Ahlan Arabic lovers! Today, I am going to give you a short biography about one of the most famous Arab and Lebanese artists. It is said that Guinness World Record has contacted her family to add her name as the most dedicated artist around the world. Sabah صــَــبــاح or Al-Sabbouha الــصــَــبــُّــوحــة or Al-Shahroura الــشــَّــحــرورة or Al-Ostoura الأســطــُــورة (the Legend) – as she was nicknamed – left our world (aged 87) two weeks ago (on 26th November, 2014) after a long life that was mostly dedicated to her career as an artist; actress and singer.
Diva Sabah was born as Jeanette Gergis Feghali in Bdadoun بــدادون , Lebanon لــُــبــنــان on 10th November, 1927. She started her real artistic life in Cairo الــقــاهــرة , Egypt مــصــر when she attracted the attention of the Lebanese-Egyptian film producer Asia Dagher آســيــا داغــر who signed her for three films. The Egyptian famous composer مــُــلــحــِّــن Riyad Al-Sunbati ريــاض الــســُــنــبــاطــي was said to train her on the tunes that she sang in her first film; الــقــلــب لــه واحــد (The Heart has only One) in 1945. In this first film, she had the character name of Sabah صــَــبــَـــاح (literally means Morning) that continued with her all her life. Sabah was only 18 years old when she starred this film with the famous Egyptian Cinema star, Anwar Wagdi أنــور وجــدي .
Sabah starred about 83 films and worked with most famous Egyptian and Arab actors مــمــثــلــيــن and artists فــنــَّـــانــيــن in both Egypt and Lebanon such as Abdel-Haleem Hafez عــبــد الــحــلــيــم حــافــظ , Fareed Al-Atrash فــريــدالأطــرش , Kamal Al-Shennawi كــمــال الــشــنــاوي , Ahmad Mazhar أحــمــدمــظــهــر , Rushdi Abazah رشــدي أبــاظــة , Ismael Yaseen إســمــاعــيــليــاســيــن , Mohammad Fawzi مــحــمــد فــوزي , Wadih Al-Safi وديــع الــصــَّــافــي , Diraid Lahham دريـــد لــحــام , Hussein Fahmi حــســيــن فــهــمي و , Adel Imam عــادل إمــام and many others.
Sabah was mainly known for her distinguished مــمــيــز , strong قــوي and passionate شــجــي voice صــَــوت . She sang more than 3000 songs both in the Egyptian and Lebanese dialects لــهــجــة . She was considered a “Diva of Music” in the Arab world. She released over 50 albums. She was one among the Arab singers who sang at the Olympia in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Piccadilly Theatre in London and Sydney Opera House. She was considered one of the Lebanese icons أيــقــونــة and was nicknamed “Empress of the Lebanese Song إمــبــراطــورة الأغــنــيــة الــلــبــنــانــيـــة“.
Well, I was born near the city of Rasheed or Rosetta, Egypt. Yes, the city where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It is a small city on the north of Egypt where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. I am a Teacher of EFL.
