Introudction

Fame and stardom brought the Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez (El-Andlaeeb) and the Egyptian actress Souad hosny (Cinderella of the Egyptian Cinema) together, and fate wanted the names of the two stars to be associated, even if life separated them, especially when the coincidence played major role in marking the date of El-Andaleeb’s birth the same as the day of Cinderella’s Death.

Abdel Halim Hafez in short words 

Abdel Halim Hafez (1929-1977) was an Egyptian, singer, actor and music teacher. Hafez despite his fairly short career, has achieved such a tremendous amount of fame as no many people have, becoming Egypt’s first romantic singer and one of the most influential Egyptian stars of the 1950s and ‘60s.

As his popularity grew, and due to the combination of his acting ability and his warm romantic voice, Hafez was given the nickname ‘El-Andaleeb Al-asmar, meaning the Dark-Skinned Nightingale.

In collaboration with composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim went on to produce many popular love songs such as Ahwak (“I adore you”), Nebtedi Minen el Hekaya (“Where should we start the story”), and Fatet Ganbena (“She passed by us”).

Hafez also worked with Egyptian poet Mohamed Hamza on songs including Zay el Hawa (“It feels like love”), Sawah (“Wanderer”), Hawel Teftekerni (“Try to remember me”), Aye Damiet Hozn (“Any tear of sadness”), and Mawood (“Destined”).

Here’s the song Ahwak (“I Adore You”), one of Hafez’s most popular songs (also my favorite one). Music is by Mohamed Abdel Wahhab and lyrics by Hussein El Sayed, as it was released in 1959 in the Egyptian movie “Girls Today”.

The song’s lyrics translated into English:

I love you

I love you and I wish I could forget you

And forget my soul with you

And if it gets lost then it remains yours if you ever forget me

And I forget you and you show me how to forget your cruelty

But I miss the suffering you inflict on me

And my tears remind me of you, and I go back to you

And when I see you, it’s like the whole world coming at me with you

And its desires are yours

And at that moment, all my deprivation disappears in your love

And I find you thinking about me and me about you

And my eyes are into your eyes

And what they sare is all over you even though you try to deny it

And I take care of you, waking up in the night, to call out to you

And I send my soul to wake you up

Get up, you who I obsess about, try to go through the hell I’ve been through

I love you and I wish I could forget you

And forget my soul with you

And if it gets lost then it remains yours if you ever forget me

And I forget you and you show me how to forget your cruelty

But I miss the suffering you inflict on me

And my tears remind me of you, and I go back to you

And when I see you, it’s like the whole world coming at me with you

And its desires are yours

Additional Popular Ones: 

The song Toba (“Repentance”), which its music is also by Mohamed Abdel Wahhab and lyrics by Hussein El Sayed, and was sung for the first time in 1955 for the Egyptian movie “Days and Nights”

The translated lyrics: 

Repentance, repentance if I were to ever love you again, repentance!

But just meet me once, and that will be the last time.

And after that, repentance, repentance.

Repentance if I were to ever break up with you and return to reconcile afterwards.

How often has distance tortured me, and how often has proximity tired me.

And if your shadow once crosses my dream and awakes me

Still I would obey you. But here it is – one last time and after that, repentance.

Repentance, repentance if I were to ever love you again, repentance

But just meet me once, and this will be the last time.

And after that, repentance, repentance.

Repentance, if I were to ever believe again your words,

No matter how much you ask, I won’t believe even your greeting.

Just promise me, never to cry when I’m in front of you,

Lest I call my soul a liar and tell myself just one more time,

and after that repentance.

Repentance, repentance if I were to ever love you again, repentance

But just meet me once, and this will be the last time.

And after that, repentance, repentance.

Oh! from the curiosity of my heart, and Oh! from the tear of my eye.

Every time I say I will forget you, I miss your fire and it awakens me.

I run and ask you before you come to me

I laugh one time, I cry another and after that, repentance

Sawwah (“wandering”), music by Baligh Hamdi and lyrics by Muhammad Hamza, released in 1966.

Translated lyrics: 

Wandering,

And walking through the lands, wandering.

And the distance between me

And my beloved is vast.

It’s a long journey,

And in it, I’m a stranger.

And the night draws near,

And the sun has returned to it’s home.

If you find my love,

Greet her for me.

Reassure me about my love,

What has the separation done to the brunette?

Wandering,

I walk through the nights, wandering.

With no control over myself, wandering.

From our separation, precious, wandering.

What has happened to me? Wandering.

And for years,

For years I’ve fallen in love with her.

I just want to know which path leads to her.

If you find my love,

Greet her for me.

Reassure me about my love,

What has the separation done to the brunette?

My eyes!

Oh my eyes, what has happened to you?

Where are you and what are you doing?

My worried,

Oh my worries, leave me alone.

I’m worried enough about her.

I can’t find rest,

And I’m lost, wandering.

I can’t find rest,

And I’m lost, wandering.

And for years,

For years I’ve fallen in love with her.

I just want to know which path leads to her.

For years I’ve fallen in love with her.

I just want to know which path leads to her.

Oh moon, you who has forgotten me.

Show me the way to the lost one.

Light the way, show me to

The path of my beloved.

You have promised me,

You who bears witness for me.

Tell her all that is within me,

And how I’m tortured every night.

And for years,

For years I’ve fallen in love with her.

I just want to know which path leads to her.

….and If you find my love,

Greet her for me.

Reassure me about my love,

What has the separation done to the brunette

Abedel Halim Hafez& Souad hosny’s Love Story: The Missing Truth

The Truth About The Mysterious Love 

love story of Abd al-Halim Hafez and Souad Hosni remained a matter of questions, as the story was disputed by many, and was written about it in more than one way.

Despite the spread of rumors in the press, both of them completely denied the existence of any “love” as if there was an agreement on that, although everyone around them,  knew exactly what the relationship between Souad and

Halim was like.

that secrecy of their love story did not last long. After the separation, specifically in the middle of 1966, Souad revealed her love story to Abdel Halim, which was destroyed by “jealousy and lack of understanding.” In hafez’s recorded memories with Iris nazmi in 1976, which were published after his death, was said that: “he loved Souad, and she loved him, and it was possible for him to marry her, but the lack of understanding and respect ended this story.”

Gawab (“A letter”) is a song by Abdel Halim from the movie; lyrics by Morsi Aziz& music by Kamal Al-Taweel.

The translated lyrics: 

My dear beloved , After longings.. I give you all my salutations, my nostalgia & my passion .

My eyelight, my heart’s soul, my beloved, my life … ,

I am missing your eyes.. missing you.. missing you even after I’ve just met you,

and at the peak of my longing, & the peak of dark-night I’m writing for you, I’m writing for you. All [x2]

No, no.

My heart is the one writing for you; it’s the one sending for you (the letter) , [x4]

And the night made him awake, & the longing made him, made him write for you.

Writing for you, about what he has for so long, for so long hid,

Describing for you his love, his insomnia, & longing of/at his nights All [x2]

I can’t stand your remoteness another second, at all, at all, my beloved; and I don’t know the taste in the days at all, at all, my beloved [x2]

I want you, want you all the time, my beloved.. I don’t want our longings to prolong, my beloved [x2]

I want you; want you beside me, watering me & drinking from our love [x2]

And we wouldn’t know tomorrow from yesterday, nor your heartbeat from mine [x2]

And conclusively,

For you a thousand Salam (goodbye or greetings), love, longings & passion , [x2]

From a heart ..that never relaxes or sleep, or sleep .. your lover’s heart .

The poet Magdy Naguib in special statement said: “The talk about the love story began with the keenness of the artist Abdel Halim Hafez to maintain the presence of the artist Souad Hosni with him at the evening held by the journalist writer Mustafa Amin, after showing the movie (Girls and Summer) in March 1960.

In one of abdel halim’s concerts in Cairo 1962 (The concert of the Andalus Garden Theater), Souad has presented him to the stage saying: “I present to you now our emotional singer, El-Andaleeb abdelhalim Hafez”. In this concert, Hafez sang the song El Helwa (“the beauty”) for Souad.

The lyrics in english: 

The beauty, the beauty, the beauty
with her eyelashes, her beautiful black eyelashes
made me busy, called me and took me
took me far and brought me

made me busy, called me and took me
took me far and brought me

Longing, longing defeated me
Longing was about to melt me
except for her beautiful laugh, She promised me with beautiful things

Beautiful, beautiful your eyes
My darling, my darling

In your eyes I stayed awake and my days longed
Your eyelashes and lips remaining
Your eyelashes and lips remaining
My dreams sang, my dreams sang

After that actually, Souad used to attend all Abdel Halim Hafez’s concerts, and at the ceremony that was held in August 1964, he sang a poem written by Morsi Aziz, and composed by Muhammad Al-Muji, called Ahebak (“I Love You”).

During the show, hafez keept directing his gaze to her with the clip that says: “I will say I love you and live I love you, I love you life of my heart,” what made her cry from his singing.

Ahebak (“I Love You”)– 1964

The lyrics in English:

I love you

I love you is a word in which I melt in it days and nights

It wants to go to you

But you are far away from me

And the word that I live with

I’ll melt all longing in it

I will say it and repeat it and I will sing it.

I will say I love you and I’ll live loving you .

I love you, my life, my heart

O my eyes, my heart,What happened?

The world became beautiful ,Why?

My friends, my family, my neighbors, I want embrace you

I am not able to have the joy of my heart, I can never, my love

And the word that I live with

I’ll melt all longing in it

I’ll say it , repeat it, and sing it.

I say I love you and live I love you.

I love you … life of my heart

I love her and in my heart her love lives ..

I wish longing reach her

And her heart feels my love

Tomorrow I will tell her that my soul is for you

My mind is for her

And tell her, She is my happiness

She is my hope, every hope

She is all my life

And the word I live with

I’ll melt all longing in it

I ‘ll say it , repeat it, and sing it.

I say I love you and live I love you.

I love you … life of my heart

Qariat El Fingan (“The Coffee Cup Reader\Fortune Teller”) Song And The Story Behind It

Qariat El Fingan (“The Coffee Cup Reader\Fortune Teller”) is one of the famous songs by Abdel Halim Hafez, sung in April 1976. The song is mainly a poem made by the Arab poet Nizar Qabbani, and Hafez sang part of its compositions after making some modifications to a number of verses.

Whoever watches him sing it on the stage will notice how affected he is by the story he tells through the tongue of the fortune-teller who reads the cup. The reason is that the story talks about him and the he loved: Souad Hosny.

As the two of them shared a bloody love story… There was a third side who wanted to stop the story and end it, and he is the Egyptian officer (Safwat Al-Sharif) because he wanted Souad Hosny to engage in work with the Egyptian intelligence service..

When she refused and chose to continue with Abdel Halim Hafez…he kidnapped her and imprisoned her in a palace surrounded by heavy security and threatened to kill her loved one if she did not comply with his requests. He also threatened her with arrest and abuse, which forced her to acquiesce after months of kidnapping…

When the two were separated by force, After a few years, Souad met with Nizar Qabbani and told him the story. Then the latter heard from Abdul Halim, who assured him that he had always loved her and that he would not marry, because he sees her in the faces of all women…

 The poet did not pass it unnoticed, on the contrary, he composed his aforementioned poem to perpetuate the story… and through it he narrated the suffering of Abdel Halim Hafez and drowned souad Hosny with the most eloquent words describing the beauty of Arabic language

Qariat El Fingan (“The Coffee Cup Reader\Fortune Teller”)– From 1976, lyrics by the arab poet Nizzar Qabbani& music by Muhammad Al-Muji 

The lyrics in english:

She sat down. Sat down

Sat down, with the fear in her eyes

Pondering my upside down cup

She said: “Son, don’t be sad”

She said: “Son, don’t be sad”

“As love is what’s written for you”

Oh, son.

…………

Oh, son.

He was a martyr.

Oh, son.

He was a martyr.

Oh, son.

He was a martyr,

whoever died for their loved one.

Oh, son.

…………

I’ve foretold

Foretold and predicted a lot

But I have never read

A cup that looked like yours.

I’ve foretold

Foretold and predicted a lot

But I have never known, son,

Sadness that was like yours.

…………

Your fate is to forever swim

In the sea of love, with no ship

And your life will forever be

Forever, books of tears.

Your fate is to stay trapped,

between water and fire.

…………………

Despite how much it hurts,

Despite its misdeeds,

Despite the sadness haunting us,

day and night,

Despite the wind,

despite the rain and the storm,

Love will stay, my son,

Love will stay, my son,

The best fate

The best fate

Oh, son. Oh, son.

……………..

(Your fate is to forever walk

In love, over the blade of a dagger

And to stay lonely, like a shell,

And to stay sad, like a willow tree

And to fall in love, a million times

And to come back like a dethroned king.)

(Your cup is a terrifying life

Your life is travel and war

You’ll fall in love a lot, son

You’ll die a lot, son

You’ll love all the women on earth,

And come back like a dethroned king.)

……………..

In your life, son, there is a woman,

Her eyes, Praise be to Allah

Her mouth, drawn like a panicle

Her laugh, music and roses

Her gipsy, crazy hair

Travels around the world

She might become a woman, son

that the heart loves

She’s life

……………..

But your sky is rainy

And your way is blocked

The love of your life, son

Is sleeping in a well-guarded palace,

(And the palace is large, son,

Dogs guard it, and soldiers

And the princess of your heart is asleep)

Whoever enters her room,

whoever asks for her,

Whoever comes close to the fence of her garden,

Whoever tries to untie her plait,

Oh, son!

Is doomed, is doomed.

……………..

You’ll search for her, son,

Everywhere

And you’ll ask the waves of the sea about her,

And you’ll ask the Turquoise on the shores

And you’ll wander seas and seas,

And your tears will make rivers

And your sadness will grow

Into trees

……………..

And you’ll return one day, son

Defeated, with a broken soul,

And you’ll know as the time passes,

That you had been chasing a line of smoke

As the love of your heart,

Doesn’t have a land,

Or a home, or an address,

How hard is to love a woman,

My son, that doesn’t have an address

Since the beginning of talking about it in the sixties, and until today, the love story that brought together Abdel Halim Hafez and Souad Hosny still has its chapters that have not yet been completed, and which is often renewed with the memory of the Nightingale and Cinderella.

After Halim’s death, many of his friends and those around him confirmed that Abdel Halim only truly loved twice, “once for a beautiful and rich woman who died in her youth, and the second and last time was Souad Hosny.” These are the only love stories that Halim talked about in his recorded memories. Dr Hisham Issa -the private doctor and companion to Abdel Halim- in his book “Halim and I”, states that Hafez kept looking for Souad Hosny in every girl he knew after that.

Thank you