Farid Al-Atrash

فريد الأطرش‎‎ 

Farid, (October 19, 1910 – December 26, 1974), was a Syrian/Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso Oud player. Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of nine with his Family.

Al-Atrash was born in al-Suwayda, in southern Syria to the Druze Al-Atrash family who fought the French colonial army. His father a Syrian, married a Lebanese and later immigrated to Egypt with his wife, Farid, Asmahan and Fouad. They immediately naturalized as Egyptian citizens.

Farid, Asmahan & Fouad with Mother

 Interesting to note that Farid's mother an artist sang and played the Oud, which spurred his musical interest at an early age.

As a child and young boy, Al-Atrash sang mostly in school events. He later studied music at the conservatory and became an apprentice of the renowned composer Riyad as-Sunbaty. In the 1930s, Al-Atrash began his professional singing career by working for privately owned Egyptian radio stations. Eventually, he was hired as an Oud player for the national radio station and later as a singer.

Farid and his sister Asmahan

His sister, Asmahan, was a very talented singer, she became one of the most popular female vocalists and cinema stars in the late 1930s and early 1940s, In 1941, Asmahan and Farid  starred in their first successful movie Intisar al-Shabab The Triumph of Youth, in which Farid himself composed all the music. Asmahan life was cut short due to an automobile accident in 1944.

Link to original song  -  Asmahan : Ya habibi taala

Musical career

FARID AL-ATRASH

Al-Atrash had a long and colourful music career lasting four decades. He composed musically diverse songs, and was a highly regarded composer, singer and instrumentalist. Al-Atrash maintained that although some of his music had western musical influence, he always stayed true to Arab music principles. Although the majority of his compositions were romantic love songs, he also composed several patriotic and religious songs.

One of Al-Atrash's most unusual and distinguishable traits was his voice. High and mellow at the start of his career, it evolved into a wider, deeper sound. A person not familiar with his work would find it hard to believe the singer in "Ya Reitni Tir" (1930s) and "Adnaytani Bil Hajr" (1960s) was the same singer. His singing style was deeply passionate.

In many of his songs, and nearly all of his concerts, Al-Atrash would sing a mawal, which is a slow voice improvisation of a few poetic lines. These improvisations sometimes lasted up to 15 minutes. The mawal was a favorite of his fans. Some of the most famous songs include "Rabeeh" (Spring), "Awal Hamsa" (first whisper), "Hekayat Gharami" (story of my love), "Albi Wa Moftaho" (my heart and its key), "Gamil Gamal", "Wayak", "Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali" (Flower of my imagination), "Bisat Ir Rih" (flying carpet), "Ya Gamil Ya Gamil", "Ya Habaybi Ya Ghaybeen", "Eish Anta", and "saa fi korb el habib" (an hour in company of the beloved).

Al-Atrash starred in 31 Egyptian musical films from 1941 to 1974. His last movie, Nagham Fi Hayati (Songs in my life) was released after his death. All his films except the last two were black and white. They ranged from comedies to dramas, or a combination. He composed all the songs in his movies including the songs sung by other singers, and instrumentals (usually belly dance routines). His earlier films would include approximately ten songs, but overall the films would average about five songs each. Some of Al-Atrash's well-known movies include Intisar al-Shabab (The Triumph of Youth, 1941), Yom Bila Ghad, Ahd el-Hawa, and Lahn al-KholOud ( "Eternal Lyric", 1952).

 

Al-Atrash shaking hands with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, February 1955

Samia Gamal and Farid Al-Atrash

Quick success brought the young man a lifestyle of nightclubs, love affairs, and gambling. Soon Farid was in debt and found himself abandoned by his disapproving mother. During this difficult period of his life, he also endured the death of his sister and fellow performer Asmahan. Farid found comfort in a relationship with the belly dancer Samia Gamal, for whom he was motivated to risk all he owned. In 1947 he produced and co-starred in a movie with Samia directed by Henri Barakat; Habib al-'Oumr ("The love of my life," 1947), which became a huge success. After this came Afrita Hanem ("Madame la diablesse," 1949). Five films later, the unmarried couple broke up. Farid continued to work with other film stars in numerous successful movies in which he always had the romantic lead role of a sad singer. He even repeatedly chose his character's name to be "Wahid" meaning lonely.

Queen Nariman & Farid Al-Atrash

 Al-Atrash refused to get married, claiming that marriage kills art. In his films, the audience remembered his leading ladies and his beautiful songs more than the story lines.

Prior to the 1952 military coup d'état against King Farouk I, Al-Atrash became friends with Farouk's consort, Queen Nariman, a relationship that continued after the Queen's divorce and the coup that cost Farouk his throne. The former queen's family did not accept Al-Atrash, and the separation from Nariman sent the singer into a long depression, the start of health problems that worsened from that point on until his death.

Farid Al-Atrash lived in a building called “Dar El Hana” in Zamalek, a block away from the villa of Um Kalthoum. He later build a hi-riser on the Nile in Giza and moved to the roof garden.

Om Kalthoum  & Farid Al-Atrash

As Al-Atrash became older, he reconsidered his opinion of marriage and proposed to Egyptian singer named Shadia, but at the last minute he backed out. By now his health was poor, and he feared that he would leave her a young widow. He often played out that scenario and sang about it in his romance movies.

"He remained a bachelor throughout his life and constructed himself with references to the authentic post of Arab tradition and in a fairly idealized version of modernity. Tales of his love affairs were wildly popular during his lifetime and were seemingly merged with the lyrics of his love songs."

Al-Atrash suffered heart problems throughout his last 30 years. In the last few years of his life, he became physically thinner, and his singing voice became raspy as his sickness intensified. Although he was struggling with his health, he continued to produce movies and perform in concerts until his death.

Shortly after arriving from London to Lebanon he was admitted to the Al Hayek hospital in Beirut. On Monday December 24, 1974 the hospital doctors told Al-Atrash that he could leave after a couple of days to go home, as they noticed that Farid did not like his stay in the hospital and hated their food. On December 26, 1974, Al-Atrash died in the hospital he never left.

Al-Atrash was buried in Cairo, Egypt alongside his sisters and brother.

Over his lifetime, Al-Atrash starred in 31 movies and recorded approximately 350 songs. He composed songs for top Arab singers, foremost his own sister, Asmahan, as well as Wadih El-Safi, Shadia, Warda, and Sabah. He is widely considered to be one of the four 'greats' of Egyptian and Arabic music, along with Abdel Halim Hafez, Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Oum Kalthoum. The Notable Egyptian instrumental guitarist Omar Khorshid covered Farid Al-Atrash's songs in a tribute album.

Link to Original Song:  Farid El Atrash: Gamil Gamal