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The Fawzi Condition 

Most people in Algeria do not know anything about Mohamed Fawzi (1918-1966) other than being the composer of their national anthem, one of the longest in the world with five verses, and perhaps the only anthem that carries a warning to another country .. a warning that has been ongoing for seven decades.

With his face that resembles the court clowns of the Middle Ages, his sweet eyes and beautiful mouth, and his nose which evokes the faces of his sisters Hoda Sultan and Hend Allam, Fawzi had made a name before the Free Officers came to power in 1952. He participated in films, sang and composed many songs, and founded a film company bearing his name. But after 1952, he entered the wide doors with his patriotic songs, rode the train of the revolution, and established Masrphone record label.

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Fawzi, who composed and sang Mama Zamanha Gayya (Mama is coming soon), also sang to the children Zahab Al Lail (The Night is Gone, Dawn has come) in the movie Moagezat Al Samaa (The Miracle of the Sky, 1956), in which he predicted the future of the children who sang with him and said: “It is rare for me to come light a candle with a candle / until the inch-and-a-half grows up and goes to the university / Mimi is a doctor, and Souad is a doctor, and we pray for them / Salah becomes a lawyer, and Toto is a judge who reconciles you" without forgetting to conclude with: "And Essam tomorrow will become an officer and defend you / He ransoms the Nile Valley with his life and his life from you."

ذهب الليل طلع الفجر - محمد فوزي - معجزة
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And when the officer grew up, a few years after the Officers' Revolution, and perhaps with the independence of the country for which Fawzi composed his anthem, the state nationalized Masrphone and Fawzi found himself an employee in his possession. His health deteriorated afterwards and he contracted a rare disease according to the classification of German doctors at the time, they called it ‘Fawzi's Disease’ or ‘The Fawzi Condition’ Later, thanks to a YouTube video about the Algerian national anthem, I discovered that the anthem’s poem Qassaman (I Swear) by Moufdi Zakaria was composed twice before Fawzi, once in Algeria and the second in Tunisia, and both times it was closer to singing a stage choir or religious prayers. Fawzi came later, and his contribution was a stone in the whole building between Nasirist Egypt, and Algeria the Liberation Front. But what is astonishing, and expected, is that Mohamed Fawzi of the sweet melodies did not put in the beats of drums and brass percussions that characterized the military march of Qassaman. On the contrary, his anthem was dreamy and was unanimously accepted for "its revolutionary character, with reservations on the introduction." Later came the Algerian composer Haroun Al Rashid (1932-2010) with the beats of drums and marching, to militarize the national anthem. The light violin movement after “and we are determined that Algeria will live,” done by Fawzi, became a loud cymbal hit by Haroun al-Rashid, which made the Algerians relegate at the revolutionary moment of 1954 instead of, perhaps, inviting them to dream with Mohamed Fawzi every time.

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