Nizar qabbani damascus
His second wife, Balqis al-Rawi, an Iraqi teacher whom he had met at a poetry recital in Baghdad, was killed in a bomb attack by pro-Iranian guerrillas in Beirut, where she was working for the cultural section of the Iraqi Ministry. His family were of Turkish origin who originated from Konya. One couplet in particular - "O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn it is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me" - is sometimes quoted by Arabs as a kind of wry shorthand for their frustration with life under dictatorship. Sami Moubayed Last Thursday, April 29, 2010, marked the 12th anniversary of the passing of Syria’s legendary poet, Nizar Qabbani. Qabbani's later poems included a strong strain of anti-authoritarianism. His writing also often fused themes of romantic and political despair. Qabbani was a committed Arab nationalist and in recent years his poetry and other writings, including essays and journalism, had become more political. He had lived in London since 1967 but the Syrian capital remained a powerful presence in his poems, most notably in "The Jasmine Scent of Damascus."Īfter the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he founded the Nizar Qabbani publishing house in London, and his became a powerful and eloquent voice of lament for Arab causes. Thereafter, he expressed resentment of male chauvinism and often wrote from a woman's viewpoint and advocated social freedoms for women. 2 The school was owned and run by his father’s friend, Ahmad Munif. Qabbani studied at the national Scientific College School in Damascus between 19. 1 Qabbani was raised in Mi’thnah Al-Shahm, one of the neighborhoods of Old Damascus. The piece was inspired by his longing for his homeland, Syria. Faraj composed and recorded this song while in quarantine in New York City. He was born on 21 st March 1923 in the city of Damascus. Nizar Qabbani was born in the Syrian capital of Damascus to a middle class merchant family. The single is titled Damascus, composed to the words of the great Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani. The suicide of his sister, who was unwilling to marry a man she did not love, had a profound effect on Qabbani. Nizar Qabbani is considered one of the most influential Arab Poets in the 20 th century. He earned a reputation for daring with the publication in 1954 of his first volume of verse, "Childhood of a Breast," whose erotic and romantic themes broke from the conservative traditions of Arab literature. Through a lifetime of writing, Qabbani made women his main theme and inspiration.
His work was featured not only in his two dozen volumes of poetry and in regular contributions to the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, but in lyrics sung by Lebanese and Syrian vocalists who helped popularize his work. Qabbani was revered by generations of Arabs for his sensual and romantic verse.