Maeda Nazhat
Maeda Nazhat or Maeda 'Jasim Mohammed Al-Azzawi' was an Iraqi singer. She came to fame in the 1950s and was one of the first performers to appear on Iraqi TV. She quit singing in the 1980s.
Early life
Maeda was born in Baghdad, where she grew up and attended school. From an early age, she showed talent at school events, performing songs by famous Arab singers like Umm Kulthum.Career
In the early 1950s, she won a competition at the Iraqi broadcasting agency looking for new Iraqi talents, and she became a regular singer in Iraqi radio. She became one of the first to sing on TV in 1956, and she is considered the first to sing in support of the July 14 revolution in 1958, with her two songs "Good morning, revolution morning" and "I am Iraq". Maeda was also one of few women to sing the Iraqi maqam with the Iraqi Heritage Music Orchestra, which was founded in 1974.Nazhat and her husband, musician Wadih Khonda, were famous internationally. They traveled to many countries including Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and the Soviet Union, where Nazhat performed on stage or recorded songs for local radio.