Latifa

Latifa Bint Alayah Al Arfaoui (Arabic: لطيفه بنت عليه العرفاوي) was born on Valentine's Day, 1961 in Manouba, Tunisia. Better known as Latifa (Arabic: لطيفة), she is an Arab pop music singer. The word Latifa is Arabic for "soft", "delicate", "gentle" or "sensitive". Latifa has been a professional singer since the 1980s. She has released more than twenty albums and singles in the Arab world, in addition to some worldwide releases. During her 20+ year career, Latifa released more than forty music videos. A child prodigy at the age of six, Latifa's musical career began very early in her life. In 1983, shortly after her father died, a teenage Latifa and her family took a trip to Egypt to rest and mourn. During that time, Latifa met the great Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi, who recommended she move to Egypt to further her musical career. However, Latifa put her education first and returned to Tunisia to finish her final exams. Due to financial issues, she couldn't go back to Egypt, so she attended college in Tunisia, studying Dutch literature for a year and a half. Finally, her family decided to help her make her dream come true and sent her to Egypt. After Latifa left college in Tunisia, she joined the Arab Academy of Music in Egypt, from which she earned her bachelor's degree. Even with her current busy schedule, Latifa is preparing for her master's degree. Latifa's talent attracted countless star composers who gathered around her. Once when Latifa was singing live on a radio station, Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdulwahab (popularly known as "artist of the generations") happened to hear her. Two days later he went to the Academy to find the girl he had heard on the radio. Latifa was speechless when she discovered he, who had composed some of Egypt's most beautiful music, wanted to talk to her.At the time Latifa primarily performed lengthy classical Tarab songs, but she was interested in doing something new. She began to work with composer Ammar Al Sherai'ei and poet Abdulwahab Mohammed, whom she met during her first visit to Egypt. Slowly but surely, Latifa climbed up the ladder of success.