Abdelhalim Hafez

The smiling face of Abdel Halim, at the head of a squad of young girls with flowing hair and fashionable young men, speeding along the Avenue des Pyramides on his motorcycle: this scene, typical of musical films, sums up the memory attached to the Brown Nightingale (as he was nicknamed by the press) and to his era, that of the carefree dreams of Arab modernity, which were shattered in the defeat of 1967. An oriental blend of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, this artist, whose real life seems to have come out of a novel for young girls, remains, twenty years after his death in a London hospital, one of the most popular Arab stars. The son of a village shaykh, he was soon orphaned and joined his older brother at the Arab Music Conservatory in Cairo in the early '40s. He graduated as an oboist (one of only two in the country), having forged links with a whole generation of young composers who would enjoy their moment of glory in the 50s, such as Kamâl al-Tawîl and Muhammad al-Mawgî.Initially a music theory teacher, he preferred to try his luck in the capital's cabarets. Despite initial success with "Sâfini marra" ("Reconcile with me", 1949), he clashed with the Cairo radio authorities, who considered his singing "too Westernized". In 1952, he finally reached an agreement with the program director, which finally allowed him to get on the air. Abdel Halim took his own stage name, leaving the Shabâna patronymic to his brother, who specialized in classical music. His youthful good looks opened the doors to the studios, and he made 16 films between 1954 and 1969. His friend Mohamed Abdelwahab agreed to compose short film songs for him from 1955 onwards. During the 50s, these songs, influenced by the Western model, were characterized by their brevity and lightness. Over the following decade, they became more serious, and in the 70s, they followed the Oum Kalsoum model, lengthening to around 60 minutes per song, with lyrics in dialect or classical Arabic, blending syncopated rhythms, folk inspiration and surface Westernization. Exhausted by illness, Abdel Halim died at the height of his fame, and his funeral provoked scenes reminiscent of the funerals of Nasser and Oum Kalsoum two years earlier

F. L.