The activities of the National Day of the State 2022 in Darb Al Saai witnessed a new symposium entitled “The Qatari Song…Selected Directions”, in which the academic and novelist Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Malik, Mr. Mohammed Hassan Al-Kuwari, the Director of Publications and Translation Department at the Ministry of Culture, and Dr. Marzouq Bashir, a writer and researcher in media and drama, and the young artist Mohammad Al-Muqdam participated, and it was presented by the media, Amal Abdel-Malik.
The attendees of the symposium dealt with the book “The Qatari Song…Selected Directions”, authored by Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Malik and issued by the Ministry of Culture. Dr. Abd Al-Malik described the book as not a history only, but rather a selection of a number of names and lyrical works, as evidenced by the second part of the title, which is “Selected Directions,” which means that any other writer can add to it, or choose another aspect of the other singers’ works to talk about them.
He pointed out that the book was keen to cover the traditional period of the Qatari song, starting with Idris Khairy, Ibrahim Ali and Salem Faraj, then, its direction towards the romantic stage at the hands of the artists Abdul Aziz Nasser and Hassan Ali, and ending with the new generation such as: Matar Ali, Mohammad Al Marzouqi and Abdullah Al-Mannai, and others.
About the most prominent arguments included in the book, Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Malik defines the book’s keenness to evoke the origin and beginnings of the gulf sound, in addition to dealing with the electronic song, as the book is considered the first to deal with it.
He retrieved that the first one who sang in Qatar was, namely: Ismail Obeidan and Ismail Al-Ansari. Dr. Abd al-Malik said: Although they were not recorded on the radio, they were known as Nahamin, and when they arrived on land, they used to sing.
For his part, Mr. Mohammed Hassan Al-Kuwari praised the efforts of the Ministry of Culture in highlighting and documenting Qatari cultural action in all its branches. He said: The Ministry always seeks to document aspects of Qatari culture and tries to highlight it, and distributes it internally and externally, and that these efforts do not stop at the Qatari song, but rather extend to the short story, as a bibliography was previously issued for it, and it took nearly five years to prepare it, documenting its beginnings. Likewise, a book on poetry was published documenting its eloquent Nabataean branches, and the same was done with the theatrical movement.
Mr. Mohammed Hassan Al-Kuwari added that the issuance of the “Qatari Song” book took a long time, starting with the author handing over the book to the Ministry until its issuance, stressing that any book issued by the Ministry receives a great deal of attention, by taking its right from all aspects.
In turn, Dr. Marzouq Bashir described the book “The Qatari Song” as having been prepared in an easy and simplified manner, facilitating the task of the researcher or writer, and that its author, Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Malik, was keen on his academic and professional honesty, emphasizing that he was the author of the book, but not its author.
Dr. Bashir said that Dr. Abdul-Malik shed his media and narrative background on the book, which made it a documentary book establishing the Qatari song for the first time, and that this documentation reflected his courage, and his completion of the book in the spirit of the adventurer.
In turn, the artist, Mohammed Al-Moqdam, sang several different songs, including “Moroccan… (Wist Sikkah Tagainah) in the middle of the way we meet.”
The symposium was followed by the launch of the book, in an atmosphere of hospitality and interaction that prevailed in the audience