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  • 2022-06-22 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Louis Armstrong Perform for his Wife at Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt? (en)
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  • His fame as a jazz musician and singer took him all over the world, including Egypt, where an iconic photograph showed Louis Armstrong serenading his wife in front of the pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. The New York Times Store shared the photograph in 2016 on the anniversary of Armstrong’s death, saying it was taken in 1961: But the full story behind the photograph was available in the virtual exhibition section of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, located in Corona, Queens. Armstrong and his wife Lucille lived in the house, which is now a National and New York Historic Landmark. A post written by Ricky Riccardi, director of research collections, detailed how Armstrong’s trip to Egypt took place at the tail end of a State Department-sponsored tour of Africa that began in October 1960. During the tour one of his vocalists suffered from a stroke: The museum shared photographs from the Armstrongs’ private collection, including one of the couple sitting together in Egypt, which Lucille called Lovebirds on the Nile. They also shared a receipt from American Express for a currency exchange. He would meet renowned Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh, who was known for discovering the King Khufu Solar Ship near the Great Sphinx of Giza in 1954. Their personal collection had a photograph of el-Mallakh along with a note assumed to be el-Mallakh’s handwriting, with their names in hieroglyphics. El-Mallakh would take them to the pyramids where the photograph was taken: The photograph is also available on Getty Images, and is credited to the Bettman archive. Armstrong was reportedly gifted the scrapbook of the trip to Egypt, in which there are photographs of him, Lucille, and el-Mallakh taken at different angles in front of the Sphinx and pyramids. Riccardi assumes that the scrapbook was given by el-Mallakh. Riccardi also speculated on the identity of the photographer: Armstrong only wrote DIG US next the photograph. (en)
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