Egyptian Songs
Fayrouz Karawya was born in the coastal city of Port Said in Egypt. Her relationship with music and singing started early in her life when one of her primary school’s nuns discovered her beautiful voice and asked her to join the school’s chorus. Fayrouz’s fascination in music encouraged her to further advance her musical background. In 1994, she obtained a three-year diploma from the Institute of Arab Music in voice/oriental singing, reading musical notes, performance and composition for the lute.
She was enrolled in the Cairo University School of Medicine where she developed a special interest in psychiatry and received her bachelor degree in 2003. During her medical studies, Fayrouz performed only one song in the Egyptian Movie, the Secrets of Girls. Upon her graduation, she worked as a resident doctor in Dar Al Mokattam Hospital for Mental Health for one year. During that time, Fayrouz realized that her true passion is about art, music and singing in particular. Fayrouz’s desire to be a professional artist made her join the Misaharaty Independent Theatre Group as an assistant director, a musical editor and a leading singer. She preformed in three plays “Sehraya”, “Hakawi El Haramlek”, and “Helw Masr”. At the same time, Fayrouz joined the “Center of Artistic Creativity” at the Cairo Opera House where she worked as an executive director and music editor for the ‘King Lear’ spectacle. A long side her musical endeavor, she participated in the making of a documentary film, ‘Six girls’ which depicts the life of six Egyptian girls living together in an apartment in Cairo. She also wrote a script for a short-feature movie, “Sabah el Fol”, which was based on the theatre monologue ‘Rise and Shine’ by the Italian playwright Dario Fo. This script brought her the Golden Eagle Prize presented by Rotterdam’s Arab Film Festival for its “extra-ordinary narrative skills”.