Beirut / Naeem Berjawi / Anatolia
Lebanese singer and actress Najah Salam died on Thursday at the age of 92 after a long artistic career, where she became famous in the Arab world for many popular songs, and was called “the Egyptian lover.”
The daughter of the late singer, journalist Samar Al-Atafi, wrote on her Facebook account: “The journey has ended, Orouba… Mama is in God’s arms.”
According to the official Lebanese News Agency, prayers will be performed over her body tomorrow after Friday prayers at the Khashoggi Mosque in Beirut, and her body will be buried in the new Islamic Endowments cemetery.
Salam was born in 1931 in Beirut. She is the granddaughter of Sheikh Abdul Rahman Salam, the Mufti of Lebanon from 1932 to 1941. Her father is the composer and oud player Muhyiddin Salam.
Among her most famous songs are: “Oh Heartbreak,” “Barhoum,” “I Want Your Answers,” “I Want a Brides,” and “Mail.”
Salam’s beginning with singing was through school concerts, and she recorded her first songs in 1949, which were “Hawul Ya Ghanam” and “Ya Jarhih Al-Qalbi”, and Riyad Al-Sunbati and Muhammad Abdel-Wahab composed for her.
Salam interacted with the Arab events in 1956, and performed the song “Oh, the most precious name in existence, O Egypt” during the tripartite aggression (Britain, France, and Israel) on Cairo. She also performed the poem “I am the Nile, a graveyard for invaders” by the poet Mahmoud Hassan Ismail.
Salam moved to Egypt, settled there during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and then returned to Beirut in 1991.
While settling in Cairo, she performed many patriotic songs for Egypt, which granted her citizenship, and she was nicknamed “the Egyptian lover” due to her great love for the country’s culture.
She also sang “Syria, My Love” and received many honors in Syria and other Arab countries.
The Algerian people circulated her songs during the confrontation with the French occupation, the most prominent of which was: “Singing songs after the bullets, I will not speak” by the poet Salah Jahin and the composer Mohamed Al-Moji.
In Lebanon, the late singer was honored more than once, as the late President Elias Hrawi awarded her the Order of Merit with the rank of Knight in 1993, in honor of her for her patriotic works.
A number of officials in Lebanon mourned the late artist, as former Prime Minister Saad Hariri wrote on the “X” platform: “May God have mercy on the great artist, Najah Salam, and my sincere condolences to her family and fans.”
Former Prime Minister Tammam Salam also mourned his late relative, describing her as a “great artist.”
He said in a statement: “I consider that a page in the history of art and singing in the Arab world has been turned with the death of the singer, born in 1931, who retired more than 30 years ago.”
He added: “A bright star in this bad time has faded, but its light will remain a radiant shine in the history of authentic Arab art and singing.”
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