Najat Al Saghira

Nagat El Saghira نجاة الصغيرة
Nagat El Saghira in the 1958 film Ghariba
Born	Nagat Muhammad Kamal Hosni (1938-08-11) 11 August 1938 (age 78) Cairo, Egypt
Nationality	Egyptian
Occupation	Singer, Actress
Years active	1943–2002
Spouse(s)	Kamal Mansi Hossam El-Din Mustafa
Children	1

Nagat El Saghira (11 August 1938) is an Egyptian singer and actress. She retired from filming in 1976 and from singing in 2002. Najat began her career at the age of five and retired 59 years later.

Nagat El Saghira is part of music from the Egyptian “golden age” of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. She still inspires others. For example, Paris based Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan (born 1976) mixes different dialects and forms of Arabic in her singing, inspired by performers who include Nagat l Saghira.

Nagat El Saghira was singing in family gatherings at the age of 5 years. She made her first film Hadiya (released in 1947) at the age of eight.

In a recorded interview, in the mid-1960s for Egyptian TV with the presenter Ms Salwa Hegzi, Nagat stated that she had, at that time, eight brothers and sisters. Lately, some media outlets are indicating double that number; the most frequently mentioned is seventeen brothers and sisters.

The discrepancy between eight and seventeen siblings might be explainable as follows: Nagat is one of 8 brothers and sisters (four boys: Ezz Eddin, Nabil, Farooq and Sami; and four girls: Khadiga, Samira, Nagat herself and Afaf) as well as 3 half-sisters from her father and his 2nd wife Gawhara (Kawther, Soad, Sabah). Then, the 2nd wife Gawhara was divorced from her father and remarried Abdel Monem Hafez, with whom she had another 6 children (three boys: Jaheer, Jaser and Jalaa; and three girls: Jehan, Janjah and Jeely). The grand total of 17 would then include 3 half-sisters and 6 step- brothers and step-sisters.

In the same interview, Nagat confirmed that she was brought up in a home where most of her brothers and sisters were artists. Since then she seems to have avoided further TV interviews and minimized her contact with the press. It was reported that she said only her performances should speak on her behalf.

Her father was Mohammad Hosni, an Egyptian citizen with Kurdish roots who settled, lived and died in Cairo, Egypt. He was a respected calligrapher. He was married more than once. Her mum was Egyptian and a Cairo resident.

The household of her father was known as “the home of the Artists”. His son, Ezz Eddin Hosni (1927 – 2013), a music composer, taught his sister Nagat music and singing. His other son Sami Hosni is a Cello player, jewellery designer and also calligrapher.