Google Doodle paid today, Tuesday homage to Iraqi singer and actress Afifa Iskandar Estefan, also known professionally as Affifa Iskandar, on her 98th birth anniversary.
Iskandar was considered one of the best female singers in Iraqi history, and was dubbed as the "Iraqi Blackbird".
She was born on December 10, 1921, in Mosul, Iraq to an Armenian father and a Greek mother.
She had an artistically educated family, where her mother, Marika Dmitry, played four musical instruments and worked as a singer in Hilal club when it was called (Majestic), which was established after the occupation of Baghdad in the Al-Midan area in Bab Al Moatham neighborhood.
Iskandar's mother was her first fan and always advised her that vanity was the artist's grave.
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Affifa Iskandar's google doodle[/caption]
She started singing at the age of 5, where she performed her first party in 1935 with a wonderful performance of Al maqam genre.
Iskandar was married to an Armenian musician named Iskandar Estefan when she was twelve and took his last name.
She also worked as an actress and starred in many productions. In 1938, she traveled to Egypt and collaborated with many famed entertainment figures Badia Masabni, Taheyya Kariokka, and Mohamed Abdel Wahab.
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Afifa Iskandar[/caption]
In 2012, she passed away in Baghdad at the age of 90 after a battle with cancer on October 21.
Iskandr performed nearly 1,500 songs, including "Ya aqqid alhajibayn", "Ikhlas meni", "Ya sokari ya assali", "Ared Allah yebain hobty behom", "Qaleb qaleb'", "Jani alhlo labs sobhyat aledd", "Nem wa sadek sadri", "Msafren", "Qsma", "Helal eid".
She had special traditions in art and life; Iskandar hosted a salon in her home in Karrada, which received the country's most prominent politicians, literature, art, and culture such as Iraqi former PM Nuri al-Said, abdullah alazzawi, Imre Selim, and others.
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