Murad, Leila

Liliana Murad was born in the region of Cairo on February 17, 1918, into a family of Jews Zaki Murad and Gaimila Salmon. Her father was a respected singer, musician and khazan in the synagogue.

Liliana made her debut under the pseudonym Leila Murad at the age of nine on the stage of the Saalat Badiya concert hall in Cairo. The concert hall was founded in 1926 by actress and dancer Badia Masabni, who at that time patronized the young singer ^[1] . Her film debut took place at the age of fifteen. In 1932, she starred in the film Al-Dahaya (Victims of Crime), which was originally shot as a silent film. Her song "On the day of departure" was included in this film after dubbing ^[2] .

The teachers of Leyla Murad were her father Zaki Murad and Egyptian composer of Jewish origin , the author of the first operetta in Arabic. The composer wrote for the singer two songs that became hits: “Why can't you choose one of the fans?” And “Why are you avoiding me?”. Further success came to her in 1938, when another Egyptian composer Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab shot it in his film “Long Live Love!”. Over the next six years, Leyla Murad starred in five films directed by and became Egypt's most famous actress. In 1945, she starred in the film "Leila, the daughter of the poor" directed by , and she married him shortly after the picture. Leyla Murad starred in twenty films, of which the most famous is the film "Flirting Girls." Her partners in recent films have been and Abd al-Wahab.

In 1953, Leyla Murad was declared, following Umm Kulsum , the official voice of the Egyptian revolution. Soon after, the singer was accused of material support for the state of Israel, where her parents emigrated. She denied all charges and sued. Then Leyla Murad converted to Islam, which led to a break with parents who did not agree with this decision of her daughter. During the trial, it turned out that the singer was slandered. However, on a personal order from Gamal Abdel Nasser , the then president of Egypt, a boycott was secretly announced to her. So, at the age of 38, she had to end her career. Her songs were still popular among the Egyptians, but did not receive radio broadcasts. The singer's voice again sounded on the radio during Ramadan in 1970, when she was entrusted with the daily reading of the Qur'an during the holy month ^[3] .

Leyla Murad died in a hospital in Cairo on November 21, 1995.

Family

Relations between Leila Murad and her family after her conversion to Islam have not recovered. When in 1967-1970 male Egyptian Jews were deported to the camps of and , where her brother Isak Zaki also ended up, she never visited him.

Despite the objections of her parents, the singer married Anwar Wagdi, with whom she then divorced three times and registered her marriage again. After she married twice more - for Vagiha Abaza and for Fatin Abdul Wahaba, from whom she gave birth to a son Zaki Fatin Abdul Wahaba. She divorced her last husband in 1969 and lived alone.

•   Layla Murad (ar)
•   The best of Layla Morad (ar.)
•   أغنية الحب جميل- ليلى مراد (ar.)

• Leyla Mourad. Golden Voice of over 1,200 songs and 28 films (neopr.) . Al Mashriq. - Films and songs of Leyla Murad on Al-Mashrik website. (eng.)
• Layla Murad: Popular Culture and the Politics of Ethnoreligious Identity (Neopr.) . University of California. - A chapter on Leila Murad in The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry on the University of California Publishing House website. (eng.)
• Sami Asmar. Decade Later, Layla Murad Still Unforgettable Artist (unopened) . Al Jadid. - An article about Leila Murad on the website of Al-Jadid. (eng.)
• Victor Snitkovsky. The fate of singer Leila Murad (neopr.) . Jewish world. - An article about Leila Murad on the website of the publication "Jewish World".