Mohamed el-Fers (born 1950 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

) is a Dutch writer, musician and filmmaker.

Life

El-Fers was musician in Los Compañeros (Latin American), Nass el-Ghorba (Moroccan), Tiq Maya (Moroccan), Medina (pop) and Atlal (folkrock). With this last group he had in 1982 a number 1 hit in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and appeared in '' El Alem Ghani'' the Egyptian television show by Hamdia Hamdi. He published in '' Hitweek'' / ''

Aloha ''Aloha'' ( , Hawaiian: �ˈlohə is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a greeting. It has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is use ...

'', ''

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' () is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam. It is one of the five independent opinion magazines in the Netherlands, alongside '' HP/De Tijd'', '' Vrij Nederland'', ''Elsevier'' and the Jewish ...

'', ''

Nieuwe Revu The ''Nieuwe Revu'' is a weekly general interest magazine from the Netherlands, published on Wednesdays and written in Dutch. History and profile In the 1970s the magazine was explicitly left-winged and focused on sport, sex, sensation and soci ...

'', ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' (; ), also known by its initialism ''AD'' () is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is headquartered i ...

'', the Turkish newspaper '' Dünya'' and '' De Staatskrant''. Together with René Zwaap, he founded MokumTV, one of the best viewed programmes of Salto TV, a local television station in Amsterdam. For MokumTV he made several documentaries, later released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. El-Fers produced in 1996 for Hippo Records two CDs with

Leo Fuld Lazarus 'Leo' Fuld (Yiddish: לעאָ פֿולד; Rotterdam, October 29, 1912 – Amsterdam, June 10, 1997) was a Dutch singer who specialised in Yiddish songs. Possessing an instantaneously recognizable voice, Fuld recorded throughout Europe an ...

, the 'king of

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

music'. He wrote

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

on e.g.

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

, Mevlana Rumi, Oum Kalsoum and

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

and published travel guides about

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He also wrote an "Encyclopedie van Hollandse Heiligen", an encyclopedia on Dutch Saints. Together with Veyis Güngör, El-Fers took the initiative that would become the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Mevlana Year in 2007. See Mevlana800.

Some of his books in Dutch

* ''Bob Marley'' (1991) * ''Jacques Brel'' (1991) * ''Mehmed VI : de laatste sultan'' (1991) * ''Columbus'' (1991) * ''Oum Kalsoum'' (1991) * ''Mevlânâ'' (1992) * ''Istanbul'' (1993) (2007) * ''Jacques Brel'' (1994, 1996 en 1998) /

Some of his books in English

* ''Lourdes beyond clichés: The Complete Guide to Lourdes ''(2007) * ''Kirkpinar, all about Turkish Oilwrestling''(2007) * ''Mevlana Rumi'' (2006)

Filmography

* ''Mevlana'' (Hypnotic Trance Dance, complete ritual) DVD TM 04-1 * ''Oil over Europe-I'' (Turkish Oil Wrestling) DVD TM 04-2 * ''Mehter in Holland'' (Ritual Music by the Janisari) DVD TM 04-3 * ''Maria in de Koran'' (bonus: Mirakel van Amsterdam, Ida Peerdeman interview) DVD TM 04-4

Award

For his Mevlanabiography he received on May 5, 2003 during the 3rd international Mevlanacongress of the Selçukuniversity of

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

(

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) the Merit of Honour by the Turkish Secretary of State for Religion, Prof.

Mehmet Aydin Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fers, Mohamed 1950 births Living people Dutch musicians Dutch male writers People from Haarlem