Naima Akef (1950)

This is a scene featuring Naima Akef from the 1950 black and white Egyptian movie Baladi wa Ghafa (بلدي وخفة ). The film starred Saad Abdel Wahab, Abbas Fares, Mahmoud Shekuku and Lola Sedki. Trivia: Saad Abdel Wahab was the nephew of legendary Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahib and, like his uncle, was a singer and composer. In 1964 Saad Abdel Wahab travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj and end up staying there to work for the next 20 years. There seems to be a bit of debate about the composer of the music for the national anthem of the United Arab Emirates called Ishi Baladi (My Country) in 1971. Was it Saad Abdel Wahab or Mohamed Abdel Wahab who wrote the tune itself Theres no doubt that the words were written much later by Dr Aref al Sheikh in 1991. Everything here in the UAE says that it was Saad. Trivia: Dr al Sheikh who wrote the lyrics is from al Khawaneej (which is a town thats becoming a suburb) just outside Dubai.