When Abdel Halim Hafez died in London in 1977, his body was flown home to Cairo. Millions of people poured into the streets for his funeral. Reports said some fans were so overcome with grief that they took their own lives. The singer known as the Dark Nightingale had become, for a generation of Arabs, the voice of love, longing and national hope.
Early life and a new style
Abdel Halim Ali Shabana was born in 1929 in the village of El Halawat in Egypt’s Sharqia province. His mother died soon after his birth and his father not long after, and he was raised partly in an orphanage. He studied music in Cairo, playing the oboe and teaching before turning to singing. He took the name Hafez from a radio official who supported him.
His singing was gentler and more intimate than the grand style of older stars. Young audiences connected with his emotional delivery.
Films and songs
He became known as al-Andaleeb al-Asmar, the Dark Nightingale, a reference to his complexion and the beauty of his voice. He starred in many Egyptian films in the 1950s and 1960s, often playing romantic leads. His films helped spread his songs across the Arab world. During the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser, he recorded patriotic songs celebrating the revolution and Arab nationalism.
His love songs, including works with lyrics by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, remain some of the most performed in Arabic music.
Illness, death and Umm Kulthum
He suffered for years from complications of bilharzia, a disease linked to the Nile, and underwent many treatments abroad. He died in London in March 1977, aged 47. He and Umm Kulthum were the two giants of Egyptian music of their time, with different styles and devoted followings. His songs are still played on radio, covered by younger singers and loved by listeners born long after his death.
The long songs and radio
Like other Egyptian stars of the era, he performed long songs that could last close to an hour in concert, with the audience calling for repeated lines. Recordings of these live performances are treasured by fans. Egyptian radio carried his voice across the Arab world, making him famous from Morocco to Iraq. Abdel Halim Hafez grew up an orphan in a Delta village. When he died, Cairo stopped to mourn him like a family member.
