Nūr al-Hudā

Biography

Nour al-Huda was a Lebanese singer and actor born in Mersin in 1924. She studied singing and oud, performing in Lebanon and Syria before Egyptian cinema.

In her 1995 interview with Inaya Jaber, she explained that she belonged to Amioun’s Shammas family and Badran was a surname. She recalled beginning with dawr, including Asl al-Gharam Nazra, weekly concerts and meeting Mary Jubran and Laure Dakkash.

In memoir passages quoted by Samir, she describes Sunday lessons with Khalid Abu al-Nasr and arriving in Cairo in November 1942 to work on Jawhara.

Nadim Jarjoura’s film history discusses her Egyptian films between 1943 and 1953 and collaborations with Sunbati, Farid Ghusn and Kahlawi. It identifies the Lebanese film Li-Man Tushriq al-Shams, directed by Yusuf Fahda in 1958.

Back in Lebanon, she sang in radio and television productions, including Layali al-Andalus and Nawwara.

Mahmoud al-Zibawi’s research reports an Aley concert in summer 1968 and her 1972 appearance on Hankashiyyat, documenting continued activity after Egyptian cinema.

In 1995 she attributed her prolonged interruption of singing to war. She described voice as talent, intelligence and clear pronunciation, and named Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab as her artistic ideal.

As-Safir’s obituary, published on 10 July 1998, specifies the previous Thursday morning: 9 July.

Al-Zibawi’s account identifies Beirut as the place of death.