14 - 20 March 2002
Issue No.577
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 March 2002 Issue No.577 |
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Poems of the desert
On a recent trip to Bahariya Oasis, Nevine El-Aref found herself listening to songs of the stars and of love, and Khaled El-Fiqi captured this image of the Bedouin songster
After a long and exhausting day traipsing across the desert and touring archaeological sites, standing in dusty storerooms and talking to the local antiquities inspector, I was glad to sit and relax under the cover of a tent. Before me, cross-legged on the ground, sat Abdel-Sadeq El-Badramani, his semsemiya (a local string instrument) planted firmly in his lap as his fingers ran over the strings.
He did not notice me; he was too busy singing poems of praise to his beloved desert. His fans sat round, enraptured, as he played the music of his forefathers. Some of them dipped chunks of Bahariya's sun-dried bread into kishk, a mixture of sour milk and wheat. I was invited to join them.
El-Badramani's talent is nothing remarkable, but there is something appealing about the man. Perhaps it is the passion of his lyrics that draws an audience to his tent night after night.
El-Badramani is the descendant of an affluent family that crossed the Red Sea and the desert from Yemen long ago. The wanderers travelled to Minya in Upper Egypt where, until now, a quarter named Nazlet Al- Badramani still exists. Eventually, however, the clan found its way to Bahariya and Siwa oases where they settled for good. The history of El-Badramani's family journey is written on a gazelle skin and held safe by the family elders.
El-Badramani's story begins 45 years ago. Seated around him, we hear how the 10-year- old shepherd boy sat on a rock watching his herd and playing his setawi (cane flute). He sang to the animals and to his friends songs and legends of a heritage already disappearing into history.
His friends, charmed by the music and his words, encouraged him to turn professional and revive their traditional Bedouin music. Today, El-Badramani holds the title "singer of the oasis." No wedding party, no tourist visit, no private party is complete without him.
He is the only singer in his family. Bedouin regard music as a lowly profession. "It was really too hard to persuade my family of my new profession," he told us as we sat together. When his late father, a police officer, heard that his eldest son was planning to become a professional singer, he confined him to the house for a week. In obedience to his elders El-Badramani gave up his hobby and went to Cairo to complete his education. He graduated from the Faculty of Teaching and returned to Bahariya to become a teacher at a primary school.
The days passed, but he was unable to put his music behind him. In his leisure hours, he would take his setawi or semsemiya under his arm and sit under a date palm, singing his favourite songs. During these long, solitary hours he improved his technique and style. Influenced by the stark beauty of the desert, he began to write his own songs.
"I say all that I feel. All my experiences are translated into song. My verses are touched by my experiences," El-Badramani says. His two wives and 10 children inspire his songs, he says.
El-Badramani is not only a desert crooner. He is a successful camel breeder and owns bungalows which he rents to tourists. But the entertainment he provides at the day's end is no longer a hobby: it is the fulfilment of a dream.
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