Personal Info
- Country of residence: Lebanon
Information
Majida El-Roumi was born in Kfarshima, Lebanon, on December 13, 1956. She is a Lebanese singer and a soprano, who started her musical career in the early 1970s when she participated in the talent show, Studio El Fan on Télé Liban and won the gold medal for best female singer. Since her appearance on television at the age of 16, she has become one of the most successful singers of the Arab world as well as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.
Biography:
Majida El Roumi Baradhy, born to musician Halim El Roumi (born Hanna El Roumi Baradhy) and wife Marie Loutfi who were a Melkite Greek Catholic couple from Tyre, a city in South Lebanon. They got married and lived in Kfarshima, they had three girls Maha, Mona, and Majida, and a boy Awad. Halim el Roumi became a musician worked with many great singers with mentioning his discovery to the Lebanese singer Fairuz and introduced her to the great musicians the Rahbani brothers. He stayed in Kfarshima, which was home to many Lebanese singers, musicians, poets and writers, among them Philemon Wehbi, Melhem Barakat and Issam Rajji. The residence of Halim el Roumi in Kfarshima was a meeting place for many cultural figures. Growing up in an artistic environment, Majida listened to the works of Fairuz, Umm Kulthoum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Wadi AlSafi, and Asmahan. Her vocal abilities attracted the attention of her family and neighbors. One of the early songs she sang was when she was 5 years old with a recording dedicated to her brother which is "Your Birth" or Miladak in reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Raymond Safadi, Majida's cousin, thought that she should pursue singing as a profession. The big obstacle was her father who did not want her to participate in Télé Liban's Studio el fan. Nevertheless, Majida entered the talent show, singing songs for Asmahan and Leila Mourad, like Ya Toyour, Ana Albi Dalili, and Layali El Ouns Fi Vienna. She won the gold medal. Halim El Roumi gave Majida his blessings to pursue singing as a profession as long as she continued her higher education. Majida obtained her BA in Arabic Literature from the Lebanese University.
In 1977, Majida married a businessman from Byblos, Lebanon, Antoine Dfouni who was also her manager. They had two daughters: Hala and Nour. They divorced in 2006.
Majida also had to deal with her sister Maha's suffer from cancer who had to be transported to USA for better medical care and her death in 11/7/2001 she produced two religious albums and released a song in her memory in 2003.
Achievements and Awards
Performances:
In 1976, Majida starred in Youssef Chahine movie Awdat Al Ibn Al Dal (The Return of the Prodigal Son) providing also 3 soundtracks for the movie. And she sang one song for another work of his own called "Al-Akhar" (The Other) as a background song for the film in 1999. Chahine introduced her as 'the Voice of the 20th Century' and received the 'Egyptian Critics Award'.
Majida has performed at festivals in Beiteddine, Jerash, Rabat, Bosra, Carthage, Al Ain, and appeared at the Cairo Opera House several times, in Doha - Qatar, Dubai (UAE) and many other concerts and performances in the Arab World. In addition to The Roman theater of Marina, Alexandria. Majida has also performed as Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Centre, Carnegie Hall and Hunter College in New York City as well as the Place des Arts in Montreal, Fox Theatre (Detroit, Michigan), the Paris Olympia, Palais des Congrès de Paris, Athens Concert Hall in Greece and the Royal Albert Hall in London. In December 2006, Majida performed "Light The Way", a duet with the international opera star, José Carreras at the opening ceremony of the 15th Asian Games in Doha. In 2009, she performed "Nous sommes les amis du monde", a duet with Youssou N'dour, on the inauguration of the "Jeux Olympiques de la Francophonie" in Beirut, Lebanon in 2009.
Public positions:
Majida El
Roumi was appointed an ambassador for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organisation (
FAO) on World Food Day, October 16, 2001 in an official ceremony in Rome, Italy. She has participated in numerous round-table discussion on the role of
FAO ambassadors in helping the Organization combat world hunger. As
FAO ambassador,
Majida inaugurated the First Annual Agricultural Week in Lebanon and dedicated the book prepared by
FAO Sanabel El
Kheir on November 8, 2005 during an official ceremony to celebrate World Food Day
60th Anniversary at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut.
Albums:
Wadaa (1977)
Live Recordings from George 5 and Picadelly concerts(1982)
And the Children (1983)
Dawi Ya Amar (1987) released in Egypt only
Ya Saken Afkari (1988)
Kalimat (1991)
Ibhath Anni (1994)
Rasa'el (1996)
Ouhibbouka Wa Baad (1998)
Cithare Du Ciel (Qitharat Al Sama') (2003) (Christian album)
Erhamni Ya Allah (2003) (Christian album)
E'tazalt El Gharam (2005)
Ghazal (2012)
Awards:
The Golden Cedar, Lebanon, 1988
National Order of the Cedar (Knight) from the President of the Republic of Lebanon, 1994
The Médecines Sans Frontières Shield
Le Bouclier de l'information et de la culture / Algerian Shield of Culture, Algeria, 2005
The Shield of Honour from the Syrian Ministry of Culture, Syria
The Shield of Honour from Jordan
The Shield of Honour from Morocco
The Shield of Honour from Tunis, 2010
The National Shield of Honour of the Cedars - of the Order of Commodore from the President of the Republic of Lebanon, 2011.
- Years in active
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