Algerian singer Warda dies in Cairo at 72

The Algerian singer Warda, whose sultry voice and range helped make her one of the giants of Arab song, has died aged 72.

Egyptian state TV said Warda died on Thursday at her home in Cairo. The official MENA news agency said that her body will be flown to Algeria on Friday for burial.

Along with Lebanon’s Fayrouz and Egypt’s late Oum Kalthoum, Warda was one of the legendary singers of the Arab world, with a voice that has been described as both sweet and powerful.

Warda lived in Egypt on and off for more than 40 years, and it was in Egypt that she earned both her cinematic and singing breakthroughs that won her fame across the Middle East.

She had at least five lead roles in Egyptian films, and about 300 songs to her name.

Formidable team

Warda Aldjazairia, or the Algerian Rose, was born in France in 1939 to an Algerian father and Lebanese mother.

She began singing as a little girl, gaining a following among Arab children in France through her songs broadcast
on local radio.

Warda travelled to Algeria for the first time in 1962 after the country gained independence from it French colonial rulers.

Warda Aldjazairia

Born in Puteaux, France, in July 1939   Died May 17, 2012, in Cairo, Egypt, from a cardiac arrest   Began singing professionally in 1951, at age 11, as a star in her father’s Parisian cabaret, the Tam-Tam   Famous for singing in support of the Algerian independence movement, including songs such as “Ya habibi ya mudjahid” (O friend, O fighter), “Bladi ya bladi” (O my Country), “Ya mrawah lelblad” (Thou who goest back to thy Country)   Abandoned her professional career for a decade at the request of her first husband, an Algerian man   Relaunched her musical career in 1972, moving to Cairo   Married the Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi

She married an Algerian and quit singing for ten years.

After moving to Cairo, at the time the heart of the Arab cultural and artistic scene, she had her big break in the late 1970s with the hit “My Times Are Sweeter With You”.

She frequently worked with Egypt’s, and the broader Arab world’s, best-known composers, and eventually married one – Baligh Hamdy.

They formed a formidable team, even after their divorce, making some of the most memorable Arab love songs, including “Stay Here, Stay” and “Listen To Me”.

Late Egyptian singer and composer Mohammed Abdel-Wahab said Warda had “a broad voice with special abilities that other singers lack”.

“I feel safe when she sings my tunes,” he said.

Warda sang in all Arab dialects, and although better known for her love songs, she also sang nationalistic songs for Algeria and the larger Arab world.

She was first introduced to a wider audience in Egypt when she took part in a pan-Arab song in 1960 called “The Greater Nation” written under the-then Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

In the song, she sang the part referring to Algeria, earning her the moniker Aldjazairia, or The Algerian.

Warda had a liver transplant ten years ago, which forced her to give up performing for a number of years.

Her son told an Arab newspaper on Sunday that his mother was planning to film a new song in Algeria soon.

Her last album was released in 2011, entitled: “The Years I lost.”