Abdel Wahab’s birth anniversary to be held on March 8

CAIRO - 26 February 2019: Maestro Salim Sahab confirmed that he is preparing to lead the orchestra on the birth anniversary of late legendary musician Mohammed Abdel Wahab, where Mohamed el-Helw, May Farouk, Reham Abdel Hakim and Sarah Sahab will perform.

The concert will take place at the Cairo Opera House's Grand Theater on March 8.

Sahab pointed out that the concert's program will be a surprise and will not be announced, promising the audience that the ceremony will be different under the supervision of President of the Egyptian Opera House Magdy Saber.

The concert tickets have run out in the last few days. The concert is due to be attended by the most prominent musicians with the participation of the Youth and Sports Orchestra.

Abdel Wahab was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer and composer. He's best known for his Romantic and Egyptian patriotic songs. He also composed "Ya Beladi" (also known as "Libya, Libya, Libya"), the national anthem of Libya used by the Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1969 and again by the post-Gaddafi transitional government in 2011.

The late legendary musician also composed the national anthem of Tunisia, "Humat al-Hima" as well as the United Arab Emirates national anthem "Ishy Bilady" and many Egyptian nationalist songs like "Ya Masr Tam El-Hanna", "Hay Ala El-Falah", "Masr Nadetna fa Labena el-Nedaa", "Oulo le Masr", "Hob el-Watan Fard Alya", "Sout el-Gamaheer", "Ya Nessmet el-Horria", and "Sawae'd men Beladi".

Mohammed Abdel Wahhab was born in 1902 in Cairo, Egypt, in a neighborhood called Bab El-Sheriyah, where there is now a statue of him. He began his singing career at an early age and made his first public performance at the age seven. He was 13 when he made his first recording. Abdel Wahab was a very close friend to compatriot singer Abdel Halim Hafez.