Rajae Belmlih

Rajae Belmlih, also spelt Raja Belmalih, (Arabic: رجاء بلمليح) (April 22, 1962 – September 2, 2007) was a well-known Moroccan singer.

Belmlih's career began with the Moroccan talent show, Mawahib. Her first major hit in the Arab World was Ya-Jara Wadina in 1986. The young Rajae, a University undergraduate at the time, decided to sing her first hit song at her Hassan II campus in front of her fellow students prior to the official premiere that same day. The love story with the Moroccan public was born. She later settled and worked from Cairo, Egypt whilst continuing her studies in Arabic literature and Philosophy at Mohamed V University in Rabat. She graduated in 1995 and enrolled for a doctorate. Belmlih was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1999 for her numerous actions in favour of charities within the Arab world. She was an outspoken supporter of women's education in the poorer parts of the Arab world. She was a widely admired and respected figure in her native Morocco but also elsewhere in the Arab world where her image as a highly educated singer is untainted. She was granted Emirati citizenship as a tribute by the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. She enjoyed a huge fan base in the United Arab Emirates where she is known to have interpreted many poems of the late Shaikh Zayd ben Sultan Al Nahyane.

Rajae Belmlih died in Rabat, Morocco, on September 2, 2007, after a long battle with a Breast cancer. She was aged 45. Belmlih was passionate about Morocco and her romantic voice sang about love, about life and about the Palestinian cause. Her death triggered an unprecedented pouring of public grief in Morocco with the King Mohamed VI declaring "Morocco has lost one of its most talented artists known for her authenticity and moral values [...] and whose memory will remain within all Moroccans and the Arab world". Rajae Belmlih was buried in the Martyrs cemetery in Casablanca in the presence of the Moroccan Prime Minister, the Emirates Ambassador, many artists and a crowd of an estimated 30 thousand people lining to pay their respects. She was survived by her husband Mohamed Sharaf Al Din and son, Omar aged 5.

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