Masoud El Amaratly is one of the figures I originally didn’t intend to put in Before Gender. His story was shared in Iraqi and Qatari media several times over the past four decades. However, as I spoke with experts in trans studies, no one had heard of him before and I decided his story was sufficiently “forgotten” to include in the book. Many myths, rumors, and legend persist about Masoud, which are difficult to parse from truth. Even his birth year is speculated anywhere from 1897-1902.
I am currently working to restore the forty-something songs I could acquire from Masoud’s oeuvre. I will upload the music here at a later date.
Majid Haddad’s “Biography from my Country” program discussing Masoud with a Baghdadi historian, part I (in Arabic). I did not use this video in my citations as it does not contain references. However, it is still worth a watch if you can understand it.
Part II
