Farid Al-Atrash - Early Life

Early Life

Farid Al-Atrash was born in Suwayda, Syria to the Druze Atrash family who fought the French Colonial armies. His father was Syrian and mother Lebanese. As a child, Al-Atrash emigrated with his mother and siblings to Egypt, escaping the French occupation. Later, they were naturalized by the Egyptian government as citizens. Al-Atrash's mother sang and played the oud, which spurred his musical interest at an early age.

As a child and young adult, Farid Al-Atrash sang in school events. He studied in a music conservatory and became an apprentice of the renowned composer Riyad as-Sunbaty. In the 1930s, Al-Atrash began his professional singing career by working for privately owned Egyptian radio stations. Eventually, he was hired as an oud player for the national radio station and later as a singer. His sister, Asmahan, was also a talented singer, and for a while they worked together. In 1941, they starred in their first successful movie Intisar a l-Shabab (انتصار الشباب - The Triumph of Youth, 1941), in which Farid himself composed all the music. He died in December 26, 1974 at age 64.