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Abdel Halim Hafez
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Abdel Halim Hafez was born Abdel Halim Ali Shabana in 1929 in El-Halawat, in the Egyptian province of Sharqia, north of Cairo. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father a few months later. He grew up in an orphanage and later with relatives in Cairo. He learned music from his older brother, went to the Arabic Music Institute at fourteen and studied as an oboist at the music institute.
Music and breakthrough
His breakthrough came in 1953. At the last moment he stepped in for a singer who could not perform in a live radio broadcast. Hafez Abdel Wahab, who ran the music programmes of Egyptian radio, heard him, and Halim took his first name as his stage name. At first people found his new way of singing strange; later he became a singer whom all generations could appreciate. With composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab he made many love songs, such as Ahwak and Fatet Ganbena. With the poet Mohamed Hamza he made Zay el Hawa and Sawah, among others. He also sang many patriotic songs and acted in sixteen films.
Influence
He worked mainly as a live singer and therefore rarely released a studio album. He himself played the oboe, piano, oud and guitar, among other instruments, and took part in composing his songs. He died in 1977 in London of liver failure. His funeral drew tens of thousands of people. Decades later his songs were still heard during the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and a snippet of Khosara turned up in 1999 in Big Pimpin by Jay-Z.
Listening
Qareat El Fengan · Abdel Halim Hafez, 1976