The voice of the people Sayed Darwish, born in Kom Al-Dikka on 17 March 1892, was canonised soon after his tragically early death on 15 September 1923 as one of the pioneers of Arabic music, a leader of the "cultural renaissance" that swept Egypt at the turn of the century, and the bard of the 1919 Revolution. His love of music and the material hardships he faced, writes Pascale Ghazaleh

A political masquerade Nehad Selaiha runs into politics where she least expects it	The locusts of Cervantes Two new books, two young writers: Youssef Rakha makes his way through the labyrinth
	In the millennium of sleeping insomnia Quartet of Joy, Mohamed Afifi Matar; translated by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden, University of Arkansas Press, 1998. Reviewed by Nazek Fahmi