A premiere series of live concerts in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the late notable Arab singer Warda, fondly known as “The ”Princess of Arab Singing,” will be held on Tuesday night, May 19, at Alexandria and then at Damnhour Opera Houses on May 20.
Under the direction of Maestro Abdelhamid Ghafar, the outstanding Alexandria Opera house band will perform a selection of Warda’s remarkable songs and iconic pieces, reminding people of the legacy and spirit of the late singer.
The concerts include pieces like ‘Hekaity ma’a’ Zaman’, ‘Fe Youm we Leila’, Akdab Alik, and Lailina. Also in this regard, Damnhour Opera’s soloists will pay tribute to the legendary singer and icon of Arab musical art by performing works from her extensive repertoire.
Warda who is cited as one of Arab’s greatest singers of all time alongside Umm Kalthoum and Fayrouz, passed away in 2012, leaving a gaping hole in the Egyptian music industry. She was 82.
The most acclaimed singer in her generation died in her house in Cairo after she had recorded a song to celebrate Algeria’s 50th independence anniversary.
Born in France in 1939 to an Algerian father called Fatouki and a Lebanese mother named Yamout, she began her showbiz career as a young singer at the Tam-Tam, a cabaret owned by her father Located on rue Saint-Séverin, in the Latin Quarter in Paris.
Throughout her long-standing career, Warda featured in many remarkable Arab films, such as ‘Amirat Al Arab’, and ‘Hekayti maa al-Zaman’, starring Rushdi Abaza and Samir Sabri, and also performed several concerts across the world.
Her breakthrough came with “Al-Watan Al-Akbar” (the greater homeland) performance, a pan-Arabist song composed by late Egypt’s iconic star Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Following her overwhelming success with Abdel Wahab and other Egyptian musicians, she decided to stay in Cairo for the rest of her life.
