Affifa Iskandar

Affifa Iskandar
Affifa Iskandar at an Alshaab Hall party in Baghdad in the 1950s
Background information
Birth name	Affifa Iskandar Estefan
Born	(1921-12-10)December 10, 1921 Mosul
Origin	Armenian
Died	October 22, 2012 (2012-10-23) Baghdad, Iraq
Genres	Iraqi Maqams
Occupation(s)	Singer, Actress
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	1935–2011
Labels	Shahrora, monologist
Associated acts	Badia Masabni, Taheyya Kariokka, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Faten Hamama, Ahmed Badrakhan, Ibrahim Nagi, Salima Pasha

Affifa Iskandar Estefan (Arabic: عفيفة إسكندر إصطيفان ) was an Iraqi singer throughout the middle of the 20th century. She was born on 10 December 1921^[1] in Mosul, Iraq. She was considered one of the best female singers in Iraqi history. She was nicknamed the "Iraqi Blackbird" (شحرورة العراق).^[2]

Biography

Affifa Iskandar was born in Mosul to an Iraqi-Armenian father and a Greek mother. She lived in Baghdad, and started singing at the age of 5. At her first party in 1935,^[3] she sang Al maqam. At the age of 12, she married an Armenian man named Iskandar Estefan and took his last name. She also worked as an actress and appeared in many productions.^[4] 1938, she traveled to Egypt to work with Badia Masabni, Taheyya Kariokka, and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. She died of cancer on 21 October 2012 in Baghdad.^[5]

Singles

Iskandr sang nearly 1500 songs. These include:

• "Ya aqqid alhajibayn"
• "Ikhlas meni"
• "Ya sokari ya assali"
• "Ared Allah yebain hobty behom"
• "Qaleb qaleb'"
• "Jani alhlo labs sobhyat aledd"
• "Nem wa sadek sadri"
• "Msafren"
• "Qsma"
• "Helal eid"

References