Afifa Iskandar

Afifa Iskandar
Afifa Iskandar at an Alshaab Hall party in Baghdad in the 1950s Afifa Iskandar at an Alshaab Hall party in Baghdad in the 1950s
Background information
Born	Afifa Iskandar Estefan (1921-12-10)10 December 1921 Mosul, Mandatory Iraq
Origin	Armenian
Died	21 October 2012(2012-10-21) (aged 90) Baghdad, Iraq
Genres	Iraqi Maqams
Occupations	Singer, actress
Instrument	Vocal
Years active	1935–2011
Labels	Shahrora, monologist

Afifa Iskandar Estefan (Arabic: عفيفة إسكندر إصطيفان, 10 December 1921 in Mosul, Iraq - 21 October 2012) was an Iraqi singer active from the mid-1930s to the first decade of the 21st century. She was considered one of the best female singers in Iraqi history. She was nicknamed the "Iraqi Blackbird".

Biography

Afifa Iskandar was born in Mosul to an Armenian father and a Greek mother. She lived in Baghdad, and started singing at the age of 5. At her first party in 1935, 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. In 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.

Tribute

On 10 December 2019, Google celebrated her 98th birthday with a Google Doodle.

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"