"I want Arabic music to be more accessible to the western world"

Singer Fatma Saïd releases her first album, El Nour -

From a promising singer, trained at La Scala in Milan and since then on the most prestigious European stages *, Fatma Saïd is now a special case.

Her unique timbre and voice have made her one of the most followed lyrical performers.

But at 29, the Egyptian singer chooses to take a step aside with her first album,

.

She interprets popular Arab arias, pieces by Bizet, Ravel and Berlioz, but also Andalusian songs, served by her luminous voice.

Fatma Saïd releases her first album entitled El Nour - Warner

While in Paris, Fatma Saïd receives

to discuss this project which is close to her heart, and makes the effort to speak to us in French.

How many languages ​​do you speak ?

Oh… Several.

I like languages.

Whenever I have the opportunity to learn and use a language, I take it.

Talking about languages ​​is like having a weapon, psychological.

I feel stronger with languages.

Thank you for speaking French anyway.

It was a dream for me to speak French one day.

In Egypt, we did not remain French-speaking but the link with the French language is still very strong.

To my grandmother, I say “hello, that?

», There is still a whole Egyptian generation that speaks French.

I love the French language, it's so elegant.

The French do not use their lips to speak, it is very delicate.

Me as an Egyptian, I speak using my whole mouth!

You live in Berlin and have lived in Milan and Caïre.

How did you learn French?

I started at 15, at school.

Then with French music, poetry.

With the coronavirus, I took advantage of the cancellation of all my concerts to really learn French.

Is it useful to know how to speak the language in which we sing?

Of course, that helps a lot.

I do not speak Russian for example and it is very difficult for me to learn the songs in Russian.

When I sing in French I can understand every word and that changes everything.

In chamber music for example, poetry is essential.

The poetry of the French language brings me so much joy ...

When you work with French conductors or orchestras, do you speak French?

It depends on the bosses.

If he or she speaks a particular language, I adapt.

When it's a difficult language for me, we go through English.

But most chefs speak multiple languages, too.

We decide on a common language.

Often it's Italian anyway, because it's the language of music.

It's impossible for a singer not to speak Italian.

Italian chefs cannot imagine that a musician does not speak Italian.

You were the first Egyptian singer to enter La Scala in Milan.

Why did it happen so late?

There are, however, great Egyptian singers.

There are a lot of great Egyptian pop singers who sing in Arabic, of course, but there are very few female or opera singers in Egypt.

There is a big difference.

You surely know Oum Kalsoum.

She is THE singer of the Arab world, she has had international success, she is incomparable and unique but there are many singers in Egypt who sing this style.

But lyrical, opera singing is far from Egyptian culture, especially now.

, by Verdi, was performed at the Caïre opera house at a time when this culture was present in Egypt.

But today, in the Egyptian school system, there is no music.

So we cannot be a generation that knows opera.

In Egypt there are maybe ten people who sing opera in a professional way ...

How did your vocation come about then?

I went to a German school where music was very present.

I had this chance.

Classical music was very important in my life very early on.

Would you like to change this situation in Egypt?

Have a role ?

I hope.

I had to leave my country very young to go to singing studies.

I think my background can show Egyptian society, especially some parents, that you can go abroad to study, not to be an engineer or physicist or doctor, but to make music.

Music is also important.

When I return to Egypt today, I want to get this message across to let the children be free to do whatever they want.

This is the only way you can be happy and passionate about what you do.

In your album, you combine music from French, Spanish, Arab composers… Why this eclecticism?

I approached this album as an author.

I wanted to document my personal journey as an Egyptian, African and Arab singer and woman.

I am a person, a character, a voice, a timbre.

And I have a culture.

I didn't want an album of gala arias, as is the tradition with sopranos.

I wanted to do something different.

What do you mean by “documenting” your journey?

I tried to understand why I felt a very close relationship with these countries, France and Spain, while I have no relationship with them.

I believe it is linked to history.

At the end of the 19th century, many French artists, poets and composers depicted the East, within the orientalist movement.

Bizet, Ravel, Hugo… For the Spanish part, there is a very strong link, in the music rather than in the lyrics elsewhere, between Egypt and Andalusia.

The Arabic way of singing and writing music is very close to what I have heard of Spanish music.

I am very comfortable singing Andalusian music.

What about Arab music?

How did you choose them?

I especially chose to interpret them according to my education in classical music.

From a very young age, I studied Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, but I did not study Arabic music, the music of my culture.

But it could have been very beautiful.

Egyptian music is very rich and I would have liked to learn it at school, with classical music.

There is a political dimension in your observation ...

I don't put any political ulterior motives in my work.

I sometimes sing at concerts that carry particular messages for peace, the rights of children or women.

It's very important not to sing just for the love of music, of course.

But my work is the work of a musician.

Your album nevertheless carries a political message ...

Yes, I carry a unifying message between cultures.

I wish Arabic music would be more accessible to the western world.

I prefer to talk about what unites cultures and mentalities rather than what separates us.

As an Egyptian, in this environment, we often point out what differentiates me from others.

But I am sure we all come from one source.

The language of the music makes it possible to put this forward.

Music can be universal.

But for the song?

The voice is a very delicate, very special instrument.

Ornaments and variations come very naturally to me in Andalusian music, for example, because I have always had them in my throat.

But it's the same with Ravel and Bizet because they used Arabic harmonies.

Singing connects us to each other.

Are you addressing a French audience, or an Arab audience with this album?

This album is for the east and the west.

I would like the Egyptians to discover Ravel's music, which is very far from us.

No one knows Bohemia or Tosca in the Arab world except for very small groups.

I also want them to rediscover the Arabic music that I sing with my classical voice.

But I would also like the French or the Italians who already know classical music, to discover that Arabic music is close to you.

Do the conductors you work with know Arabic music?

No.

But most are open to the idea of ​​finding out.

When a chef chooses me, they inevitably expect me to come with my culture.

* Fatma Saïd is in concert Thursday evening with the Orchester national de France at the Maison de la Radio in Paris.

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