In the first installment of the Culture and Politics Show, Palestine Chronicle editor Louis Brehony delves into the work of Egyptian resistance singer Sheikh Imam.
Introducing the new series, Palestine Chronicle editor Louis Brehony offers a musical tour de force, exploring Sheikh Imam’s unique contribution to Egyptian and regional protest singing. In particular, he focuses on examples from the many occasions on which Imam sang for the Palestinian cause, foregrounding resistance and leaving an indelible mark on music-making in Palestine.
This episode of the Culture and Politics Show explores key themes in Imam’s music and its adoption by the masses. Singing to the “children of Salahiddin,” Imam and lyricist Ahmad Fuad Negm centered Palestine as a cornerstone of Arab solidarity. Critiquing compliant rulers and exposing the threads connecting them to imperialism, the pair called for “workers, peasants and students” to realize that “our time has come” and to fight back.
“Oh Palestinians”
Brehony’s opening snapshot of Sheikh Imam introduces the revolutionary politics of the Egyptian singer. We hear clips of the iconic Ya Falastiniyya (Oh Palestinians), where Imam sang:
Oh Palestinians, how the rifles expelled you
And the Zionists kill the doves in your care
From such evocative poetry from Negm, Imam goes on to promise to fight alongside the Palestinian people, “fire in hand.” Here and in other examples of his musical contribution – including Negm’s elegy to Ho Chi Minh – Imam conjures up the example of Vietnam. Having been victorious over French and then US colonialism during the period of the Sheikh’s artistry, the song tells Palestinians that “Vietnam is your guide.” There are similarities here with the call of Ghassan Kanafani for liberated “Arab Hanois.”
Including material from the prison writings of Palestinian leftist Wisam Rafeedie, Brehony goes on to discuss the use of Sheikh Imam songs on the streets of Palestine and in the prison cells of the occupation. He retells the story of how Rafeedie and his comrades sang Dur Ya Kalam ‘Ala Kefak Dur (Turn, oh words, however you like) during the 1970s protests. “Rafeedie and his comrades even adopted the lyrics to their situation,” Brehony explains.
The episode points to examples of where Palestinian musicians have used Sheikh Imam’s songs, either performing powerful cover versions or taking inspiration for their own songs. In an example of the latter, Brehony highlights intifada singer Walid Abdelsalam, composer of the anthem Nzilna ‘Ala al-Shawarya (We went down to the streets): Abdelsalam “even traveled to Egypt to learn from the master.” We also see footage of a partnership between radical Egyptian band Eskanderella and Palestinian group Yalalan, who recorded Sheikh Imam songs together in 2018.
Exposing Normalization
With an excerpt from the song Sharraft Ya Nixon Baba (Welcome Daddy Nixon), the podcast shows how activists mocked then US president Richard Nixon’s 1974 visit to Egypt. With characteristic humor, “Imam laughed in the faces of normalizing Arab bourgeoisies and their imperialist sponsors.” On another occasion, Negm’s lyrics satirized a French official visit, imagining cars spewing “perfume instead of petrol.”
Targeting Arab normalization and mass poverty under capitalism, Imam and Negm were imprisoned frequently by the Egyptian state. As shown in archive film and photo footage, the Palestinian resistance movement of the post-1967 period sometimes found its counterpart in movements for social justice, including the 1977 intifada of bread across Egypt. Regimes closening to western capital and favoring “coexistence” with the Zionist state faced their own internal rebellions. In the devastatingly relevant Shayyid Qusurak (Fortify your castles), we hear Imam sing of “the path of no return,” proclaiming with revolutionary optimism that “victory is within reach.”
“Onwards in Struggle”
The episode concludes with reflections on the connectedness between Palestine and struggles across the region and internationally. Asking “What of Egypt?” Brehony points to the recent repression of pro-Palestine activism by a regime that has lined up to support Trump’s plan to colonise Gaza. At the same time, we see footage hinting at green shoots of popular consciousness. Showing hundreds of youths singing Imam’s fiercest material and waving Palestinian flags, we hear that:
“Here in Moaz Street in historic Cairo, the musicians perform without microphones and the lead singers are audience members participating in a unique form of musical activism.”
When these youths sing of Tel al-Zaatar and other massacres, while pledging to rise up for Palestine, Brehony tells us, “They are quite clearly singing about Gaza.”
Though the rebellion of young Egyptians has been so far limited, this heritage of resistance singing keeps alive the conscious connections of regional solidarity. Brehony leaves the “final word” to Imam and Negm, with the song lyrics: “Onwards in struggle, with poem or weapon.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
