Fatma Said is a kind of modern guardian angel of Arabic music. Alongside her career as a classically trained, highly versatile opera singer, she is a dynamic, internationally engaged activist, ambassador, researcher, and literal treasure hunter: the musical heritage of her homeland, Egypt, and the Arab world as a whole is dear to her heart, especially the works of Mohamed Abdelwahab. While his name is known to people across the Maghreb and Mashriq, his legacy is at risk of being lost. That is why Fatma wants to carry his legacy into the present and future, captivating all kinds of audiences with it, just as she herself is captivated by it.
Mohamed Abdelwahab (1902–1991) was an Egyptian singer, actor, and composer who profoundly influenced 20th-century music in the Arab world and beyond. He is renowned for his enchanting film music and is considered the inventor of the Arab film musical, which experienced a “Golden Age” in the 1930s and 1940s, turning Cairo into the “Hollywood on the Nile” of its day. Abdelwahab also created many of the lavishly orchestrated songs for Umm Kulthum, the “Diva assoluta” of Egypt. Additionally, he composed for the famous Lebanese singer Fairuz.
Abdelwahab’s melodies have proven evergreen and are quoted and sampled worldwide to this day. However, his original works are simultaneously at risk of being lost, as the majority of his compositions were never notated. The music only exists in historical recordings and on film, and much of it is likely already irretrievably lost. Fatma Said aims to trace, complete where possible, make publicly accessible, and preserve this heritage. In collaboration with the University of Oxford, she initiated the “Music Egypt” project to turn this aspiration into reality. With her undertaking, Fatma Said sets herself an ambitious goal: to propel Abdelwahab’s music to global popularity and ensure that his name is permanently and naturally enshrined in the “canon” of great international music creators.
With zeal, charm, and her unique artistic talent, Fatma Said employs unconventional means to trace Abdelwahab’s music, celebrate it anew, and secure it once and for all as publicly accessible cultural heritage for future generations.
Under the direction of the award-winning opera and film director Ralf Pleger (“Wagnerwahn,” “The Florence Foster Jenkins Story,” “Tristan & Isolde”), Fatma Said’s adventure and her mission to secure Abdelwahab’s legacy are narrated with poetic-musical drive, unexpeced twists, emotion, and cinematic magic.
World Premiere at Cairo International Film Festival: November 12, 2026
Written and Directed by: Ralf Pleger
DOPs: Ahmed El Lozy, Zeina Khalil
Editor: Frank Tschöke
A production by 3B-Produktion, in co-production with ZDF and Al Jazeera, in cooperation with Arte and The Abdelwahab Estate, co-financed by the European Union
