{"id":689161,"date":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/03\/19\/the-anthems-that-shaped-eid-in-egypt-a-brief-history\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T00:00:00","slug":"the-anthems-that-shaped-eid-in-egypt-a-brief-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/03\/19\/the-anthems-that-shaped-eid-in-egypt-a-brief-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The anthems that shaped Eid in Egypt: A brief history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83c\udf8a\ud83d\udcfb Eid in Egypt has an <\/strong>arguably vivid peppy soundscape that accompanies the holiday.<\/strong> Every year, we witness the celebratory echoes of Wahawi Ya Wahawi and Ramadan Gana make way for the all-too-familiar Safaa Abu El Saoud classic Ahlan Bel Eid<\/a> and others. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the oldest anthem on our Eid list? It comes courtesy of Kawkab El Sharq, back when she was at her peak across the Arab world. <\/strong>Um Kalthoum\u2019s classic Ya Leilet El Eid<\/a>, penned by poet Ahmed Ramy and composed by Riad El Sonbaty, was the transitional bell to the holiday\u2019s eve, having first aired in the 1939 musical film Dananir<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t until 1944 when the iconic singer performed an altered version honoring King Farouk as he watched her historic night live at Al Ahly Club that the song became the first of its kind to define Eid\u2019s airwaves. <\/p>\n

Fast forward to 1982, and another Eid anthem is born \u2014 one that lasts, becoming a defining tune of the cherished holiday. <\/strong>Safaa Abu El Saoud, an actress and media personality, lent her voice perfectly to the lyrics of poet Abdel Wahab Mohamed and the melodies of songwriter Gamal Salama. With a colorful and energetic music video<\/a> to match \u2014 accompanied by the balloons that have become an Eid visual staple \u2014 the chorus gave new life to the holiday, capturing it in high, youthful spirits like never before. In the most natural way, the song quickly became everyone\u2019s Eid replay, a nostalgic track we now can\u2019t imagine the celebrations of Eid El Fitr and Eid El Adha without. <\/p>\n

The tradition of Eid songs didn\u2019t stop at the beloved Ahlan Bel Eid<\/strong>, with songs from newer artists adding to the festival\u2019s sonic flair like Hakim\u2019s El Leila Eid<\/a>, but none have been able to rule the sonic landscape of Eid like Abu El Saoud\u2019s hit has. <\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background as well as external sources.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ud83c\udf8a\ud83d\udcfb Eid in Egypt has an arguably vivid peppy soundscape that accompanies the holiday. Every year, we witness the celebratory echoes of Wahawi Ya Wahawi and Ramadan Gana make way for the all-too-familiar Safaa Abu El Saoud classic Ahlan Bel Eid and others. What\u2019s the oldest anthem on our Eid list? It comes courtesy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":689162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12272],"tags":[6653,1546,148,12271],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-689161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing","tag-enterprise-weekend","tag-lifestyle","tag-music","tag-now-playing","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"5289980e-54d8-4796-adb8-ff5eec9ad5d4","order":"8","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/981.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Classic Eid tunes and how they came to be","related_issue":[689146],"teaser":""},"yoast_head":"\nThe anthems that shaped Eid in Egypt: A brief history - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/03\/19\/the-anthems-that-shaped-eid-in-egypt-a-brief-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The anthems that shaped Eid in Egypt: A brief history\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\ud83c\udf8a\ud83d\udcfb Eid in Egypt has an arguably vivid peppy soundscape that accompanies the holiday. 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