Farid Al Attrach
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Farid Al Attrach (1915-December 26, 1974) (Arabic: فريد الأطرش) (Alternate spellings: Farid El-Atrache, Farid Al Atrash, Farid El Atrash, Fareed Al Atrache, Fareed Al Atrash and Fareed El Atrash) is an Arab composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. He is one of the most important names of twentieth century Arab music.
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[edit] Early life
Farid was born in Syria to a Druze Royal family who fought the French Colonial armies. In the mid 1920s he moved with his family to Egypt escaping the French occupation, later on they were naturalized by the Egyptian government. Farid’s mother sang and played the oud, which spurred his musical interest at an early age.
As a child and young adult, Farid sang in school events. He studied in a music conservatory and became an apprentice of the renowned composer Riyad as-Sunbaty. In the 1930’s, Farid began his professional singing career by working for privately owned Egyptian radio stations. Eventually, he was hired as an oud player for the national radio station and later as a singer. His sister, Asmahan, was also a talented singer, and for a while they worked together. In 1941, they starred in their first successful movie, in which Farid himself composed all the music.
[edit] Musical career
Farid had a long and colorful music career lasting four decades. His talent was musically diverse, as he was a highly regarded composer, singer, and instrumentalist. His composing and singing style cannot easily be defined, as his music and voice could vary greatly from song to song. Farid maintained that although some of his music had western musical influence, he always stayed true to Arab music principles. Although the majority of his compositions were romantic love songs, he also composed several patriotic, belly dance, religeous songs.
Some of the most famous songs include "Rabeeh", "Awal Hamsa", "Hekayat Gharami", "Albi Wa Moftaho", "Gamil Gamal", "Wayak", "Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali", "Busat Ir Rih", "Ya Gamil Ya Gamil", "Ya Habaybi Ya Ghaybeen", "Eish Inta".
One of Farid Al Atrache's most unique and distinguishable traits was his dinstinct voice. High and mellow can describe his voice in his earlier songs from the 1930s. As he matured, his voice evolved into a wider, deeper sound. A person not familiar with his work would find it hard to believe the singer in Ya Reitni Tir (1930s) and Adnaytani Bil Hajr (1960s) were the same singer. His singing style was deeply passionate, and depending on the mood of the song, the sound of his voice would vary greatly.
Throughout his singing career, he was admired for his extraordinary vocal range and singing ability. Many of his songs, and nearly all of his concerts, Farid would sing a mawal, or voice improvisation of a few poetic lines. These improvisations sometimes lasted up to 15 minutes. The mawal was a favorite of his fans, as his musical creativity and vocal ability were on highest display.
[edit] Film career
Farid starred in 31 Egyptian musical films from 1941 - 1974. His last movie, Nagham Fi Hayati, was released after his death. All his films except the last two were black and white. They ranged from comedies to dramas, or a combination. Farid composed all the songs in his movies, including the songs sung by other singers, and instrumentals (usually belly dance routines). His earlier films would include approximately ten songs, but overall the films would average about five songs each. Some of Farid's famous movies include Intisar al-Shabab, Yom Bila Ghad, Ahd el-Hawa, and Lahn al-Kholoud.
[edit] Personal life
Quick success brought the young man a lifestyle of nightclubs, love affairs and gambling. Soon Farid was in debt and found himself abandoned by his disapproving mother. During this difficult period of his life, he also endured the death of his sister Asmahan, an accident that suggested conspiracy. Farid found comfort in a relationship with the belly-dancer Samia Gamal, for whom he was motivated to risk all he owned. In 1947, he produced and co-starred in a movie with Samia, and it became a huge success.
Five films later, the unmarried couple broke up. Farid continued to work with other film stars in numerous successful movies in which he always had the romantic lead role of a sad singer. He even repeatedly chose his character’s name to be "Wahid," meaning lonely.
Although he fell in love with most of his lovely co-stars, Farid refused to get married, claiming that marriage kills art. In his films, the audience remembered his leading ladies and Farid’s beautiful songs more than the story lines.
One of his more interesting real-life love stories involved royalty. Just before the 1952 Egyptian army coup d'état against King Farouk I, Farid became friends with the king’s wife. The king was soon exiled and divorced his wife. She returned to Egypt to lead a stormy love affair with Farid. Her family did not accept Farid, partly for political reasons. When they broke up, Farid fell into a long depression, and this started health problems that worsened from that point on until his death.
As Farid became older, he reconsidered his opinion of marriage and proposed to an Egyptian singer named Shadia, but at the last minute he backed out. By now his health was poor, and Farid feared that he would leave her a young widow. He often played out that scenario and sang about it in his romance movies.
[edit] Legacy
Over his lifetime, Farid starred in 31 movies and recorded approximately 350 songs. He also composed music for such famous singers as Wadih El-Safi, Warda, and Sabah.
Farid El-Atrache has left a legacy to Arabic music. He is considered by Arab musicians as the best oud player of his time. His songs are still popularly used in many belly dance routines today. His voice and sad singing style was so unique and popular that Farid is still one of the most imitated singers. Composers consider Farid a leader in his field.
[edit] Death
Farid suffered from heart problems throughout his last 30 years. In the last few years of his life, he became physically thinner, and his singing voice became raspy as his sickness intensified. Although he was struggling with his health, he continued to make movies and perform in concerts until he died. On December 26, 1974, Farid died in Beirut in Al Hayek hospital. Farid is buried in Cairo, Egypt along side his sister and brother.
