The hall of the El-Sawy Culture Wheel in Cairo is already crowded with people of all ages as the lights are turned off and the members of the band Monde Dalida step on stage one by one.

Monde Dalida is the first tribute band in Egypt and indeed in the world for Italian-Egyptian singer and actress Dalida, whose Arabic and French songs dominated the music scene between the 1950s and the 1980s, earning her the nickname “Maria Callas of the variety songs.”

The band is the initiative of Amr Elqasher and Reem Shawky, the founders of Magnolia Art Space in Cairo. The band consists of lead vocalist Mariam Mounir, Wagdy el-Fiwy on piano, Mohamed Wave on flute and saxophone, Abdullah el-Asabgy on bass guitar and Mohamed Kennesh on percussion.

"We were surprised that there were no tribute bands on Dalida even though she was one of the rare Egyptian-born singers who became an international star," Reem Shawky, spokesperson for the band, told Al-Monitor. So they found one to carry her songs to the new generations who knew little of Dalida, born as Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti in Cairo in 1933.