Warda al Djazairia - The Independent (London, England)

Singer known as 'The Rose of Algeria'

Warda al Djazairia, the Rose of Algeria, was perhaps the lastgreat Arab diva of the pre-pop era, a name to rank along with 20thcentury stars of the languorous, Egyptian-dominated ballad such asOum Kalsoum and Asmahan. But she was also an emblem and product ofthe country she was most closely identified with, Algeria, and herdeath came months from the 50th anniversary of the nationalindependence she so energetically supported. She was given a statefuneral in Algiers, and was still massively popular. But althoughher songs resounded through the Arab Spring uprising in Egypt lastyear, it is notable that the letters pages of the Algerian pressfeatured dissonant voices among the many eulogies, criticisms thatshe was a crony of the despots who had ruled the region for toolong.

Warda Ftouki was born in 1940 in the Paris banlieue to a Lebanesemother and an Algerian immigrant father from the Eastern city ofSouk Ahras. Her father ran one of the little caf hotels whichcatered to the crowds of male workers who were beginning to comeover from what was then a North African possession of France to thecapital to work in the car factories and on the building sites. Thiswas a period of nascent anti-colonialist movements such as the NorthAfrican Star, later succeeded by the FLN, the party which eventuallyled Algeria to independence. Mohamed Ftouki, Warda's father, was anardent supporter of the FLN and first his hotel, then a caf chantanthe opened in the Quartier Latin, the Tam Tam (simultaneously Frenchfor tom tom and a construct of the initials of Tunisia, Algeria andMorocco) became meeting places for activists.

Warda began singing as a child on the family premises, mainly thesongs of great Pan Arab stars such as Oum Kalsoum and Farid AlAtrache. She was 11 when her attractive voice and presence werenoticed by Ahmed Hachlef, a producer with French radio, who began tofeature her on a show aimed at North African youth.

In 1958, the family's stay in Paris came to an abrupt end whenthe Tam Tam was closed down by the authorities, ostensibly forharbouring arms for terrorists: the Algerian independence strugglewas in full spate, with armed clashes in Paris between FLNactivists, non-FLN, and police. Denied residence in French-ruledAlgeria, the family moved to Beirut, home to Warda's mother, andsecond only to Cairo as Arab entertainment capital.

Living with her family in a small flat in Al Hamra street, Wardabegan obtaining singing engagements in Beirut nightclubs. Here herunusual mix of classic Lebanese- Egyptian love songs, more folkloricNorth African pieces, and odes in praise of the independencefighters, brought her to the attention of powerful figures ofCairene showbusiness, including the great singer and composerMohamed Abdelwahab.

Invited to perform in Cairo, she was taken up by Riad AlSoumbati, another major composer, and began to scale the ranks ofthe cultural lite, where her Parisian chic and the more vivaciousNorth African colourings she imbued her music with, attracted muchattention. Gamal Abdel Nasser, the first President of Egypt, invitedher to represent Algeria in a major song festival for the Arabworld; she also starred in the first of a number of successfulfilms.

Warda first set foot in the country which adopted her in 1962,shortly after independence. Ironically this marked her firstretirement from the stage, when she married a former officer fromthe ALN independence army who disapproved of her career. It was 10years before she resumed singing, on the invitation of the thenPresident Boumedienne, who insisted she take part in the country's10th anniversary independence celebrations.

Swept up anew in her career, she divorced her disapprovinghusband and moved from now austere, repressive Algeria back toCairo. There she encountered, and soon married, another of the greatnames of Egyptian music, the composer Baligh Hamdi, a Svengalifigure with his own energetic production company and a penchant tomatch Warda's for traditional music to leaven the dominant classicalorchestration.

Two more decades of prolific film-making, recording and concertactivity ensued, interspersed with minor setbacks such as the periodwhen Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, banned her from the stage forher song in praise of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, at that time inconflict with Egypt, but also spectacular high points such as hertriumphant performance to huge crowds in Algiers for the 20thanniversary of Algerian independence in 1982.

In later life Warda's career was slowed by ill health and herlast album was recorded in 2001, but her appetite for performancewas not dimmed. This year saw new film clips recorded for the 50thanniversary of independence, and for a mobile phone companycampaign. Her coffin was flown to Algiers from Cairo in an Algerianmilitary aircraft and numerous government ministers, culturalluminaries and representatives of other Arab countries attended herfuneral.

Warda Ftouki, singer and actress: born Paris July 1939; marriedfirstly (marriage dissolved), secondly Baligh Hamdi (died 1993);died Cairo 17 May 2012.