Majida El Roumi

Majida El Roumi (Arabic: ماجدة الرومي‎) was born in Kfarshima, Lebanon, on December 13 in 1956. She is a Lebanese soprano, who started her musical career in the early 1970s when she participated in the talent show, Studio El Fan on Télé Liban and won the gold medal for best female singer. Since her appearance on television at the age of 16, she became one of the most successful singers of the Arab world as well as a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

In 1977, Majida got married to a businessman from Byblos, Lebanon, Antoine Dfouni who was also her manager. They had two daughters: Hala and Nour. They got divorced in 2006 after many issues that Majida chose to keep away from any press coverage.

In 1976, Majida starred in Youssef Chahine movie Awdat Al Ibn Al Dal (The Return of the Prodigal Son) providing also 3 soundtracks for the movie. And she sang one song for another work of his own called "Al-Akhar" (The Other) as a background song for the film in 1999. Chahine introduced her as ‘’the Voice of the 20th Century’’ and received the 'Egyptian Critics Award'. She also sang a background song for another film from his making titled ‘’Al-Akhar’’ in 1996 called “Adam Wa Hanan” (Adam and Hanan).

In 2001, Majida El Roumi released a single titled "Nachid El Hobb" (The Hymn Of Love) with lyrics from Dam'a wa Ibtisama (A Tear and A Smile) (1914) for Lebanese artist, poet, writer and member of the New York Pen League: Gibran Khalil Gibran and composed by Joseph Khalifeh. The song had a wide range with more than two octaves as Majida sings a long opera interval with a high A5. She performed this song during many cultural events and concerts like in Egypt in 2002, in Damascus Opera House in Syria in 2004 and Doha in Qatar in 2006 as well in many religious recitals in Lebanon lately in 2012. Majida also had to deal with her sister Maha's suffering from cancer who had to be transported to USA for better medical care; unfortunately Maha died in 11/7/2001 the thing which depressed Majida for a long time.

In 2009, she received an honorary doctorate along with many famous Arab figures for their perseverance and what they gave during their career, each in his own profession, in a ceremony held in the Assembly Hall of the American University of Beirut hosted by Dr. Peter Dorman currently the 15th President of the university.

She also wrote the lyrics of Bokra "Tomorrow", a charity operate that was released on 11/11/2011 at 11:11PM. The single distributed the proceeds of its donations to various organizations, institutions and charities with arts and culture programs. The eight minute song was recorded by several Arab Artists, mentioning Kadim Al Sahir who also worked with Majida in the oriental making of the music; some melodies were taken from “We Are the World” previously released by many artists such as Micheal Jackson. The operate was produced by Quincy Jones and RedOne, but Majida quit the work before the mixing after putting her voice in the song due to many issues with the production and violating the contract which was signed between her management and the producers.

Lately, her latest concert was during the Batroun International Festivals in North Lebanon where she sang her latest album “Ghazal” for the first time. The concert is still receiving positive reviews after months.