Ali El Haggar (Arabic,علي الحجار) is an Egyptian singer and actor.[1][2]
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El-Haggar was raised in a musical family and during his early childhood his father, late singer and composer Ibrahim El-Haggar, taught him the principles of Arabic music and in particular singing. He was exposed to different types of Arabic songs including the works of Om Kolthom, Mohmmed Abdel-Wahab, Zakaria Ahmed, Sayed Darwish and others. His father helped his son to get an in-depth understanding of different musical forms, but also wanted his son to get fully absorbed by a specific singing type in order to keep his own identity. El-Haggar said "My father exposed me to music in its different manners and schools, but as well he advised me to sing only like myself without imitating any other singer no matter what is the degree of his talent and regardless of how much do I like this singer". El-Haggar also learnt to recite the Quran which helped him in articulation and organizing inhalation, two important factors in singing.
El-Haggar studied at a faculty of Fine Arts. El-Haggar was often asked about the relation between music and fine arts and how far studying fine arts affected him as a singer: “While I'm singing I do imagine the music pieces as if they are geometric shapes and lines; I can see some types of music are like straight lines, others resemble curved lines, and sometimes some music pieces reminds me of broken lines. Also, I can observe some songs of mine as complete portraits”.
In 1977 El-Haggar was discovered by the late composer Baligh Hamdy, who introduced him publicly on New Year's Eve reciting his first piece "Ala Ad Ma Habbena" with lyrics by the late poet Abdel-Rehim Mansoor after listening to him singing in a musical program on Egyptian television.
In 1976 El-Haggar got together with the late Salah Jaheen. At that time Jaheen had already written his famous quartets Robayat and was searching for a singer capable of singing them. Having confidence in El-Haggar's ability, Jaheen decided to offer him the opportunity to sing the complete quartets with music by the late Sayed Mikkawy.
Together with the composer Ammar El-Sherei and the poet Sayed Higab El-Haggar performed the complete set of songs for the television serial El-Ayam, personifying the late novelist Taha Hussein. Owning a well-built dramatic voice, as many music critics validate, El-Haggar is still participating in this song's type having become the number one singer in the dramatic songs category, whether in television serials, movies, or plays.
El-Haggar works with famous composers and lyricists as well as with other singers in duets whenever possible. "In duets I like to deal with talented singers; as competing with clever singers motivates me to explore my capabilities to execute the song in the best distinguished manner". During his career El-Haggar has performed a number of duets with singers such as his career companion Mohammed El-Helw, in songs such as "Beladi" and "Khan El-Anadeel" (the opening and closing of a TV serial carrying the same name), with Hanan Mady in many television serial songs like "El-Likaa El-Tany & El-Mal we El-Banoon", with Angham in the play "Rosasa Fi El Qalb", and with Hoda Ammar in "Bent we Walad" from the movie Eskendereyya New York.
Another important phase in El-Haggar's professional life was his first collaboration with his brother, the composer and singer Ahmed El-Haggar. This was in 1978 when Ahmed El-Haggar composed his brother’s hit "Ozoriny". The success that this song achieved sparked El-Haggar's singing career. The El-Haggar brothers have co-operated in many other songs, Ahmed El-Haggar as composer and Ali El-Haggar as lyricist. Among these songs are: "Bahebek", "Ana Biki Ya Samra Akon", "El-Ahlam", "Kont Faker", "Tesaaliny", "Lama El-Sheta Edo’o El-Biban", "Ma Tekdebish", "Ergaaily", "Lessa El-Kalam", and recently "Ya Masria".
El-Haggar performed a duet with Plácido Domingo in 2000 when Domingo wanted to sing a duet with an Arab singer. Domingo was introduced to many songs from a number of Arab singers finally choosing El-Haggar. Domingo was surprised by El-Haggar’s singing abilities and consequently he gave him the nickname "The Golden Voice". The resulting concert El-Haggar & Domingo conducted in Dubai was a success and well-received.
In 1990 Ali El-Haggar was about to release an album of romantic songs when the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait took place. El-Haggar postponed it for a later time and instead released another album Lem El-Shaml, political songs which reflected vents happening at the time. El-Haggar has a repertoire of political songs that reflect his political concerns — for example "Hona El-Kahira", "Ya Masry", and "El-Moot Ala El-Asfalt", a collection of poems written by the poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoody describing the violence in Palestine. Recently El-Haggar sang "Lobnan" as a reaction to the attacks that took place in Lebanon.
Throughout his career El-Haggar has said: “My main goal is to present art that lasts after my departure not gets forgotten while I am alive”. He has collaborated with artists such as Baligh Hamdy, Ammar El-Sherei, Yasser Abdel-Rahman, Omar Khairat, Ahmed El-Haggar, Amir Abdel-Migeed, Riad El-Hamshry, Gamal Attia, Khalil Mostafa, and others. He has also collaborated with lyricist like Abdel-Rahman El-Abnody, Sayed Higab, Ahmed Foad Negm, Foad Haddad, Abdel-Rehim Mansoor, Gamal Bekheet, Bahaa Jaheen, Essam Abd-Allah, Hany Shahata, Ibrahim Abdel-Fattah, and others.
El-Haggar has also performed older songs from past generations of musicians such as "Gafnoho Alam El-Ghazal & Saherto" by Mohammed Abdel-Wahab, "Dary El-Oion & Rah Tewhashiny" by Mohammed Fawzy, and "El-Hob Gamil" by Laila Morad. When asked why he likes to sing old songs already sung by old singers he responded: “I want the contemporary generation who do not know much about old music to get more acquainted to it; that’s why I reperform old songs that I personally like most, but in a modern modified way that makes these songs come closer to the current youth generation keeping the spirit of the original piece of music".
In 2005 El Haggar was certified as a professional Qur’an reciter from the El Azhar institute and is considered to be the first Egyptian male singer to get this certification nowadays.
El-Haggar was awarded a prize of honor in the 15th Arabic Music Festival for the year 2006 as well as two prizes from two different European theatre festivals in both Germany and Italy. He also received "Best Singer of the Year" in a Sharm El-Sheikh video clip festival for his song "El-Leil Ya Nas".