Mayada El Hennawy

Mayada El Hennawy (Arabic: ميادة الحناوي‎; born October 8, 1959) is a Syrian and pan-Arab singer.

Mayada Al Hinnawy ميادة الحناوي
Mayada El Hennawy during the Mawazine festival
Background information
Birth name	Mayada Bent Bakri El Hennawy
Also known as	Moutrabat el Jeel
Born	(1959-10-08) October 8, 1959 Aleppo, Syria
Origin	Syria
Genres	Arab traditional music
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1977–present
Labels	A'lam El Fan label

Career

Born Mayada Bent Bakri El Hennawy in a music-loving family, she was discovered by Egyptian pan-Arab composer musician and singer songwriter Mohammed Abdel Wahab when at age of 18, she was performing in Bloudan, Syria. Abdel Wahab named her "The Songstress of the Generation" (in Arabic مطربة الجيل transliterated as Moutribat el Jeel).[1] and invited her to Egypt to write songs for her. Mayada's sister Faten was also a very promising singer as well. El Hennawy cooperated with some of the biggest known Arab lyricists and music composers, including Abdel Wahab and Mohammed El Mougy.

But her biggest launch as a pan-Arab singer came with her collaboration with songwriter Baligh Hamdi in the 1980s. Her most famous songs from Hamdi include "Ana Ba'sha'ak", "El Hob illi Kan", "Ana A'mel Eh", "Sidi Ana", "Indi Kalam" etc. Riad El Sounbati also composed for El Hennawy.

In her earlier career, she also sang songs written by Mohammed Sultan, Hilmi Bakr and Jamal Salameh and in the 1990s, Sami El Hefnawi, Salah al Sharnoubi, Mohammed Sultan, Ammar El Sherei, Khaled Al Amir. She was promoted by Egyptian music promoter Mohsen Jaber, owner of Alam El Fan record label and Mazzika music station.[2]

During the Anwar Sadat and early years of the Hosni Mubarak regimes in Egypt, she was reportedly forbidden from coming to Egypt.[3] Despite that, Mayada El Hennawy has performed in some of the biggest music festivals in Syria and the Arab World, has appeared in great number of television specials, sang in praise of Damascus in "Ya Sham" and in praise of Beirut in "Beyrouth Ya Arous el Sharq" and in the operette composed by Haitham Ziad entitled "Yeslam Trabak Ya Sham" with some of the biggest Arab stars, Hani Shaker, Latifa, Assi El Helani etc.

After her album Touba, she went on a hiatus for many years, surfacing only with some Arab nationalist songs on certain occasions for Syria, Palestine,[4] Algeria,[5] Tunisia, Kurdistan[6] etc. But later launched a new album in 2007 that includes a song written by Baligh Hamdi and originally destined to be sung by Oum Kulthoum.[7] She has also been very verbal in supporting the Bashar al-Assad regime[8] which reportedly led to Kuwaiti authorities banning her from a concert scheduled during the Hala Febrayer music festival in Kuwait.[9] El Hennawi is planning a huge comeback reportedly with new albums with Alam El Fan.[10]

References

1. AlGhad: عيني" تعيد ميادة الحناوي إلى أجواء الرومانسية" (in Arabic)
2. Dot Msr: أسباب رفض "ميادة الحناوي" مغادرة سوريا Archived December 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
3. Akl Masdar: ميادة الحناوي: أنور السادات سبب منعي من دخول مصر وليس حسني مبارك (in Arabic)
4. Discover Syria: وزيرة الثقافة الفلسطينية تكرّم ميادة الحناوي (in Arabic)
5. APS.dz: الفنانة السورية ميادة الحناوي تهدي أغنيتها الجديدة للجزائر Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
6. Al Watan: ميادة الحناوي تغني لكردستان Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
7. Al Riyadh: ميادة الحناوي تعود مع بليغ حمدي (in Arabic)
8. Dam Press: الفنانة ميادة الحناوي: أرفض التخلي عن مواقفي الوطنية مهما كان الثمن (in Arabic)
9. IBA.org: لماذا مُنعت ميادة الحناوي من دخول الكويت؟ Archived December 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
10. Al Oubouh al Arabi (Arab Week): «عيني» تعيد ميادة الحناوي إلى اجواء الغزل والرومانسية! Archived December 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)

External links

• Discogs page
• Mayada El Hennawy Kan Ya Makan Egyptian Arabic Songs Lyrics