Abdel Halim Hafez (June 21, 1929 - March 30, 1977) was an Egyptian singer. His real name Abde Halim Ali Shabana. He was born in the village of Al-Helwat in Al-Sharqiya Governorate, and there are his own houses and now it contains some special belongings
about his life
He was born in the village of Al-Helwat, in the Ibrahimiya Center, Sharkia Governorate. He is the youngest of four brothers, Ismail, Muhammad and Alia. His mother died a few days after his birth, and before Abdel Halim completed his first year, his father died in order to live as an orphan on the father’s side, as he lived on from the mother’s side before, to live after that in the house of his uncle, Hajj Metwally Amasha. He was playing with his cousins in the village canal, and from there he contracted schistosomiasis, which destroyed his life. He once said I am the son of fate, and during his lifetime he underwent sixty-one surgeries. Halim was the fourth son and the eldest of his brothers was Ismail Shabana, who was a singer and music teacher at the Ministry of Education. Halim joined, after he had matured a little in Sheikh Ahmed's book; And since the brown Nightingale entered the school, his great love for music became evident until he became the head of the anthems troupe in his school. Since then, he is trying to enter the field of singing because of his passion for it.
He joined the Institute of Arabic Music, Department of Composition in 1943. When he met the artist Kamal Al-Taweel, Abdel Halim was a student in the composing department, and Kamal was in the Department of Singing and Voices. Years as a music teacher in Tanta, then Zagazig, and finally in Cairo. Then he resigned from teaching and joined the Radio Music Ensemble playing the oboe in 1950.
He met with Magdy El-Amrousy in 1951 at the house of the radio director at that time, Fahmy Omar. Abdel Halim Shabana discovered the radio broadcaster Hafez Abdel Wahab, who allowed him to use his name "Hafez" instead of Shabana.
According to some sources, Abdel Halim was authorized on the radio after he presented the poem "Meeting", the words of Salah Abdel-Sabour, and the melody of Kamal Al-Taweel in 1951, while other sources believe that his leave was in 1952, after he presented the song "Ya Sweet Ya Asmar", the words of Samir. Mahjoub, composed by Muhammad al-Mouji, and in general, there is an agreement that he sang (Safini Marra) the words of Samir Mahjoub, and composed by Muhammad al-Mouji in August 1952, and the masses rejected it at first sight, as people were not ready to receive this new type of singing.
But he re-sang "Safini Marra" in June 1953, the day of the declaration of the republic, and achieved great success. Then he presented the song "Ala Qad Al-Shawq", the words of Muhammad Ali Ahmed, and composed by Kamal Al-Taweel in July 1954, and it achieved overwhelming success, then he re-presented it in a movie "The Melody of Loyalty" in 1955, and as his success grew, he was nicknamed "The Brown Nightingale".
Beginning period
This period extends from his leave on the radio in 1951, after he presented the poem "Meeting" from the words of Salah Abdel-Sabour and composed by Kamal Al-Taweel, until the start of filming his first film "The Melody of Fulfillment" in 1955, and his symptoms of schistosomiasis had not worsened.
During this period, we notice that a large number of songs contain a tone of optimism, such as: “It is the feast of the dew,” “Accept the morning,” “The boat of dreams,” “In the silence of the night,” “Our joy, Hanana,” “The eyes are calling you,” “Ghani.” ..sing”, “The Night Lights and Samar”, “The Breeze of Dawn”, “The Wind of Your Tears”, “Wake Up and Get Up”, “The Whole World”.
Some of these songs also talk about beautiful nature, such as: "The Golden Asseal", "Is Spring", and "Al-Aseel". Some emotional songs also deal with the mention of beautiful nature in the context of human love for everything that is beautiful, such as “Maybe”, “In the Silence of the Night”, “Carnations”, “My Love for Oneness”, “Companionship of Roses”, “Rabeeh Poet”, “The Table”. "You are a new inspiration", "Here is our love tamed", "Spring has passed".
But with the worsening of his schistosomiasis starting in 1956, we notice that the tone of optimism began to gradually disappear from his songs, and was replaced by the tone of sadness in his songs.
continued brilliance
He collaborated with the genius composer Muhammad al-Muji and Kamal al-Taweel and then Baligh Hamdi. He also has famous songs composed by the musician of generations Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, such as: (I love you, we start from where the story, she missed our side), then completed the duo (Halim - Baligh) in partnership with the well-known Egyptian poet Mohamed Hamza the best Arabic songs, most notably:
Zay Al-Hawa, tourists, try to think of me, any tear of sadness, no promise, and other songs.
He sang to the great poet Nizar Qabbani the song Qari'at al-Fanjan and Risalah Min Underwater, which was composed by the musician Muhammad al-Muji.
After the 1967 war, he sang in his historic concert in front of 8 thousand people in the Albert Hall in London in favor of the war effort to remove the effects of aggression. In this concert, Abdel Halim presented the song of Christ, the words of Abdel Rahman Al-Abnudi and composed by Baligh Hamdi, and he sang in the same concert the song Uday Al-Nahar, which is also by Al-Abnoudi and Baligh, and it is one of the most prominent songs of Abdel Halim’s concerts throughout his long history.
Abdel Halim dreamed of presenting the story “No” to the great writer Mustafa Amin on the cinema screen, and he nominated Najla Fathi to star in it, but fate did not allow him. He presented 3 lyrical programs: “The Nile Girl” by the poet Ahmed Mukhaimar, composed by Muhammad Al-Mouji, directed by Kamel Youssef, and “Maarouf Al-Iskafi” by the poet Ibrahim Rajab, composed by Abdel Halim Ali and directed by Othman Abaza, “Wafa” by the poet Mustafa Abdel Rahman, composed by Hussein Junaid and directed by Ismail Abdel Majid.
He died on Wednesday, March 30, 1977 in London at the age of forty-seven years, and the main cause of his death was the contaminated blood that was transmitted to him, carrying with him hepatitis C virus, which could not be treated with cirrhosis of the liver resulting from his infection with schistosomiasis since childhood. He was also examined in London, and there was no cure for this disease at the time, and some opinions indicated that the direct cause of his death was the scratching of the endoscope that led to his intestines, which led to bleeding. Doctors tried to prevent the bleeding by placing a balloon to swallow it to prevent blood leakage, but Abdel Halim died and could not swallow the balloon medical. The audience was so saddened that some girls from Egypt committed suicide after learning about this news. His body was buried in a solemn funeral that Egypt did not know, except for the funeral of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the late artist Umm Kulthum, whether in the number of people participating in the funeral, which amounted to more than 2.5 million people, or in the sincere emotions of people at the time of the funeral.
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