Afifa Iskandar Estefan (Arabic: عفيفة إسكندر إصطيفان) was an Iraqi singer throughout the middle of the 20th century. She was born on 10 December 1921[1] in Mosul, Iraq. She was considered one of the best female singers in Iraqi history. She was nicknamed the "Iraqi Blackbird".[2]

Afifa Iskandar
Afifa Iskandar at an Alshaab Hall party in Baghdad in the 1950s
Background information
Birth name	Afifa Iskandar Estefan
Born	(1921-12-10)10 December 1921 Mosul, Mandatory Iraq
Origin	Armenian
Died	21 October 2012(2012-10-21) (aged 90) Baghdad, Iraq
Genres	Iraqi Maqams
Occupation(s)	Singer, actress
Instrument(s)	Vocal
Years active	1935–2011
Labels	Shahrora, monologist

Biography

Afifa Iskandar was born in Mosul to an Armenian father and a Greek mother. She lived in Baghdad, and started singing at the age of 5. At her first party in 1935,[3] she sang Al maqam. At the age of 12, she married an Armenian man named Iskandar Estefan and took his last name. She also worked as an actress and appeared in many productions.[4] In 1938, she traveled to Egypt to work with Badia Masabni, Taheyya Kariokka, and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. She died of cancer on 21 October 2012 in Baghdad.[5]

Tribute

On 10 December 2019, Google celebrated her 98th birthday with a Google Doodle.[6]

Singles

This section does not cite any sources. (December 2019)

Iskandr sang nearly 1500 songs. These include:

• "Ya aqqid alhajibayn"
• "Ikhlas meni"
• "Ya sokari ya assali"
• "Ared Allah yebain hobty behom"
• "Qaleb qaleb'"
• "Jani alhlo labs sobhyat aledd"
• "Nem wa sadek sadri"
• "Msafren"
• "Qsma"
• "Helal eid"

References