Muhammad Abdul Muttalib

This book constitutes a new step in the history of our artistic heritage, and in filling a gap in the field of archiving and preserving the Arab cultural and artistic heritage. In this work, writer and researcher Moheb Jameel chose to carefully trace Abdul Muttalib's career, from the mid-twenties until his death in the early eighties of the twentieth century. Through these stations, the writer examines Egypt's political, social, and artistic transformations during that period. Despite all the challenges of research work, Moheb Jameel was able to access important archival materials that allowed him to write a documentary biography that takes into account objectivity and accuracy. These materials were represented by Abdel Muttalib's personal and artistic photos, his interviews with artistic periodicals and on Egyptian radio, in addition to old recordings on commercial CDs or various Arab radio stations through the pages of forums specialized in music. The book also contained the opinions of major critics on Abdul Muttalib's art, his artistic works, and his vocal abilities. The introduction to his book was written by the Lebanese music historian Victor Sahab. This type of writing may oscillate between biography and documentation, but its difficulty lies mainly in accessing archival and photographic material on which the text is based, especially when choosing old names that are not consumed by the media.