Singer and composer. Makkawai an Egyptian singer and composer, blind from birth, whose rasping voice and traditionally styled songs endeared him to a wide audience in the Arab world. He wrote a stirring patriotic song whose title meant 'The earth speaks Arabic' referring to the Sinai Peninsula captured from Egypt by Israel and was awarded a Medal of Science and Arts (First Class) Makkawai wrote songs for Umm Kalthoum in the last years of the singer's life. He was best known for his music for a television operetta al-Layla al-Kabir first broadcast in the late 1960s and still shown on Arabic television. His songs were sung in the street and set a trend. Sayyid Makkawai was born in Cairo and he graduated from Al-Azhar.