Dalida died there more than thirty years ago and we thought we had said everything on this singer unique and especially endearing. The international star that she was, was no secret. In fact, the great voice of the French song mixed with his personal life, especially his love life, his moods, his desire to have a child, the hardships that she has experienced through the suicide of his companions to his creations. Entire, sincere, Dalida is given of the death on 3 may 1987, a gesture that said a lot of his depression. She sang “I want to die on stage” and this was the case, since it was at the height of its glory when it decided that gesture, leaving a short word saying simply “sorry” to his family, his friends, his fans.
She sang all over Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in particular in Algeria and in Senegal, in Canada, in Latin America, with a dedication to New York’s Carnegie Hall. It was thought that everything had been said about Dalida, of Iolanda Gigliotti was born in Egypt on January 17, 1933 but was able to live his passion from Paris. But here it is, a little gem in the book entitled Dalida in Egypt, that tells in four languages, French, Arabic, Italian and English, the other Dalida the Dalida egyptian with beautiful photos that show the early life of the international star.
Read also Dalida : the ten key figures of his life
A story made by a recognized specialist
Jacqueline Jondot, a specialist in Arabic literature and English, professor at the university of Toulouse, is the author and designer of this book* that she dedicated it to the young Cairotes of the revolution of 25 January 2011, when in Tahrir square echoed with also the beautiful song “Helwa Ya Baladi” by Dalida, which was recorded in the Arabic language, a hope for all youth. This book postcolonial worth the detour, as it recounts a life that is not secret, but kills by the media. Jacqueline Jondot not deconstructed not the portrait of Dalida, on the other hand it brings an essential dimension of Dalida, namely the soul and the deep culture arab-asian-Italian international star. It is true that it has always been said that she was born in Egypt, just as Claude François, but the connection with this part of Africa stopped at this fact.
The interest of this history biography that goes to the essential is based on archives cairotes, on a personal research of Jacqueline Jondot in Cairo, a city that the author was particularly fond of. And short texts point to a particular founder of the personality of Dalida, its membership in multiple cultural spheres that characterize the migrants ‘ and who are these beings that are open, tolerant, rich from the inside out.
also Read Google celebrates Dalida, born 86 years
The issue of migration already
The dimension of the migration issue was a part of the sensitivity of Dalida, because his great-grandparents fled poverty in Italy in emigrant in Egypt in 1890. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Dalida lived in the middle of various communities, social and religious. Iolanda Gigliotti spoke fluent Arabic, felt totally egyptian of Italian origin, a country dear to his heart. His family loved music and the theatre in the Cairo of the 1950s, and she lived a happy childhood in Choubra, a residential district of Cairo.
The wound of childhood being the daughter of Italian during the war
For me, the author has put the finger on the wound of the child Dalida, in the instance of suffering during the Second world War, the Italians who were suspected to cause the axis italo-German. The father of Dalida was interned in camps with a lot of Italians, which has deeply marked the young Iolanda – a trauma in which his father was never identified. One of the strengths of Dalida to get out of it probably comes from this family history. The link with Africa the pharaohs of Dalida is strong.
also Read The film about Dalida, it is gone !
Iolanda, a goddess of the pharaohs
The book shows, photo support, she has embodied the role of the goddess of the pharaohs Isis. Although a graduate in secretariat, it is the world of fashion and the song that attracted the most Iolanda in Cairo tub. She was awarded the second Prize of Miss Ondine, photo in the newspapers cairotes. She stood on the podium for the competition of Miss Egypt, which propelled her on the front of the stage. She worked in a fashion store, which communicated a sour taste, a class and a port of head royal. Noticed by an american producer from Columbia, she was engaged for a film where played Rita Hayworth in which she was to be the lining. The film has never seen the light of day. Nevertheless, Rita Hayworth and actresses from egyptian were very much inspired.
Dalida was involved in the cultural life in cairo, she was the first actress in egyptian films with Samia Gamal, Farid El Atrache, Omar Sharif, and many others ! Dalida was also a singer of peace in the Middle East with the song ” Salma Ya Salama “, based on the words that were written by Sayed Darwish in 1919, and it has times ! Later, despite his great celebrity, his heart was still attached to Egypt.
Dalida, the second Cleopatra
In fact, the great director Youcef Chahine adapted to the cinema the novel of the Lebanese Andrée Chedid, on The Sixth Day. He appealed to Dalida to play the role reckless with Saddika, the woman of the people, who accepted with great enthusiasm. She learned the egyptian Arabic of rural, went back in a role a thousand miles of the life of the star that she was living in Paris. She played the role of composition brilliantly, ignored by the French press.
anyway, it held that “the first” for the release of the film took place at Choubra, his childhood neighborhood. She came as Cleopatra in the image of the latter when she entered in Rome ! Jacqueline Jondot reminds us that for the Egyptians the great singer Oum Kalthoum was the fourth pyramid of Egypt, Dalida was declared the second Cleopatra, a queen, representing Egypt eternal for the egyptian people.
It is not surprising that after his death the ultimate tribute was inscribed on a papyrus. Cairo is the city of the heart of Dalida, as reported by the egyptian actor Samir Sabri. This small book with photos of Dalida, Egyptian, archival documents reveals, in my opinion, the real Dalida, what is most profound in it, its égyptianité and its dimension of large migrant, a hope for those who want to succeed in life while remaining faithful to their sources of inspiration. Dalida was Cleopatra, a symbolic link between the two shores of the Mediterranean “.
* Benaouda Lebdai is university professor of african literature colonial and postcolonial.
writing will advise you
The film about Dalida, it is gone ! Dalida : the ten key figures of his life Google celebrates Dalida, born 86 years
