singing has always been his first passion. He gave his first shows in front of the bus stop, in the central square of Choromoro, his grandparents’ village where he spent the summer. He is 9 years old, sings popular songs and the spectators are the travelers who give him the first rounds of applause, before getting on the coach.
It was at this time that the turbulent kid, often punished for fighting or being a clown at school, abandoned football, the national sport in Argentina, for judo, then rugby, invited by a friend to participate in training at Natacion y Gimnasia, a club in San Miguel de Tucuman, the provincial capital where he lives with his parents. It was then in the locker rooms and post-match banquets in the province of Tucuman, during the Argentina team’s tours on five continents, that he made his voice heard.
In the shoes of Rocky Balboa
“Argentinian folklore, Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, opera arias, tango, or the songs that my friends liked, I always sang. I was told that I had a beautiful voice, but I didn’t dare go any further far. I didn’t think I had a good enough voice”, confides this father of two children, married to an Argentinian. In 2002, during a post-match meal in Agen, Jean-François Gardeil was captivated. This lyrical singing teacher hears the powerful voice of the right pillar and detects raw talent.
“A few days later, we started lessons. Omar is a central lyric baritone with a very pretty voice,” specifies the professor and lyrical artist. A few months later, Omar Hasan sang a tango during a charity concert at the Agen exhibition center, where Francis Cabrel also performed. “That day, I understood that this was what I wanted. I had always dreamed of singing in a band, but since I played on weekends, it was impossible.”
Once in Toulouse, where he played from 2004 to 2008, he devoted more and more time to singing and entered the singing conservatory. Today, Omar Hasan travels the south of France with performances of his show Belcantor, in which he performs Latin American classics, tangos, opera arias and Toulouse from Nougaro. This year he also sang in Carmen and sometimes plays supporting roles in the cinema. In 2024, he will play the title role in a musical about boxer Rocky Balboa.