Alexandria Opera Commemorates Abdel Halim Hafez's Death Anniv.

Cairo Opera House commemorated Thursday night the death anniversary of the iconic Egyptian singer Abdel-Halim Hafez.

Under the direction of Maestro Ihab Abdel Hamid, the Alexandria Ensemble for Arabic Music performed a selection of Halim's remarkable songs and iconic pieces, reminding people of the legacy and spirit of the late singer.

The concert included pieces like 'Toba', 'Resala Mn Taht Ema', 'Fatet Ganbna' and 'Karat El Fngal'.

Fondly known as the "The Idol of the masses", he was one of the most successful, rare Egyptian stars, with over fifty songs and 16 movies to his name.

Halim is also regarded as one of the greatest Egyptian musicians of all times along with Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Mohamed Fawzi, and Nagat Elsaghir.

Throughout his career, he had many hit records, performed concerts at famous venues like Royal Albert Hall in London, and had many songs in the Cairo Opera House.

The remarkable singer and musician shot to fame with his success in "Ahwak" (I adore you) song, composed by notable musician Mohamed Abdelwahab

From then till now, he has established himself as one of the greatest Egyptian musicians and singing Legends along with Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Mohamed Fawzi, and Shadia.

The late star is well-known for some of his seminal works, such as Lahn El Wafa’ (The Song of Faithfulness), Mawed Gharam (Love Rendez-vous), Fata Ahlami (The Man of My Dreams), Yom Men Omri (A Day of My Life) and his last film Abi Foq El Shagara (My Father Atop a Tree).

The prominent star was born on June 21, 1929, in El-Halawat village in the Egyptian countryside. Hafez is actually not his real family name. His real name was Abdel Halim Ali Ismail Shabana, but Hafez Abdel Wahab, a radio executive, discovered him and in turn, Hafez took Abdel Wahab’s first name as his last, according to Elcinema.com.

With the overwhelming success of Abdel-Halim’s first breakthrough in the film Our Sweet Days (1955), Egyptian Cinema was liberated from much of its classicism, and pushed in a more youthful direction.

On this basis, the new cinema favored the vividness and fun of youth, who tended to dress casually, riding bicycles or visiting their sweethearts in boats, exactly as Abdel-Halim did in Days and Nights (1955), which gave him much praise from his fans and critics alike.

The greatest cinematic success Hafez achieved resulted from his success as a singer in the first place.

Moreover, Hafez’s participation in “Our Sweet Days” along with veterans Faten Hamama Omar El-Sherif and Ahmed Ramzy, established the idea of a younger cinema, which prevailed afterwards.

Thereafter, Hafez also stabilized his cinematic success in several films such as “Ayam w Lialy” (Days and Nights), “Banat el-Youm” (Nowadays’ Girls), “El-Wisada el-Khalia” (The Abandoned Pillow), “ El-Khataya” (The Sins) among others.