A beautiful nostalgic visual history of posters and pressbooks from the golden age of Egyptian film musicals

For the flourishing Cairo music scene of the 1920s and 1930s, the screen musical was a natural and welcome evolution. Egypt was undergoing a cultural awakening. The arts, which had been brewing for decades, erupted in a booming recording industry, rich versatile musical theater, and music halls alive with local and world dance troupes. Although initially dependent on these art forms for inspiration, the screen musical, in which actors expressed ordinary emotions by periodically bursting into song accompanied by invisible orchestras, soon developed into a cinematic genre in its own right.

Vive l’Amour: The Golden Years of Egyptian Musicals presents a stunning compilation of over 300 full-color film posters and pressbooks dating from the 1930s, when the first Egyptian film musical, Unshoudat al-Fuad (Song of the Heart) was screened, to 1972, with the release of the smash hit, Khalli balak min Zouzou (Take Care of Zouzou). Together with an introduction to the pioneers of the Egyptian film musical, the images are accompanied throughout by biographies of the great musical stars of the age, including Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Farid al-Atrash, Laila Mourad, Shadia, Abdel Halim Hafez, and many others. Whether you are a film enthusiast or simply enjoy watching classic film musicals, this visual feast of a bygone era of film production will both inform and delight.