Salah Jaheen
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Muhammad Salah Eldin Bahgat Ahmad Helmy (, ), known as "Salah Jaheen" or "Salah Jahin" ( ar, صلاح جاهين, ; December 25, 1930 – April 21, 1986) was a leading Egyptian
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
,
lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...
, playwright and cartoonist.


Life and career

Jaheen was born in Shobra district,
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
in 1930 to a middle-class family. He studied law in
Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...
. In 1955, he started working for the Egyptian weekly magazine "Rose al-Yousef" as a cartoonist. A year later, he moved to the new magazine "Sabah el-Khair" for which he became the
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
, then he joined Al-Ahram. Together with Fuad Haddad, Jaheen had a great role in development of Egyptian
colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
poetry. In fact, the term "shi'r al-ammiya" or "Arabic colloquial poetry" was only coined in 1961 by a group of young poets including Salah Jahin, Abd Al-Rahman Abnudi, Fuad Qaud and Sayyid Higab who called themselves "Jama't Ibn Arus". Before that, poetry in colloquial
Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...
was regarded as a
folkloric Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...
and low art produced by and for the uneducated masses, while the term "Shi'r" (
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
for poetry) was restricted to poetry written in Modern Standard Arabic (commonly known as "Fuṣḥā", meaning ''most eloquent''). He wrote several plays for the puppet theatre. He was also known for his nationalist and patriotic songs that marked the revolutionary era of Gamal Abdel Nasser role, many of which were performed by the famous Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez. The poet was highly inspired by the 1952 Revolution and was sometimes known as the semiofficial poet of the revolution. However, after Egypt's defeat in the Six-Day War, 1967 war and Gamal Abdel Nasser death in 1970 he suffered from a severe depression. In one interview, he said that with the death of Nasser in 1970 and the sudden shift in political orientation he felt increasingly like Hamlet, with Anwar Sadat, Sadat embodying the treacherous King Claudius, Claudius. In addition to political poetry, Jahin's poems frequently contain metaphysics, metaphysical and philosophical themes, questioning the purpose of human life, the nature of good and evil, human and divine will and the limits of human pursuit of freedom and happiness. In 1965, Jaheen was awarded the Egyptian Order of Science and Arts of the First Class. He died in 1986 at the age of 55.


Works


As a poet


Ruba'iyat (Quatrains)

In 1963 Jaheen wrote his quatrains or Ruba'i, rubaiyat in which he expressed his beliefs, emotions and views of life, existence, good and evil. Each verse ended with one ironic expression "Agabi" or "how strange !". Quatrains are sometimes argued as the greatest popular poetic achievement in Egypt in the last 50 years.


In Egypt's Name

In 1971, Jaheen wrote "Ala Esm Masr" or "In Egypt's name", an epic poem narrating the history of Egypt, from the History of Ancient Egypt, pharaoic era till present. Each verse ended with the same expression "Ala esm Masr" or "In Egypt's name" but each time holding a new meaning. In this poem Jaheen repeatedly expressed his love for his country. In one stanza, he says: :"History may say what it wishes in Egypt’s name :Egypt, for me, is the most beloved and most beautiful of things. :I love her when she owns the earth, east and west. :And I love her when she is down, wounded in a battle. :I love her fiercely, gently and with modesty. :I hate her and curse her with the passion of the lovesick. :I leave her and flee down one path, and she remains in another . :She turns to find me beside her in misfortune. :My veins pulsating with a thousand tunes and rhythms. :In Egypt's name."


= Other books

= His other books of colloquial poetry include: *An al-qamar wa al-teen (1961). *Qasaqis Waraq, (1966). *Dawawin Salah Jahin, (1977). *Angham Siptambirriyah, (1984).


Song writer

Jaheen wrote the lyrics of many songs, mostly patriotic songs that were performed by Abdel Halim Hafez. His songs include: "Soura" or photo, "ehna elsha'b" or "we are the people", "Khaly elselah sahy" or "oh weapon, be ready", "Ya ahlan belma'arek" or Welcome battles" and "El-mas'oulia" or "Responsibility". He wrote for the puppet theatre, including the famous operetta "El-leila el-kebira" or The Grand Night. Jaheen also worked as a film producer, screenwriter and an actor. His screenplays included: "Awdat al ibn al dal" or The return of the prodigal son ; directed by Youssef Chahine, "El less wal kilab" (based on the novel ''The Thief and the Dogs'' by Naguib Mahfouz), "Shafika we Metwali" or "Shafika and Metwali", "Khally ballak men Zouzou" ("Watch Out for Zouzou") and "Amira Hoby Ana" or Amira My Sweetheart. In the latter two, the famous Egyptian actress Suad Husni sang some of her most beautiful songs: "Ya wad ya te'eel", "Khally ballak men Zouzou" or "Take Care of Zouzou", "El-hayah ba'a lonha bamby" or "Life has turned pink" and "El-donia rabe'" or "It's spring time". He also wrote the script and lyrics for the "Riddles"-a television series with a riddle in each episode presented during the month of Ramadan in the Egyptian television, Egyptian and Arab televisions- for several successive years and for the Miniseries, television serial "Howa wa heya" or "He and She" portrayed by Ahmad Zaki (actor), Ahmad Zaki and Suad Husni. 2010, The Egyptian Singer Tony Kaldas composed a song from his lyrics and sang it in a new different style, in a classical way with Piano.


Political Cartoonist

Jahin was a witty political cartoonist, where his sketches of everyday life over the course of four decades "made people laugh and cry at the same time." His drawings were a mainstay of Al-Ahram's daily editions form the1960s until his death in 1986, and at least two volumes published collections of his work in 1986, and 2013. Jahin's original sketches have also been exhibited.


Trivia

A Google Doodle on 25 December 2013 commemorated Jahin's 83rd birth anniversary.


References


General References

*
Salah Jahin form arabworldbooks


External links


Salah Jahin
* *
Salah Jahin's cartoons
*
Cigarette Ash
, trans. by Salma Harland, Arablit Quarterly (29 December 2021) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaheen, Salah Egyptian male poets Egyptian cartoonists 1930 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Egyptian poets 20th-century male writers