Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		20 - 26 June 2002 Issue No. 591 Culture	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Icon remembered
TO COMMEMORATE the death of Sheikh Imam Eissa, the blind protest singer- composer who became an icon of the dissident 1970s, a celebration was held at the Russian Cultural Centre. Attended by vernacular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, Imam's collaborator, and the spontaneous artists Mohamed Ali, a close friend, it attracted a large crowd.
At the head of the Sheikh Imam Ghosts band, singer Azza Balbaa, Negm's former wife, performed several of the composer's songs. Sheikh Imam died on 8 June, 1995.
Egyptians in Jordan...
A MUSEUM of Egyptian plastic arts was established in the Ruwaq Al-Balqaa Arts Centre, 18km outside the Jordanian capital Amman.
Artist Khaldoun Dawoud, the centre's general supervisor, declared that the new museum has brought together the work of some 400 Egyptian artists including Hamed Nada, Seif and Adham Wanly, Hussein Bikar, George Bahgory, Ahmed Nawwar, Farghali Abdel-Hafez, Sobhi Girgis, Ishaq Azmi and Mohamed Hegazi as well as potters Nabil Darwish and Mohamed Mandour.
... and in Rome
IN A POPULAR event last week the Egyptian Cultural Centre in Rome, in collaboration with the European Association, organised two seminars on ancient Egyptian architecture and its influence on architecture in the West and the Holy Family's journey through Egypt.
The seminars where accompanied by an exhibition of Mameluke art, inaugurated by Ambassador Nehad Abdel-Latif.
Literature galore
GENERAL Egyptian Book Organisation Chairman Samir Sarhan announced that the Family Library will publish, in the framework of this year's round of the Reading for All festival, the complete works of Mikhael Rouman, Abdel-Rahman El-Sharqawi, Mohamed Al-Faytouri, Yehia Haqqi, Tharwat Abaza, Youssef Gawhar, Mahmoud Badawi, Aisha Abdel-Rahman, Bairam El-Tounsi, Youssef El-Sharouni, Lutfi El-Khouli, Soliman Fayyad and Naguib Surour.
Incorporating 70 seminal volumes, the new Complete Works Series will be supplemented by 24 carefully selected General Organisation for Cultural Palaces works by provincial writers and a new Islamic Thought series, the latter including six books by Abbas Mahmoud El-Aqqad, one by Al-Imam Al-Shafie and the three-volume Qur'anic Encyclopedia compiled by Abdel-Sabour Marzouq. The Library will also resume running its "Read to your child" series, as well as publishing books by Mohamed Afifi Matar, Mohamed Mustagab, Youssef El-Qa'id, Abdel-Aziz Hamouda, Youssef Edris and poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi's compilation of the oral texts of the Hilaleya epic as recited by Gaber Abu Hussein.
Return of Donqol
QENA governor Adel Labib this week established a poetry award, named after the late poet Amal Donqol, who was born in the governorate. The award is to be given to the three best collections of poetry every year; the competition will be organised and administered by the popular literary newspaper Akhbar Al-Adab.
The results of the Amal Donqol Poetry Award will be announced on 23 June, the poet's birthday, starting as of next year.
Return of Madbouli
VETERAN comedian Abdel-Moneim Madbouli is to appear on the stage for the first time in seven years, starring in the new Modern Theatre play Wist Al-Balad (Downtown). The play, written and directed by Nasser Abdel-Moneim, features, among other young actors, Nehal Anbar, Menna Shalaby, Khaled Abul-Naga and Sayed El-Roumi.
Of Paris and Cairo
IT IS EXPECTED that Hani Helal, Egypt's cultural attaché in Paris, will be appointed president of the French University in Cairo, to be inaugurated shortly. Helal, who has headed the Egyptian Cultural Office in Paris for four years, is a professor of engineering at Cairo University. He earned his PhD at Saint-Etienne College.
Freedom medal
LAST week exiled scholar Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid received one of the Ford Foundation's Freedom Medals at the Foundation's headquarters in Amsterdam, the city in which he now lives. Following the ceremony Abu Zeid flew to Istanbul to attend an international workshop on Qur'anic studies.
As well as Abu Zeid, this year medal winners also included former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Spot the auteur
THE NATIONAL Centre for Cinema, in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Cultural Relations, last week organised a week of screenings by the film-maker Youssef Chahine at the British Council in London.
A similar week is to take place in Athens.
Provincial trophies
IN THE WAKE of the announcement of the state awards last week, the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces (GOCP) announced the results of its annual literary competition for 2001-2002.
The competition, which pits provinces against each other in a range of categories, is restricted to GOCP publications.
Winners include poets El-Sayed Fathi and Sohier Metwalli and writers Mohamed Abbas and Gamalat Abdel-Latif.
Compiled by Youssef Rakha

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