Samia Gamal (1959) سامية جمال

In this scene legendary Egyptian dancer Samia Gamal performs with Lebanese born singer Sabah. The scene is from the 1959 Egyptian film ‘Al Rajol al Thani’ (The Second Man الرجل الثاني) which also starred Salah Zulfikar and Rushdi Abaza.
Its interesting to see Samia Gamal, Sabah and Rushdi Abaza in the same film. As you probably know, Egyptian actor Rushdi Abaza was married to Samia Gamal from 1958 to 1977 but he married Sabah in 1977 prior to the end of his marriage to Gamal. The Sabah-Abaza marriage lasted less than a week as, according to Sabah, he’d omitted to tell her that he was still legally married to Samia. Nobody really seems to know the truth. Did Sabah and Abaza had a mut’ah which is a legal though temporary marriage, known over here as ‘The 5 Minute Marriage’? Or did he just like dancers as he’d previously been married to Taheya Karioka. Who knows?


Syrian dancers

This is another song and dance scene from the 1982 Syrian film ‘Ghawar’s Empire’ (Impratoriyat Ghawar امبراطورية غوار). The film starred Syrian comedians Duraid Lahham and Naji Jaber (1940-2009) who are the two men sitting in the middle.
Trivia: Can anyone ID the singer please?

Nadia Arslan (1984) نادية أرسلان

This is actress Nadia Arslan (نادية أرسلان) dancing in the 1984 Egyptian film ‘حتى لايطير الدخان’ (Hatta la Yateer al Dokhan ‘That the Smoke May Not Blow Away’ or ‘As Not to Blow the Smoke’) which starred Adel Imam who’s also in this scene. Born as Hind Arslan in Lebanon in 1949, she won a beauty contest and shortly afterwards moved to Egypt. She started her Egyptian screen acting career in 1971 and, after marrying a fellow actor, retired from screen roles in 1987. After becoming very religious she expressed regret for her acting career. Nadia Arslan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and died in 2008.
Also starring in the film were Soheir Ramzy, Sanaa Shafea and Fekry Abaza and the film was based on a novel by Egyptian writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous (1919 –1990).

Taheya Karioka (1953) تحية كاريوكا


Nagwa Fouad (1974) فؤاد نجوى

This is a second clip of legendary Egyptian dancer Nagwa Fouad performing in the 1974 Egyptian film ‘Anisat wa Sayidat ‘ (Girls and Women آنسات و سيدات ). This time she is performing in civvies. The singer in this very badly dubbed clip is Alexandria born Leila Nazmi and the man is Saeed Saleh.  The film starred Nour el Sherif and Suhair Ramzi but neither of them appear in this scene.