By: Yomna Walid
After her special appearance accompanied the official French delegation with President of France Emmanuel Macron during his recent visit to Egypt, the opera singer, Egyptian mezzo- soprano Farrah El Dibany, became the talk of the world after her name quickly topping Google Trends.
&ldquo;Nile FM&rdquo; caught up with the Egyptian mezzo-soprano &ldquo;Farrah El Dibany&rdquo;, who&rsquo;s become a symbol of cultural diplomacy, to talk about the unforgettable moments behind the scenes, what it means to sing for world leaders, and how her diverse background has shaped her into the global artist she is today.
Your name quickly topped Google Trends after the event &mdash; how did that public response make you feel?
First of all, I knew from you that I was trending &mdash; I hadn&rsquo;t even checked! Thank you for letting me know. Honestly, it made me feel very touched and appreciated. I didn&rsquo;t expect all of this, but I quickly realized how important the visit was for Egypt, for France, and for the relationship between these two countries.
You mentioned on social media how proud and deeply grateful you were to contribute to strengthening the ties between Egypt and France. Could you tell us more about what that moment meant to you personally?
That moment, especially because I met both presidents &mdash; Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Emmanuel Macron &mdash; made me feel like I&rsquo;ve reached what I&rsquo;ve always dreamt of: dialogue, peace, love, and understanding. Bringing people together. That&rsquo;s been my mission even before I knew I wanted to be a singer.&nbsp;
<a href="https://ibb.co/d4GRC8Jp"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/GQcqYz3M/Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM-2.jpg" alt="Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM-2" border="0" /></a>&nbsp;
As an Egyptian artist chosen by France to represent their cultural identity in Egypt &mdash; your homeland &mdash; how did that dual symbolism feel?
I&rsquo;m honestly very proud to be representing both. I&rsquo;m proud that the French chose me to represent Egypt &mdash; because they know how appreciated I am here in Egypt. And I&rsquo;m just as proud that Egyptians see my French side and recognize my place in French society. It&rsquo;s a beautiful balance. The President of France always introduces me as &ldquo;The Egyptian&rdquo; not the international which makes me very proud of my own identity.
This wasn&rsquo;t your first encounter with President Macron. You sang the French national anthem alongside him and his wife after his re-election, and again before the World Cup Final in 2022. How would you describe your relationship with France and its leadership?
I would describe it as very positive and full of mutual respect. They appreciate my art, my persona, my work. And I appreciate what they are doing to promote my art and to help and support what I do as an artist. Because what I like about France is that they always promote culture and sports. And they always support anyone from any nationality, no matter where you&rsquo;re from I&rsquo;ve always felt valued
You&rsquo;ve performed in front of world leaders, at globally watched events like World Cup, and The World Youth Forum, how do you prepare for such high-pressure, high-profile performances?
I sang the national anthem at President Macron&rsquo;s re-election celebrations and again ahead of the 2022 World Cup Final. Also at the UNESCO&rsquo;s 75th. There were 30 presidents from all over the world, including His Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the audience.
Then I sang in another event with high-profile presidents and leaders such as Hillary Clinton and President Macron at the Arab Institute in Paris. I also performed in front of royals from Jordan, Bahrain,<a href="https://ibb.co/JWD40WBs"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/DP0ysPVR/Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM.jpg" alt="Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM" border="0" /></a> and Saudi Arabia. And of course, in front of the first lady of Egypt and the first lady of Oman, Sultanate of Oman. So, as you've said, not always easy to perform in front of royals and presidents because it's a different mood and different energy. What I do is that I always go on stage thinking I'm singing to a human being. So no matter what his position is, at the end of the day, he or she is a human with feelings. And what I have to do, as I always do, is get to their feelings, to touch them from the inside with my music and with my voice.
During this recent visit, was there a specific moment, conversation, or gesture &mdash; from President Macron or President El-Sisi &mdash; that moved you?
Yes, actually. When I met both presidents, the first thing President El-Sisi told Macron was, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re very proud of Farrah, we know that you enjoy her voice&rdquo; Macron replied, &ldquo;of course...She&rsquo;s a reincarnation of Dalida&hellip;she a big diva, she is our diva.&rdquo; Then El-Sisi added, &ldquo;yes, she's our diva, Egyptian diva.&rdquo; And then they laughed and it was very nice. And President Sisi continued, &ldquo;She is our ambassador.&rdquo; And Macron agreed, &ldquo;She&rsquo;s our ambassador too &mdash; an ambassador of arts and culture.&rdquo; That moment gave me goosebumps. I&rsquo;ll never forget it.
What was the most memorable part of accompanying the French delegation? Was there anything unexpected that made the experience even more special?
There was a beautiful, spontaneous moment during our visit to the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology. It was past midnight. President Macron found lyrics of a Dalida song, looked at me and asked, &ldquo;Who sings this?&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;Dalida,&rdquo; and started singing. Then he joined in. We sang the whole song together. It was light, fun, and full of meaning. It felt very human and real.
Your voice and presence have become a symbol of cultural diplomacy. In your opinion, how can classical music and opera help build bridges between nations?
Classical music is a universal language. Opera isn&rsquo;t just about the words &mdash; it&rsquo;s about the emotions, the phrasing, the voice. I&rsquo;ve sung in places where people didn&rsquo;t speak the language at all, but they still felt it. That&rsquo;s the magic of opera. It touches something beyond language, people don&rsquo;t understand the language, they understand the feeling of opera.
You've sung in several languages &mdash; Italian, French, German &mdash; and you&rsquo;ve studied in Berlin while holding a degree in engineering. How has your international background shaped you as an artist?
It shaped me in every way. Architecture, especially, taught me structure, depth, and the importance of preparing with a concept. It trained me to approach a performance like a crafted piece of art. And being multilingual opened so many doors &mdash; I&rsquo;ve sung in over ten languages, including Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian.
<a href="https://ibb.co/FLTRyQzQ"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/sdY8NTqT/Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM-1.jpg" alt="Photo-09-04-2025-12-41-25-PM-1" border="0" /></a>&nbsp;
What do you feel when you perform in Egypt versus when you're on global stages? Is the connection with the audience different?
Performing in Egypt is like singing to a big family. The audience doesn&rsquo;t just come to hear the music &mdash; they come to see me. There&rsquo;s a deep emotional connection that feels like home. Abroad, it&rsquo;s more about discovery. But in Egypt, it&rsquo;s about belonging.
What would you say to young Egyptian women and artists who look up to you, those who see your journey as proof that dreams can cross borders?
Don&rsquo;t follow trends. Discover your own dream, your own voice. It&rsquo;s okay to be different. Be proud of your identity and roots &mdash; they will carry you further than you imagine.
Finally, what's next for you? Any exciting performances, collaborations, or projects we can look forward to?
I&rsquo;m off to Jordan and China. I&rsquo;m also working on a big Dalida project and releasing a song with a well-known Japanese jazz composer. So yes &mdash; lots of exciting things coming soon!
Farrah El Dibany&rsquo;s journey is proof that music transcends borders, politics, and language &mdash; and that one voice, when rooted in authenticity, can echo across continents. As she continues to represent Egypt on the world stage, she reminds us that cultural diplomacy isn&rsquo;t just built in boardrooms &mdash; sometimes, it&rsquo;s built in song.
&nbsp;All the photos featured in the&nbsp;article are&nbsp;credited to&nbsp;Farrah El Dibany.&nbsp;

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