Thekra

Thekra ذكرى
Thekra in 2003, a few weeks before her death, photographed by Miki
Background information
Birth name	Thekra bint Mohammed Al Dali
Born	(1966-09-16)September 16, 1966 La Marsa, Tunisia
Died	November 28, 2003(2003-11-28) (aged 37) Cairo, Egypt
Genres	Khaleeji music taarab Arabic music Arabesque music Middle Eastern music
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1980s–2003
Labels	Rotana EMI Mega Star Golden Cassette

Thekra bint Mohammed Al Dali (Arabic : ذكرى بنت محمد الدالي; September 16, 1966 ^[1] – November 28, 2003), better known as Thekra (ذكرى), ^[a] was a Tunisian singer.

Career

Thekra started performing at school. In 1980, she performed on the TV show Fan Wa Mawahib (فن ومواهب), after which she joined the show's choir. In 1983, her first recording was made, of a song composed by Abdul Hameed Khareef. In the same year, she performed at the Carthage Festival.

Later she joined the vocal group section of the Tunisian Radio and TV Establishment's national band. There, she met Abdul Rahman Al Ayyadi, who composed many of her later songs. Thekra became known for her powerful voice and her ability to perform many kinds of Arabic music genres, including qasa'ed, muwashshah and taarab songs.

Tunisia

During the 10 years before moving to Egypt, she released 30 songs in Tunisia. 28 of them were composed by Abdulrahman Al Ayyadi. Some of her successful singles in Tunisia included:

• "Liman Ya Hawa Satakoon Hayati Wa Kaifa Sa'Arifo Ma Howa Aati?" (لمن يا هوى ستكون حياتي وكيف سأعرف ما هو آتي؟; "To whom does my life belong and how should I know how it will end up?")
• "Habeebi Tammin Fo'adi" (حبيبي طمن فؤادي; "My beloved, comfort my heart")
• "Ela Hadhn Ommi Yahin Fo'adi" (إلى حضن أمي يحن فؤادي; "My heart misses my mother's hug")
• "Wadda'at Roohi Ma'ah Min Youm Ma Wadda'ani" (ودعت روحي معاه من يوم ما ودعني; "I said goodbye to my

soul which is gone with him since the day he said goodbye to me").

In 1990, she had an argument with Abdulrahman Al Ayyadi, who was her fiancé at the time, because he did not want any other person to compose for her. She left and joined a new group, Zakharif Arabiya (زخارف عربية).

Libya

She stayed for a while in Libya and released many songs written and composed by Libyan poets and composers including Mohammed Hassan, Ali Al Kailani, Abdullah Al Mansoor and Salman Al-Tarhooni. Her last album released in Libya was "Nafsi Azeeza", written by the poet Al-Tarhooni, which won best performance and lyrics at the Sharm el-Sheikh Festival in Egypt.

Egypt

After her career in Libya, she returned to Tunisia for a time, but then moved to Egypt. In Egypt, she met the musician Hani Mihanna who produced two of her albums. Wehyati Andak in 1995 was successful in the Arab world: until then she was known in the West side of the Arab world, but after that album she became widely known all over the Arab world. Mihnna also produced her second album, As'har Ma'ah Sertak, in 1997.

A few months later in 1997 she released Al Asami with a different producer and in 2000 Yana. Her last album in Egypt was Youm Aleek , released in 2003, only three days before her murder.

Her most successful singles performed in Egyptian Arabic were:

• "Wehyati Andak" (و حياتي عندك; "And my life is yours")
• "Mish Kol Hob" (مش كل حب; "Not all love")
• "Youm Aleek" (يوم عليك; "One day to you")
• "Bahlam Beloa'ak" (بحلم بلقاك; "I dream of meeting you")
• "Al Asami" (الاسامي; "The names")
• "Yana" (يانا)
• "Ya Azeez Aini" (يا عزيز عيني; "Oh my dear darling")
• "Law Ya Habeebi" (لو يا حبيبي; "If only, my beloved")
• "Ya Khofi" (يا خوفي; "Oh my fear")
• "Kol Elli Lamooni" (كل اللي لاموني; "Everything they blamed on me").

GCC and Persian Gulf region

Thekra performed many songs and album in different Arab dialects including Gulf Arabic, also known as "Khaleeji".

She released many Khaleeji albums with Saudi record company Funoon Al Jazeera and they are:

• Thekra (1998)
• Thekra 2 (2002)
• Thekra 3 (2003)
• Wish Maseeri (2003) – recorded entirely in the Emirati dialect
• Wa Tabqa Thekra (2004) – posthumous release
• Aghani A'ajabatni (2004) – posthumous release, duet album with Thamer Al Turki.

She also performed duets with several Khaleeji singers, including with Abu Bakr Salim in the song "Mishghil Al Tafkeer", and a duet with Mohammed Abdu in 2003. She was going to perform a duet with Abdullah Al Rowaished but was killed before it could be recorded.

Her most successful singles in Gulf Arabic were:

• "Elain El Youm" (الين اليوم; "To this day")
• "Wainik Enta" (وينك انت; "Where are you")
• "Ma Feeni Shai" (ما فيني شي; "Nothing's wrong with me")
• "Ahibbik Moot" (احبك موت; "I love you to death")
• "Ghayib" (غايب; "Gone")
• "Al Jarh" (الجرح; "Hurt")
• "Qalaha" (قالها; "He said it")
• "Hatha Ana" (هذا انا; "This is me")
• "Al Mesafir" (المسافر; "The traveller").

Death

A day before her death, she was in Libya where she performed a concert and she met Gaddafi. The same night, she sang a song based on a poem written by Ali Al Keilani, and at a time where there were large tensions between Saudi and Libya. The poem had words where it criticised the corruption of the Saudi government and how they shouldn't be in charge of Hajj in Mecca which was a large attack on the House of Saud.

On November 28, 2003, the same 4 people with her in Libya were found dead. She was murdered by an unknown assailant despite many people believing it was her husband. A team of doctors, who examined her body, released a medical report after an autopsy was complete stating that she was shot with 26 bullets all over her body and had remained alive for only 15 minutes afterward. The other three victims of the crime, Thekra's secretary was shot 22 times and her business manager received 18 bullets before passing away alongside her husband receiving 3 bullets in the mouth.

When her death was reported, her body was transported by Al Waleed bin Talal's private plane to avoid suspicion and show solidarity.

After her death, many celebrities from the Arab world flew to Tunisia and Egypt to attend her funeral. Singers who performed Thekra's songs in their concerts included Assala, Sherine, Ghada Rajab, Elissa, and Samira Said.

Latifa did not perform any of Thekra's songs, but instead recorded a Tunisian folk song called "Fi Al Ghorba" and dedicated it to her; she also dedicated her Murex d'Or award for best female singer in 2003 to her, and asked them to play a tribute to Thekra instead of her.

Singles

• "Al Hilm Al Arabi" (الحلم العربي) – with others
• "Ommahu" (أماه) – trio with Ali Al Hajjar & Moniem
• "Nihlam Eih?" (نحلم إيه؟) – duet feat. Angham
• "Hilmina Al Wardi" (حلمنا الوردي) – duet feat. Mohammed Abdo
• "Ya Hajiri" (يا هاجري)
• "Al Asmaraniya" (الاسمرانيه)
• "Baghdad La Tata'allami" (بغداد لا تتألمي) – with others

Videography

• "Ya Khofi" (يا خوفي)
• "Wehyati Andak" (و حياتي عندك)
• "Al Asami" (الاسامي)
• "Al Hilm Al Arabi" (الحلم العربي) – with other Arab singers
• "Kol Elli Lamooni" (كل اللي لاموني)
• "Allah Ghalib" (الله غالب)
• "Qalaha" (قالها)
• "Elain El Youm" (الين اليوم)
• "Al Jarh" (الجرح)
• "Atfaal" (أطفال)
• "Wala Arif" (ولا عارف) – feat. Ehab Tawfiq
• "Nihlam Eih?" (نحلم إيه؟) – feat. Angham
• "Youm Aleek" (يوم عليك)
• "Bahlam Belo'ak" (بحلم بلقاك); she shot parts of it before her death but the video was never completed so the idea was changed, it was montaged to make her appear as a ghost.
• "Law Ya Habeebi" (لو يا حبيبي); she shot parts of the clip mentioned above "Bahlam Belo'ak" before her death but the video was never completed so the idea was changed, it was montaged to make her appear as a ghost.

Notes

1. Also romanized as Thikra, Zekra or Zikra, meaning "memory" or "memorial".

References

1. المطربة ذكرى...ودعت الحياة بـ 21 طلقة, Archived 2020-03-27 at the Wayback Machine