Layla Murad: Egypt’s Jewish-Muslim Star

Hanan Hammad, Associate Professor of History and Director of Middle East Studies at Texas Christian University, will give a lecture entitled “Layla Murad: Egypt’s Jewish-Muslim Star and the Making of Arab-Muslim Popular Culture.” The lecture will take place on Wednesday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. in Gearhart Hall (GEAR) Room 26 on the University of Arkansas Fayetteville Campus, and is free and open to the public.

According to Joel Gordon, University of Arkansas Professor of History and the author of Revolutionary Melodrama: Popular Film and Civic Identity in Nasser's Egypt, “Layla Murad (1918-1995) was the first singing star of Arab cinema and a golden voice of the mid-20th century. Born into a Jewish family in Cairo, the daughter of a famous musician, Murad’s hit musicals, romantic comedies and melodramas are still considered masterpieces, and are regularly screened on television throughout the Arab world, where she remains a beloved figure.”

In her lecture, Hammad will examine Murad’s career and the controversies surrounding her life.

This lecture is presented by the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies, the Department of History, the Department of Music, the Jewish Studies Program, and the Religious Studies Program at the University of Arkansas.