Dalida - "Egypt's Madonna"

Absolutely love Dalida. One of the only times she performed in America was at Carnegie Hall in 1978

Thanks, R1.

She has immortal longings in her.

Which is a good thing, because her salad days hit the dumpster. Tragic she committed suicide.

OP who is the Judy Tenuta of Bangladesh?

Beautiful singer … there is a street named after Dalida in Paris as well as a monument near where she lived in Montmartre.

Is she trans?

I was lucky to see the exhibit of her clothing and memorabilia in Paris a few years ago. Vibrant

R7, I missed that! I saw a video of the exhibit on YouTube however

Will Madonna rip her off on her next album?

If she was Egypt’s Madonna, wouldn’t they have stoned her to death?

To be fair, yes she was born in Egypt, but she was really France’s Madonna from the late 50’s through the early 80’s.

You cannot possibly compare someone as great as Dalida to a slag like Madonna.

Dalida's voice was a million times better than Madonna's (which mind you, isn't difficult at all), she was a great beauty and a reasonable good actress. Moreover, Dalida had class and was elegant and regal, as opposed to boisterous, vulgar and scandalous like the Material Hag. She gracefully transitioned from singing Italian style ballads and French chanson to disco and then to New Wave and techno, and she didn't have to get her clothes off to show her bolted on breasts and buttocks, nor her dusty vagina to the world in order to do so. She was a true diva.

R10, she was born in Egypt int he 1930s to Italian parents. This was a time when the US hadn't yet invested insane amounts of resources in promoting the fundamentalist religious groups that became prominent after Gamal Abdel Nasser's death in 1970. Surprisingly enough, most Muslim countries up to late 70s were more liberal and prosperous than they are now, and they became religious sewers after the us promoted religious fanaticism in order to counteract pro-Russian socialist movements.

Anyway, Dalida was brilliant and a megastar in both Europe and the Middle East - with France being her main market. I have always loved this song...

R12 Yes, Mourir sur Scene, a classic! Such great lyrics too. I’ve introduced many gay friends to her via YouTube and they can’t believe how no one in America has heard of her.

but it's not pop music. So she's not really the international pop star that Madonna is.

Dalida was a sublime talent. So much sadness and loss in her life, though.

She was off the wall camp, always beautifully dressed, and she surrounded herself with gay dancers. Why isn’t she a DL icon? I grew up listening to her records (my French aunt had them all). I’ve even been to her grave. I’ll say it first, MARY!

This is my favorite Dalida megamix!

OP - do you even know Dalida? That song and video skant to do with Dalida. A remix mashup and in my opinion vulgar. Not nice to listen to.

I have a CD of Dalida's arabic music. Its all passionate yet elegant. Impeccable.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her. Beautiful and talented, way more so than that Vadge. There were trans/intersex rumors about her for years, allegedly.

She should be a DL icon. Her tombstone can only be seen to be believed......

la version originale est meilleure

Here's another photo, this time of her with two of my favorite actors (Omar Sharif and Jean-Paul Belmondo) in the late 1970s.

R21 , love that photo! Dalida and Omar were both born in Egypt around the same time. They remained friends up to the end of her life.

R20 that is not the original. Are you DEAF? This is one of the originals.

Very nice song 👍 but calling Madonna is a far far stretched

And here, entirely in Arabic. Its pretty and innocent. Nothing to do with OP's idiotic mashup.

This is what the song means:

I like how she nails the ending of the song, very Arabic.

This is a fun mashup someone made of the two artists. Makes me wonder if Madonna’s choreographers during the Confessions era hadn’t been aware of Dalida’s disco period.

She's for people who think ABBA is kicky.

R28 that would be me

R23, R20 here, my post is about R16 original version, not OP. Laissez moi dansez also had different remix versions, her brother milked her legacy by having all her songs remixed.

R27 that is not a "mashup". A mashup blends 2 or more songs. That is a Madonna song, with a video montage of Dalida dancing put on it.

R30 Ah, I see, right you are.

When I was young I liked the remixes, but now as an OLD, I prefer the originals.

R30, apparently her brother Orlando is VERY overprotective of her legacy. Did you ever see the Dalida biopic from a few years ago?

No I didn't, but he was regularly on tv a few decades ago, her legacy was his all life.

R34, are you French?

R35 yes, sorry, I went to sleep.

Another Dalida clip that will make ya gay:

Can we instead talk about the hunky male dancers in her video please? 🕺🕺

Very nice indeed.

She and several of the people she surrounded herself with seemed extremely delicate, if not childish. An easily depressed lot apparently. Things don't go their ways, they offed themselves.

[quote] While Dalida was professionally very successful, her private life was marred by a series of failed relationships and personal problems. In January 1967, she took part in the Sanremo Festival with her new lover, Italian singer, songwriter, and actor Luigi Tenco. The song he presented was "Ciao amore ciao" ("Bye Love, Bye"), which he sang together with Dalida but Tenco failed despite Dalida's performance. Tenco died by suicide on 27 January 1967, after learning that his song had been eliminated from the final competition. Tenco was found by Dalida in his hotel room with a bullet wound in his left temple and a note announcing that his gesture was against the jury and public's choices during the competition. Prior to Tenco's suicide, Dalida and he had become engaged. One month later, Dalida attempted to take her life by drug overdose at the Prince de Galles [fr] hotel in Paris. She spent five days in a coma and several months convalescing. Dalida returned to the stage the following October.

[quote] In December 1967, she became pregnant by a 22-year-old Italian student, Lucio. She had an abortion that left her infertile.

[quote] In September 1970, her former husband (1956–1961) Lucien Morisse, with whom she was on good terms, died by suicide, shooting himself in the head.

In April 1975, her close friend, singer Mike Brant leapt to his death from an apartment in Paris. He was 28. Dalida had contributed to his success in France when he opened concerts for her in 1971 at l'Olympia.

[quote] In July 1983, her lover from 1972 to 1981, Richard Chanfray, died by suicide by inhaling the exhaust gas of his Renault 5 car.

[quote] On the night of 2–3 May 1987, Dalida committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates. She left behind a note which read, "La vie m'est insupportable. Pardonnez-moi." ("Life is unbearable for me. Forgive me.")

I actually wore out this CD I played it so much. The best when driving from Venice to Barcelona along the Riviera.

Dalida with Marlene Dietrich and Johnny Hallyday, the French ‘Elvis’

I agree with a previous comment. Comparing Dalida to Madonna is an insult to the former’s beauty, elegance, talent as well as singing and acting abilities. Dalida was a national treasure in France and she was/is widely respected as an artist, even by those who didn’t have time for her music. And she never needed to flash her boobs or coot to earn this respect.

This one made me extra gay when I was already gay.

Dalida has visibly one foot in the grave, here. The interpretation is magnificent, however. Not to mention the leather and fur trench.

R44, love that song. Despite its upbeat-ness music wise, the lyrics are basically a cry for help ..

Another favorite

Never heard of her, but I love that song! I am a sucker for flamenco-esque pop. Thanks for posting, OP.

Today (the 17th) is her birthday (and mine coincidentally). She would have been 89.

Dalida is a legend in France and very much part of the French collective memory there. I wouldn’t say she was the French Madonna though, that would be Mylène Farmer. Dalida is kind of like the Judy Garland of France mixed with Cher, though with a distinctive voice and career all her own.

She did a lot of French chat shows. She was always fun and down to earth.

I recall one - clips of people in the street responding to silly questions were shown in the studio Very funny but at one point Dalida laughed uncontrolably. Finally she said "I know that guy. He lives in my quartier. His name is Charles."

it was hilarious because Charles was an absolute street urchin.

Dali Forever!

R51, were you living in France when she died?

Dalida's home in Corsica.

This drag club in Taipei looks like fun. Cafe Dalida

I am currently working on the very first English biography of Dalida

Hmm.. I wonder if they fucked (they did)

A rare English documentary on her featuring Petula Clark

I’ll be taking my first trip to Paris next summer. On the list of things to do will be visiting Montmartre Cemetery and the tomb of the legendary Dalida

R19, right? I’m surprised she isn’t a DL icon by now.

This has been eye opening: