Badr Yousef

Fariha tells the story of an unusual role model for Yemeni women. It revives the voice of Fariha, a Yemeni singer from Hodeidah who gained widespread renown in the 1980s for her performances at social functions. She was a contemporary of many other well-known singers, such as Abu Bakr Salem, Ahmed Fathi and Karama Mersal. The film follows the life of Feriha, today, at the age of 74. Despite living alone and driven from her home due to the civil war, she continues to hum her tunes as she moves from one town to another and from one job to next in search of a livelihood and joy in life. The film throws into relief the conflicting nature of the relationship between Yemeni society and art. On the one hand there is the intimate connection between the Yemeni individual and the country’s rich cultural heritage with its diverse forms of music and dance. On the other hand, there is the war that Yemeni artists have to fight in a conservative society that looks down on artists and tries to suppress them on the grounds of customs or religion, especially if they are women.