15 - 21 February 2001
Issue No.521
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 15 - 21 February 2001 Issue No.521 |
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Obituary
The lyrical gift
A phenomenal media career came to an end on Sunday when Abdel-Salam Amin (b 1936) -- lyricist, poet, script writer -- finally lost his battle against illness. Despite his success in the media, Amin thought of his work as a continuation of Beiram El-Tunsi's. The latter, the earliest landmark in the history of colloquial Arabic poetry, is considered by many to be the guardian of the spoken language. "We are all his pupils," Amin told Al-Ahram Weekly in 1997.
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
Born during Ramadan in Kafr Al-Sheikh, Amin contributed to Ramadan entertainment consistently for many years, so much so that his name became a fixture of the Fawazir (Ramadan riddles that were originally part of the colloquial poetry tradition, adapted for both radio and television) the lyrics of which he composed from 1985 on, at the request of Fahmi Abdel-Hamid, the Fawazir's celebrated director. This link with the holy month was not severed until last Ramadan, when he went to Paris for treatment. In a gesture of respect, the trip was financed by the government.
The Fawazir were not the only connection, however: Amin's popular historical dramas and televised renditions of One Thousand and One Nights were broadcast during Ramadan for many years. And it was through these that he became an Egyptian and Arab household name.
Amin spent his school days in Mansoura, completed his studies in Cairo and started his career at Alexandria Radio, returning to Cairo having establishing himself as a lyricist. Amin initially received an Azharite education, moving to a public school for his secondary education. He studied Arabic at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, and subsequently wrote his thesis on Al-Asfahani's Aghani, a landmark of the Arabic literary canon.
The son of an employee of the Ministry of Religious Endowments, his first books included Abul-Alaa Al-Ma'arri's Risalat Al-Ghoufran, One Thousand and One Nights and Kalila wa Dimna. The latter taught him that however noble the lion, when it is hungry, it will eat its dearest friend.
After graduation Amin joined the army (1965-1974), participating in the War of Attrition. A poem he wrote following the 1967 defeat spoke of victory, hope and the Sinai, and was not published until the October War in 1973. Subsequent celebrations of the October War included operettas, which became Amin's trademark genre. But military matters formed only part of Amin's thematic territory. A four-year stint in the Egyptian embassy in Rome produced Fawazir Hawl Al Alam (Around the World). And from the 1980s on he became increasingly interested in history, an interest that resulted in period drama scores including Taht zilal El-Suyouf (In the shadow of the Swords), Al-Zahra wa'l-Seif (The Flower and the Sword) as well as serial dramas on the Ummayid Caliph Omar Ibn Abdel-Aziz and the Abbasid Caliph Haroun Al-Rashid. His last such work was on Zulnoun Al-Misri, a legendary Arab character.
Although Amin wrote many songs for specific occasions, and his services were coveted by a number of leading performers, his contribution to theatre was more limited. A simple man, he shied away from the limelight, working in silence. The father of a public prosecutor, a television anchor, an artist and a script writer, Amin will live on no less in the public imagination than in the life and works of his children.
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