Laila Mourad was a legendary Egyptian actress, she was born in Al Daher, Cairo in February 1917 to a Jewish Iraqi father, Ibrahim Zaki Mordachi, a famous religious cantor, singer and musician in the twenties, and to a Jewish Polish mother, Gamilah “Salmon” who gave birth to Mourad, Ibrahim, Malak, Mounir and Samihah. Her brother Mounir Mourad was an Egyptian actor and composer.

Egyptian Jewish composer Dawoud Housni, who composed the first Operetta in the Arabic language, helped her start her career by composing two songs: “hairana Leh Bein El Eloub” (Why can’t you choose from among lovers), and “Hoa el dala’a ya’ani khessam” (Does dalliance 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 1953, she was even selected, over Umm Khulthum, as the official singer of the Egyptian revolution.

Once fully entrenched in Egyptian society, with numerous contributions to their culture and the greater Arab culture, Jews are now a very small minority in the country. Though the Jewish experience suffered a major setback as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict in Egypt, Lebanon was the only country with an increase, rather than a decrease, in its Jewish population after 1948.

A tribute to what once was, and what shall be again…

Previous article on the Egyptian Jewish Community, click here

Filed under: History by admin