Fatheya Ahmed (1898 – 5 December 1975), also called Touha, was an Egyptian classical singer and actress who "carried the practice of

Waslah A ''wasla'' ( / ALA-LC: ''waṣlah''; plural وَصَلَات / ''waṣalāt'') is a set of pieces in Arabic music. It comprises eight or more movements such as ''muwashshah'', ''taqsim'', ''layali'', '' mawwal'', ''qasida'', '' dawr'', ''sama'i'', ...

into the 20th century". She also sang many traditional and modern melodies on

Takht Takht may refer to: Places Iran * Takht-e Olya, a village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Takht-e Sofla, a village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Takht, Golestan, a village in Mindasht County, Golestan Province, Iran * Takht, Hamadan, a v ...

in the tradition of ''awâlim'' in which female entertainers perform for women-only audiences during wedding celebrations. She had a “unique mastery of the

mawwal In Arabic Music, the ''mawwāl'' (; plural: ''mawāwīl'', ) is a traditional and popular Arabic genre of vocal music that is very slow in beat and sentimental in nature, and is characterised by prolonging vowel syllables, emotional vocals, and ...

”, a traditional and popular Arabic genre of

vocal music Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but ...

. She was known for singing poems and

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

s, and sang some folk songs with

Sayed Darwish Sayed Darwish (, ; 17 March 1892 – 14 September 1923) was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of Egypt's greatest musicians and seen by some as its single greatest composer. Ear ...

, a popular Egyptian singer and composer. She sang in the 1943 film ''Ahlam el Shabab'' (1943).

Early life and musical career

Fatheya Ahmed was born in a family of musicians in 1898 in the Al-Kharnafsh neighborhood in Cairo. After being introduced to music by her father, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hamzawi, a singer and composer of classical songs, she studied singing from a number of composers including Sheikh Abu Al-Ala Muhammad, who was

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...

's first music teacher. Her two sisters, Ratiba Ahmed and Mufida Ahmed, were also singers. In 1910, Fatheya Ahmed began her career in musical theaters and regularly performed at the theater companies of Najib al-Rihani and Amin Sidqi. From 1925, she performed at public concerts in Egypt and made numerous commercial recordings. She was equally successful on her musical tours to Syria. Because of her frequent visits to Syria with considerable success, she was named ''Mutribat al Qutrayn'' (the singer of two countries). She sang compositions by a number of renowned Egyptian musicians, including Muhammad Othman,

Abdu al-Hamuli Abdu al-Hamuli (; 1836 – May 12, 1901) was an Egyptian musician. He married the Egyptian singer , who went by the name of Almaz and formed together a very famous musical duet in Egypt at that time. See also *Lists of Egyptians The following ...

Zakariyya Ahmad Zakariyya Ahmad (; born 1896 in Faiyum, Egypt –1961) was an Egyptian musician and composer. He mainly sang religious songs as a member of several groups from 1919 to 1929, having studied recitation of the Qur'an under the well-known Egyp ...

Mohammed Abdel Wahab Mohamed Abdel Wahab (), also transliterated ''Mehammad Abdelwehab'', (March 13, 1902 – May 4, 1991), was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer, actor, and composer. He is best known for his Romantic and Egyptian patriotic songs. He ...

, and

Riad Al Sunbati Riad Mohamed El Sunbati (), also written as Riad Sonbati or Riadh Sonbati (30 November 1906 – 10 September 1981) was a 20th-century Egyptians, Egyptian composer and musician who was considered an icon of Egyptian Music. He composed 539 works ...

. She was featured at the first issue of the

Rose al-Yūsuf Rose al Yusuf or Rose al-Yūsuf may refer to: * Rose al Yusuf (journalist) (1898–1958), a Lebanese born journalist and stage-actress * ''Rose al Yusuf'' (magazine), an Arabic weekly political magazine {{disambiguation ...

magazine published in 1925 along with Munîra al-Mahdiyya and Umm Kulthum. She also appeared on magazine covers in rotation with other musicians. In 1929, she retired from the stage to raise her children. After several years, she made a comeback and regularly performed as the star singer at the musical club of

Badia Masabni Badia Masabni (, born ''Wadiha Masabni'' (; 1 February 1892 – 23 July 1974) was a belly dancer, singer, actress, night club owner and businesswoman considered as the developer of modern belly dancing, by bringing the Western and Hollywood-esqu ...

in Cairo. Fatheya Ahmed was a friend of Umm Kulthum for more than sixty years and performed together on numerous musical events. She retired in the late 1940s following a chronic illness.

Personal life

Fatheya Ahmed married Ismail Bey Saîd, a landowner.

Death

Fatheya Ahmed died on 5 December 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Fatheya 1898 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Egyptian actresses 20th-century Egyptian singers 20th-century Egyptian women singers Egyptian stage actresses Musical theatre actresses Singers from Cairo Singers who perform in Egyptian Arabic Singers who perform in Classical Arabic