Death misses Fouad Fathi.. “Abdul Wahab Iraq” dies of a stroke

Iraqi singer Fouad Fathi died in Cairo at the age of 70 (social networking sites)

Iraqi singer Fouad Fathi died at the age of 70, leaving a great artistic legacy distinguished by his performances of poems, along with religious songs and musical songs.

Musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab Matar mourned his friend Fathi on his Facebook account, noting that the singer, nicknamed “Abdel Wahab Iraq,” died of a stroke in a hospital in the Egyptian capital.

Academic beginning

Fathi was distinguished by his sweet voice, which made him the focus of attention. He joined the Institute of Fine Arts in 1966, studied the principles of singing and musical theories from the musician Jamil Selim, learned the oud from the musician Hossam Chalabi, and read music for “solfege” from the musician Rawhi Al-Khammash.

In 1969, the Iraqi singer decided to join radio and television in Baghdad. He took the test and was able to be the first among 3 singers chosen by the radio from among 300 applicants. This was his stepping stone to singing professionally and he began working in the radio choir.

Meanwhile, Fathi caught the attention of the artist Alfred George, known as “Farid Al-Babli,” who was impressed by his performance and presented him with the song “Your Magical Voice” in 1969, his first song on the radio.

Among his most famous songs are “Near You is Paradise, and Beyond You is Hell,” “Give Me Your Address,” “Make Me Happy, My Love,” “Oh Goodness,” “Baghdad, O Castle,” and “I Asked the Sun.”

"Abdul Wahab Iraq"

In his beginnings, Fathi sang the poem “The Sins” presented by the Egyptian musician Mohamed Abdel Wahhab. He was proficient in performing the poem with his voice, and from here came his breakthrough after Baghdad TV asked him to perform songs by Abdel Wahhab such as “You Who Planted Oranges” and the poem “In the Night When It Was Gone.” And “Why are you silent, my tongue?” and the musical and popular circles at the time gave him the title “Abdul Wahab Iraq.”

In 1971, Al-Khamash founded the Iraqi Chanting Band, in which Fathi is considered the most prominent male voice. He assigned the solo voices to him and Amer Tawfiq, and two years later he was appointed to Baghdad Radio and recorded with his voice a large number of traditional songs.

Institute of Music Studies

Professional singing did not detract Fathi from his passion for academic studies, which he returned to in the 1990s, but this time as a teacher at the Institute of Musical Studies, where his dean at the time, Salem Abdel Karim, asked him to teach the subject of reading music “solfege” to students, and among his students was the Iraqi artist. Kazem Al-Saher, and among his students is oud player Amal Ahmed.

He discovered many voices and talents, such as singer Ibrahim Al-Abdullah, Hussein Al-Lami and Raad Habib.

Fouad Fathi, nicknamed “Abdul Wahab Iraq,” joined Iraqi Radio in 1969 (social media sites)

He continued his duties as a teacher over the years, before deciding to settle for a while in Jordan, after forming a musical band with Basil Al-Jarrah, Zaydoun Trico Saqr, and a group of musicians, where he worked at the time as an oud player in the band.

At the beginning of the millennium, Fathi returned again to Iraqi radio, and worked on television programs specializing in music, singing, and cinema, most notably “Voices and Melodies,” “Film Songs,” “Biography of an Artist,” and “Colors.”

Fathi the composer

In addition to his fame as a singer and academic teacher and his preparation for artistic programs, “Abdul Wahab Iraq” also provided a wealth of melodies for songs, poems, and religious supplications, some of which he performed with his own voice and others that he composed for other singers.

Among the songs he composed are “Al-Bulbul Al-Shadi,” “Gali Anta wa Ahla Al-Hilwain,” “Season of Love,” and “My Struggle Country.” He also composed 30 songs for children.

Among the poems he composed are “Meeting, Here We Met,” “The Dream,” “Complaint,” “Abandonment,” “Yesterday’s Lover,” “The Cup of Love,” and “Pan on Her First Birthday,” and among the supplications he composed are “ Answer God,” and “In You We Are Guided.”

Fathi has one daughter, the late artist Mai Fouad - who died in 2021 - and she is from his wife, the artist Mai Gamal, with whom he was married in the seventies, then she moved to Kuwait, where she lived with her daughter after their separation.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites