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Warda Al-Jazairia (???? ?????????; literally "Warda the Algerian"), commonly referred to as just Warda (????) ( July 1940), is an Algerian singer. She is well known in the Arabic music community for her Egyptian songs and music.
BiographyEarly lifeShe was born the youngest of five children near Paris in Puteaux in 24 July 1939. Her father, Mohammed Ftouki was one of the first Algerian immigrants to France, ran a hotel for migrant workers at Boulogne-Billancourt then became the owner of an Arabic music cabaret in the Quartier Latin called the Tam-Tam (named after the three initials of the three Maghreb countries, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco). She used to sneak out of her room every night and hide in one of the corners for two or three hours to listen to the band while they were playing or rehearsing in her father's night club below and then she would sing for her self the next morning.
In those days Warda was unable to write any Arabic, she always had to ask her older brother to write out all her Arabic songs in the Latin alphabet. From time to time Warda's father was tolerant enough to allow his daughter's brief appearance on a stage of his club at the request of a friend.
Warda's mother was a Lebanese born in Beirut in a Muslim family of good social position called Yamout. She had taught Warda every Lebanese song of some importance. Thus the girl's liking for the Middle Eastern song had developed.
She was only a little girl when she would sing songs by Mohammed Abdel Wahab or Farid El Atrache
. Ahmad Tejani, a friend of Warda's father, was working for a famous record company, Pathč Marconi-EMI (now EMI France), which used to produce children's programs for North African Arabs in France on the Paris radio station. During one of his visits to the TAM TAM club he heard her singing and liked her voice so much that, shortly after, he presented her to the radio and she participated in the show with a song called "Song for the Mother".
In 1958, as Paris was more and more concerned by the development of the Algerian War of Independence, the whole family had to seek refuge in Beirut where she went on singing militant songs. The whole family lived in a small apartment in Al Hamra Street in Beirut. When Warda started singing in Tanyos, a famous night club in Aley, she was only 17 and her national songs were hardly the style for night clubs.
Music careerOn one of the nights when she was performing Mohammed Abdel Wahab was among the audience. At the end of her performance he approached her and proposed that he compose for her, such a proposal she could not refuse. He was to become, throughout her career, her "godfather".
His extremely demanding, almost tyrannical, working methods would change her forever. For the Oustaz (The Master) the only price of glory was hard work and dedication, and this was a challenge for Warda for she had to learn how to write Arabic and to erase her Algerian accent.
In 1959, in Syria, the great composer Reyad Elsonbaty heard her performing a nationalist song Koulouna Jamila at the Damascus Festival and was seduced by her voice. He invited her to Cairo where he was to compose many songs for her, among them Loubat el Ayyam and Nida el Dhamir.
When she arrived in Cairo in 1960, Elsonbaty was willing to help her: he set two music poems by an Egyptian poet: Ya huria ana bendahlek (lang-en O Liberty, I call you) and Dalia Djamila, in honor of Palestine. He also composed the musical part of the play Alikhwa thalata Deir Yassine (lang-en The three brothers from Deir Yassin).
Between 1961 and 1962, the Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, asked that she participate, as the representative of Algeria, in a song for the Arab World called Al Watan Al Akbar. This song was composed by Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Warda had the chance to appear alongside other famous singers, including Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Fayza Ahmed, Najat al Sagheera and Shadia.
RetirementIn 1962, Algeria became independent. In 1963, she flew there for the first time to marry a former high ranking officer in the National Liberation Army (ALN), whom she had met during her stay in Lebanon. Her husband asked her to give up singing to look after her family - which she did for ten years. To many, her career seemed to be over.
ReturnHowever, in 1972, Houari Boumédienne, the President of Algeria, asked her to participate in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of Algerian independence. She agreed, and as a result her marriage broke down.
The Egyptian national orchestra was sent to accompany her in her comeback song, ''Ad'uka ya amali, a poem by the Algerian poet Salah Kharfi, music by Baligh Hamdi.
In December, she left for Cairo where she rapidly became one of the most famous Arab singers, with Elūyūn essūd, Khallik Hena and other songs in the same vein, composed by Baligh Hamdi, whom she had just married.
She continued to work with the most famous composers of the time: Elsonbaty; Baligh Hamdi, her husband; Kamal al Tawel; Said Mekkawi; and, of course, the Oustaz, Mohamed Abdel Wahab.
PresentIn recent years she has worked particularly closely with the composer Salah el Sharnoubi, the lyricist Omar Batiesha, the arranger Tareq Aakef and producer Mohsen Gaber (Alam El Fan), an association which led to three of her albums receiving the award of "Best Album of the Year" in 1991, 1992 and 1994.
Warda al Jazairia - The Rose of Algeria - has always brought joy and pleasure, through her art, talent and magical voice, to her many fans and admirers across the Arab world and globally through more than 300 carefully chosen songs and with concerts booked all over the world.
Warda did the most famous series in Ramadan. That was a comedy series and it was the first series that warda done in her life She did it in 2007.
Rumors have been going on and on concerning her health condition. In summer 2007, she announced that she is in great health and recently enjoying her time with her grandson. About her Professional career she said that offers keep on touring but she is taking her time to choose whats best for her and her fans.
Movie careerThe film director Helmy Rafla heard Warda and put her forward for a major role in his film "Almaz Wa Abdu Al Hamoly". For this film both Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Farid el Atrache were to compose her songs.
She played a part in two films: "Sūt elhob" (The voice of love) and "Hikaiti maa ezzaman" (My fate and me), in which she sang works by M. Abdelwahab, Kamal El Tawil, Mohammed Elmūgui and by her husband Baligh Hamdi.Warda became one of the famous singer in the middle east after singing ( feeyom welila ) after convinced the gratest musician abdel wahab, this song was composed already for Mayada elhinawi
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