Known as “al Fagoumi – the dissident”, his poems and songs were the bible of the Egyptian revolution burst in 2011.
Ahmed Fouad Negm, born on 22nd of May 1929, belongs to a poor village in Al Sharqia governorate. Though an offspring of a prominent family: “Negm”, was one of the victims of the feudal system. Al Fagoumi reports in his memoir, carrying the same title, that his wealthy uncle confined him in an orphanage as a repercussion of Negm’s “mischievous” attitude. He spent nine years in this orphanage in “Al Zagazig” along with the famous singer Abdul Halim Hafez.[1]
The “mischievous” Negm adopted the revolutionary approach throughout his life. After being confided into an orphanage by his uncle, he was arrested several times by the successive presidents of Egypt, starting from Nasser until the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, because of his poetry. It is worth mentioning that Sadat submitted him to military court for a poem that mocked the president.
During the sixties, Negm met his artistic mate “Sheikh Imam”, who composed and sang Al Fagoumi’s poems. Being banned from the official channels (i.e radio, television, press) the duet used to sing in the streets, coffee shops, factories, universities. Normally, their concerts always ended with the police arriving and arresting them.
Despite of the governmental blockade against his production, arrests, and prosecution, Negm’s poems were viral in a manner that passed generations. It was a revelation for him to find young people singing his songs, reciting his poetry in the middle of Tahrir square, as commentators and reporters believed that Negm’s poems is the bible of the revolution. He rejoiced it by calling the revolutionaries: “my children”.
Negm’s impact was not solely on the Egyptian political life. He had his own influence on literary life in the Arab world “from ocean to gulf”. His contribution elevated the Egyptian vernacular from an everyday spoken dialect into a literary language along with other Egyptian poets, among them: Abdul Rahman Al Abnoudi, Salah Jahin and Fouad Haddad.
Each poet of the abovementioned contributed in enriching the Egyptian vernacular and characterized certain category; Haddad represented the dialect of intellects, Jahin embodied the middle class population, Al Abnoudi denoted the upper Egyptian dialect while Ahmed Fouad Negm tried to cover the majority by being the mouthpiece of proletarians and peasants, sometimes coating their expressions by the popular Sufi Egyptian culture.
For his political, social and literary power, Al Fagoumi was the laureate of Prince Claus Prize six months before his death. He commented: “I’m honored to win this prize, though I feel bitter that this prize didn’t come from my country which I served and sacrificed for.”[2]
Translating Al Fagoumi’s poems is a sort of mission impossible. His usage of colloquial terms, Egyptian humor, Sufi/Christian popular heritage, his self-expression as one of the “mobs”, not totally adopting their vulgarity but rather reproducing it in a highly elevated form of countenance; these elements cannot be easily rendered into any language other than the Egyptian vernacular. Hence, after his death, the Egyptian government dedicated the “State Appreciative Prize” to his name. They waited to honor him after his death, just to be sure that he is not going to “wipe them with his tongue”. Sawiris institution founded the first prize in history for Egyptian vernacular poetry. The prize carried the name of the man who used to be quoted “Egyptian vernacular is an independent language; it is not derived from Arabic language, it’s rather inlaid with Arabic language;” Ahmed Fouad Negm’s Prize.
Though it is difficult to display the whole value of his poems in other languages, Negm’s poems was translated into English language.
Samples of his poems:
A Prison’s Ticket
Name: Saber[1]
Crime: Egyptian
Age: The youngest of my generation
Despite my old, grey plaits
That flow downwards unto my waist
Occupation: The heir
Of my forefathers
And of the ages
Creator of civilizations,
Enlightenment
And security
Skin: Brown
Hair: Rougher than hay
Eye colour: Deep black
Nose: Flaring like a steed
Mouth: Fixed in its place
If one tries to move it
All that can happen, happens
Place of Birth: In any dark room
Beneath the skies
In any home surrounded
By palm trees
Where The Nile flows
As long as it’s not a mansion
Sentence: For seven thousand years
I lay here, a prisoner
Grinding the rocks in between my teeth
O the idleness
I spend my nights here, in gloom
Reasons: Asked, I was,
For what reason?
Has your confinement been prolonged
Because I am of kind spirit
And of geniality
I committed, not even an infringement upon the law
Because I am afraid
And because law has its sword
Ask the informants
And they’ll tell you my story
From beginning to end
By name I am patient even in the face of Job’s calamities
I am a donkey
Carrying my share of burdens
And awaiting
I drown in rivers of sweat
During the lengthy morn
I pack my grievances by nightfall
Then, on them I rest
Now you know why?[3]
Contraband
Forbidden from travel
Forbidden from singing
Forbidden from speaking
Forbidden from longing
Forbidden from discontent
Forbidden from smiling
And every day with your love
That which is forbidden increases
And every day I love you
More than the before
My love, as if a vessel
Longing and imprisoned
With an informant in each corner
A police in every port
They forbid me if I
Feel some jealousy for you
Or if I fly to your embrace
Or if I sleep in your lap
And your heart like the spring
I return like an infant
Weeping from weaning
My love, as if city
Dressed up and unhappy
In every road a difficulty
And in every palace decoration
Forbidden from waking up
With your love, or sleeping with it
Forbidden from debate
Forbidden from silence
And every day with your love
That which is forbidden increases
And every day I love you
More than the before[4]
#Egypt #Literature #Poetry #AhmedFouadNegm #PrinceClaus
[1] https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353102/bio
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrA5g3jpxlM
[3] https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-hummingbird-s-prayer/
[4] Above source.
