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Homage
to Baligh Hamdi Whose Songs Have Been Interpreted By
The Greatest Singers |
A.
Hachlef |
January
1994 |
Translated
by M. Stoffel |
Born in Cairo in 1932, Baligh Hamdi was going to be
the youngest of Egyptian composers. As a child he was
already convinced that the only possible career for
him would be that of a musician. Aged twelve years,
he wanted to go in for an examination that would allow
him to be a student at the Fûad I School of music
but he was too young to be accepted. Two years later
he attended AbdelHafid Amam's classes of traditional
music. Meanwhile he had learned to play the lute. Afte
being taught general Arab music and, at the same time,
attending a secondary school, he went on studying music
under master Derwish ElHariri, an expert in mûwashsha-s.
Then he began to read law at the faculty and learn more
about music at the Academy of music. He was still reading
law when, in 1954, he became a professional musician,
being accepted as a singer on the radio, in the department
directed by Hassan Eshûgaï, his master at
the Academy of music who wanted him to become a singer.
But Baligh Hamdi was interested in composition more
than in any other form of music and he started to set
poems to music for the great singers of that time though
he had not developed a style of his own yet. This would
not happen before 1956, when he began to get interested
in genuine Egyptian folk music. His career took a new
turn and Ûm Kaltsûm began to pay attention
to the young composer and his inventive compositions.
In 1959 she interpreted his first song for her "Elhob
eïh" owing to which he became known in the
other countries of the Arab World.
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According
to Baligh Hamdi himself, the beginning of the most important
period of his career dates back to 1962. From then onwards
he was able to display the musical proficiency he had
acquired in his research work on folk music, which work
he would carry on all his life. He would say : "We must
look for substance in the local tradition, the national
heritage, if we want to be able some day to compose
works of worldwide scope." He never broke this his own
rule. Thus he was not unwilling to use such western
instruments as the accordion, organ or saxophone in
his orchestrations in so far as they were tuned to produce
quarter tone music. In that way these instruments could
be used in Arab music without disfiguring it. |
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From
1962 onwards, with everyone of his works, Arab music
made great strides. |
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Among
the first ones we'll mention "Qûlû elaïm
eshems" composed for Shadia , "Ala hasbi widad
qalbi", "Sawah", "Gana elhawa", "Zay
elhawa", "Mawûd" for AbdelHalim Hafez,
"Zalamna elhawa", "Ya wahishri", "Sirt
elhob", "Fat almiâd", "Baïd
annak", "Alf leïla", "Elhûd
kûllû", "Hakam aleïna elhawa"
for Ûm Kaltsûm and "Elûyûn
essûd", "Khallik hena", "Esmaûni"
for Warda. |
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Notwithstanding
the success of his music, Baligh Hamdi was never seen
to give himself airs. He went on sincerely admiring
his elders : Sayed Derwish and his musical comedies,
the exceptionally gifted lutanist Mohammed Kassabgi,
Mohammed Abdelwahab and his wonderful interpretations
of Arab songs, Riad Sombati, a pastmaster at the qasidah
genre, Mohammed Fawzi and his film scores !... As to
Farid ElAtrash, Baligh Hamdi not only admired him for
his being an exceptional lutanist and singer but also
for being a unique composer. Moreover he reckoned him
as "the musician who was preparing western ears to listen
to Arab music". But whilst Abdelwahab was satisfied
with composing music as a dilettante and whilst Riad
Sombati, living apart from the world, was engrossed
in making a jewel of the song he used to compose for
Ûm Kaltsûm every month, Baligh Hamdi was
making great strides towards becoming a professional
composer. He even opened an office where compositions
were made to order, something nobody had ever ventured
doing before he did. But gradually his very success
would have his drawback : in the never-ending turmoil
of his life and the hectic activity of "song making",
he found it more difficult to cope with all demands
made upon his creativity. He happened now to scamp his
work , to resort to repetitions. The question arose
: "Was he finished ? Was he going to exist only thanks
to his past compositions ?" |
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There
was a time in his life when he thought of himself as
"the maker" of great singers. It became particularly
obvious when, after divorcing from Warda whom he had
been married to for ten years, he tried to set up a
rival to vie with her. True, Mayada ElHennawi
who was an admirer of Warda's had a timbre of
voice which could bring hers to mind. As they listened
to Mayada singing his songs, some people maybe got confused
as to who was singing them. But the delusion could not
last long. It seems he had simply forgotten the part
played by the singer Warda in this case
in the ultimate achievement. Yet, convinced that it
was of utmost importance, he wa the one who had always
exhorted authors, composers and singers to collaborate
! |
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The
following period of his life was a difficult one. All
right he had a new singer to interpret his songs...
but inspiration was lacking. Other misfortunes accumulated
: one of his fans, a woman, committed suicide on his
premises. To avoid public exposure and, also, to have
medical treatment he left Egypt. Going into exile was
a hard experience for him. He died in hospital in Paris
on September 12, 1993, carried off by a liver disease
(cancer). |
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His
death brought about a feeling of great emptiness in
the sphere of Arab song. He had composed many musical
comedies and the score of 23 serial films to be broadcast
on TV. The Egyptian film industry will not find it easy
to replace a musician who had composed the music -songs
includes of more than 15 feature films. Among
the musical comedies, we'll mention "Habibati ya
misr", "Mahr elarûssa", "Ya banat
skandaria". As to "Tamar henna" and "Hikayti
mâa ezzaman", they were made specially for
Warda. |
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All
singers from the sixties up to now, both male and female,
have been indebted to him for one or more of their greatest
hits. Besides the already mentioned Ûm Kaltsûm,
AbdelHalim Hafez and Warda, many other singers have
interpreted his songs : Shadia (33), Nagat Essaghira
(26), Mohammed Roshdy (26), Sabah (22), Faïza Ahamad
(14, though she would usually, and exclusively, sing
the songs of her husband Mohammed Soltane), Moharram
Fûad (10), Sharifa Fadel (9), Hani Shaker (7),
Samira Bensaïd (5) and Shahrazad (3). |
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The
foregoing on the one hand gives evidence of Baligh Hamdi's
creative powers, his great facility in composing songs,
and on the other hand shows how much he was admired
by artists who were already well-known singers when
they asked him to make songs for them, songs which,
in their turn, contributed to keep them at the zenith
of theirfame among the stars of Arab song. |
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