Biennale

Welcome to the first AMAR Biennale: Songs of Satire.

• Why a Biennale? Why songs of satire? ↗

Songs of Satire: Voices of Dissent from Bilad al-Sham, 1920–1950 pairs selected archival recordings with a booklet in Arabic, English and French. The launch examines satire as cultural memory, social criticism and resistance during the Mandate period.

• A new publication from AMAR ↗
• Memory, resistance and cultural identity ↗
• Satirical singing on a Beiruti string ↗
• The musical language of satire ↗

The Egypt session follows a tradition from the musical theatre of Badi Khayri and Sayed Darwish through later generations of poets and performers to the revolution of 25 January 2011.

• From musical theatre to Tahrir Square ↗
• Egyptian satire in the early twentieth century ↗
• A journey through Egypt’s protest-song tradition ↗

A rarely screened documentary by Heiny Srour about Sheikh Imam, the Egyptian musician repeatedly imprisoned for political songs that confronted the ruling classes. Presented with Nadi Lekol Nas; discussion with Tarek Abdallah.

• The Singing Sheikh ↗

Hazem Jamjoum considers the relationship between political commitment, preservation and artistic innovation in a century of Palestinian music and struggle.

• Artistic commitment and liberation ↗
• Palestine: a century of music and struggle ↗

Bashar Hamdan’s Songs of Palestine: Between the Principles of Revolution and the Dream of Peace follows the national song from the 1936 revolt to Oslo. A Duo from Al-Asheqeen Singing for Palestine centres on composer Hussein Nazek and lead singer Hussein Monther. Produced by Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Documentary respectively; discussion with Hazem Jamjoum.

• Palestine: two documentary films ↗

The session situates satirical song within Algeria’s musical and theatrical traditions, from colonial repression and the defence of identity to the social consequences of war and economic crisis.

• Algeria: history and reality ↗
• Satirical song in Algeria ↗

Rachid Merabet’s documentary follows the Kabyle singer through the intertwined histories of Algerian migration, working-class life and longing for home. Discussion with Abdelkader Bendamèche.

• Slimane Azem: the legend of exile ↗

Jean Lambert and Akram Rayess introduce lesser-known social and political songs preserved on early commercial 78 rpm records from Aden.

• Early recordings and Yemen’s liberation ↗
• From the graveyard of Anatolia to the cotton harvest ↗

The closing discussion brings the regional sessions into dialogue through class, gender, ethnicity, centre and periphery, the Global South and research methods. Akram Rayess sets out three axes for comparison and future research.

• Beyond geopolitical borders ↗

Ahmed El Maanouni follows Nass El Ghiwane from Casablanca’s Hay Mohammadi to the stage, interweaving interviews, performances and life backstage. The screening includes a discussion with the director. Restored in 2007 by the World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna / L’Immagine Ritrovata, with Ahmed El Maanouni and Izza Genini.

• Al Hal / Trances ↗

AMAR’s welcome before the residency concert.

• The closing concert ↗

The residency culminates in a performance drawn from AMAR’s satirical-song archive, including lesser-known works by Omar al-Zeenni, Sheikh Imam, Sayed Darwish, Salama al-Aghwani and Algerian chaabi musicians.

• The closing concert ↗