For this deluxe edition, the We Want Sounds label has taken over the original cover of the album “Nagham Fi Hayati”, while adding unpublished photos and comments from a specialist: Mario Choueiry. This project manager at the Arab World Institute in Paris has worked for a long time in record companies, notably at EMI Arabia, which he directed for several years. He explains to RTS that “Nagham Fi Hayati” is a music album, but it is also the soundtrack of the Egyptian film of the same name. In 1975, “Melody in my life” is an Egyptian adaptation of the Marseille trilogy by Marcel Pagnol.
From radio to cinema
After lessons at the Cairo Conservatory with a great oud master, Farid El Atrache was first hired by the Egyptian state radio, to sing and play this instrument. He enjoyed success in music from the mid-1930s. Then came the time of cinema, in the following decades.
The Syrian-Egyptian oud player and actor Farid El Atrache in the film “Kusset Hubi” [ – Collection Christophel/AFP]
At this time, the Egyptian cinema is booming, it is the second most profitable industrial sector following textiles. “In the 1950s, Egyptian cinema was to bring musical comedies of the first importance. There is a phenomenon comparable to Bollywood or Broadway in the United States. It is a different Egypt than the one we know today, more liberal in terms of morals”, recalls Mario Choueiry.
A collection of lovers
After finding comfort with the dancer and actress Samia Gamal, Farid El Atrache goes on to amorous conquests. Conquests that will go to the summit of power with Narriman Sadek, the last queen of Egypt, recently divorced from Farouk 1st.
A musical success, rose water films with predictable scenarios and repeated conquests. Mario Choueiry admits that there are many similarities between the life of Farid El Atrache and that of Elvis Presley. Including at the end of their career. After glory and success, the two men will experience slumps and depression.
Radio subject: Michel Ndeze
Web adaptation: Sarah Clement
Farid El Atrache, “Nagham Fi Hayati” (We Want Sounds).