Leila Mourad

Leila Mourad or Layla Morad Arabic ليلى مراد February 17 1918 November 21 1995 was an Egyptian singer and actress and one of the most prominent superstars in Egypt and the entire Arab world in her era Born Lilian Zaki Ibrahim Mourad to an Egyptian Jewish family known for their patriotism in 1918 in the El Daher District in Cairo she later changed her name to Leila Mourad as a stagename She made her first stage appearance aged nine at the Saalat Badia one of Cairos most successful Music Halls The theatre had been founded in 1926 by the actress and dancer Badia Masabni who became Mourads patron Her first film appearance aged fifteen was in the 1932 AlDahaaya The Victims which had originally been made as a silent film Her song The Day of Departure was added as part of the transformation of the production into a talkie She was trained by her father and Dawood Hosni who was also Jewish Hosni had composed the first operetta in the Arabic language and he composed two songs for Leila Hairana Leh Bein ElEloub Why cant you choose from among lovers and Howa el dalaa yaani khessam Does daliance mean avoiding me Further success came when the prominent Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab heard her singing and gave her a role in his film Yahia el Hob Viva Love in 1938 In the six years following the success of Yahia el Hob she made five best selling films with director Togo Mizrahi becoming Egypts top actress In 1945 she made Layla Bint alFuqara Layla daughter of the poor directed by Anwar Wagdi whom she married shortly after She went on to make a further 20 films of which the most outstanding is Ghazel elBanat The Flirtation of Girls also directed and costarring Wagdi It also featured Nagib alRihani and Abdel Wahab in their last appearances on film In 1953 she was selected as the official singer of the Egyptian revolution Shortly thereafter a rumor that Mourad had visited Israel and donated money to its military raised suspicions of spying and caused some Arab radio stations to boycott her She denied these allegations no proof was found and the charges against the singer were eventually dropped Her decision to retire aged 38 came with the failure of her last film Al Habib al Majhoul The Unknown Lover the banning of her song With Unity Order and Work praising the Free Officers 1952 revolution and the outbreak of the 1956 war Despite the immense popularity of her films her singing career was overshadowed by Um Kulthum who dominated Egypts musical landscape Leila Mourad made a few brief reappearances during Ramadan in 1970 when she was scheduled to read Salah Jaheens Fawazeer Ramadan Ramadan puzzles a daily traditional radio program held during the Holy month of Ramadan Leila Mourad died in a Cairo hospital in 1995