Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Lesser Known Facts about Baligh Hamdi on His Death Anniv.


Sun 12 Sep 2021 | 03:30 PM
Ahmed Emam

Today marks the death anniversary of renowned Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi.

Hamdi was born on 7 October 1931 in the Shubra district of Cairo to a father, who was a professor of physics at Cairo University.

At age nine, he learned to play the violin and the oud two or three years later.

Moreover, he took music lessons with a variety of teachers throughout his childhood and teenage years. Thus, he became a professional musician in 1954 at age 22.

Later on, he became a law student, and he chose to not complete the studies for the law degree.

Although he is mainly known as a lyricist and composer, Hamdi was a man with perse qualities.

His songs centre on subjects like patriotism, devotion, love, and others.

The sufferings he experienced in life were reflected in his lyrics, which made his songs and music full of pathos.

The so-called " King of Music" added a new dimension to Arab songs as he skillfully incorporated the fast-paced western genres alongside the Arab modern genres.

During his days in Egypt, he used to hold musical soirees almost every evening at his residence where musicians like  Abdel Halim Hafez, Shadia, Layla Murad, Najat Al Saghira, Fayza Ahmed, Warda used to sing together.

In the 1970s, the renowned composer married Algerian star Warda, and together they created some of their most famous work.

After a while, Hamdi got accused of a scandalous crime and moved away to Paris. In the 1900s, he returned home after being proved not guilty.

The remarkable composer is well known for his seminal works, such as 'Khosara Khosara', 'Hob Ayeh', 'Ansak Ya Salam ', Rise people and the spirit and conscience, The transfer of the Nile, 'Fat El Me'ad', 'Alf Leilah Wa Leilah', 'El Hob Kolloh', 'Hakam Alina El Howa'.