Moroccan singer Abdou Sharif died today, Friday, March 8, after suffering a heart attack after suffering a health crisis, as a result of which he was admitted to a private hospital in the city of Casablanca, Morocco, and doctors announced his death.
Heart attack
Moroccan newspapers announced the passing of singer Abdou Sharif at the age of 52, after he suffered a severe heart attack recently. His health condition deteriorated before his death was announced, leaving a great singing legacy.
His death was a shock to the Moroccan artistic community. Moroccan singer Samira Said mourned him, writing on her Instagram account: “A great shock, the death of Abdou Sharif… a great talent who deserved to be at the forefront of Arabic singing.”
In her comment on Samira Said’s post, Tunisian artist Latifa wrote: “There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Great. May God have mercy on him and forgive him.”
Women’s Day party
Abdou Sharif was scheduled to give a concert today at the Megarama Cinema Theater in Casablanca on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
Abdo Sharif’s official Facebook page announced the postponement of the concert due to the health problem that befell him before he passed away today.
New nightingale
Abdou Sherif was born in 1971 in the city of Casablanca, to an ancient artistic family. His uncle is Abdel Wahab Akouami, one of the pioneers of the classical school of Arabic music, where Sherif’s talent appeared at an early age and he studied under Mahmoud Al Saadi, and participated in many singing competitions in his early years.
Sharif’s singing style was distinguished by the Tarabiya school, influenced by singing schools of performance such as Abdel Halim Hafez, the French singer Charles Aznavour, and the Algerian singer Salim El Hilali. He devoted his career to reviving a large and important part of the golden age of Egyptian song. He re-presented the songs of Abdel Halim Hafez and Umm Kulthum, which made the audience give him many titles, including “The New Nightingale” and “Khalifa of the Brown Nightingale” for his great talent and contributions in the field of Tarab singing.
During an interview with Radio Monte Carlo, Sharif said that his singing of Abdel Halim Hafez’s songs by Nightingale was not an obstacle to his presenting special songs, and he said: “The artistic direction is not necessarily in the production, but rather the artist’s emotion with what is around him.”
He revealed that the song “Dhi Al-Qandil” was the first song he heard by the late singer Abdel Halim Hafez, and it influenced him. He said that it was present in the market for sounds, but not in the market for musical productions.
During his artistic career, which began in 1992 and has continued until now, the late Moroccan artist participated in many important concerts and artistic events, including the “Orbit Arabic Song Festival” in 1997, and the closing ceremony of the Dubai International Film Festival in 1997, and in the same year he participated in reviving the closing ceremony of the festival. Asilah in Morocco, and he sang at a ceremony honoring and greeting Abdel Halim Hafez at the Opera Theater in Cairo in 1999.
He returned to the opera stage in Cairo in 2002 during the Spring Festival concert, and in 2005 he opened the Mediterranean Festival at the Sayed Darwish Opera Theater in Alexandria, and in 2016 he participated in the 25th Arab Music Festival concert at the Egyptian Opera House.