Iconic Duo: Sheikh Imam & Ahmad Fouad Negm

Ahmed Fouad Negm and Sheikh Imam via Scene Noise 

Ahmad Fouad Negm and Sheikh Imam were the ultimate duo, partners in crime, and many would consider them the voice of the Egyptian people. They both transformed the Egyptian music scene in their era and wrote songs that echoed out decades beyond them.

Ahmad Fouad Negm via IIC Berlin

Via Last.fm 

Ahmad Fouad Negm “Elfagumi” was a well-known Egyptian vernacular and “counter-culture” poet. As described in the New York Times’ eulogy of him, his “irreverent writing, forged by poverty and prison, lacerated Egypt’s strongmen, gave voice to its underclass and inspired its dissidents.” He started writing while serving a three year prison sentence for forgery. From then on, he played a “leading role as lyricist of militant opposition to the regimes of Egypt.” His colloquial poems “electrified student, labor and dissident movements from the Egyptian underclass.”

Sheikh Imam was a composer and singer. He lost his eyesight during his childhood, studied at Al-Azhar, and during his time there started playing the oud. He specialised in performing religious songs.

They came to be known for their politically charged protest and resistance songs that took social and political issues as their themes. Negm wrote the lyrics which Imam sang. Their musical collaboration resonated with a broad audience, especially through its critique of the political establishment.

Though their songs and lyrics found loyal audiences, they also landed them in prison on more than one occasion for their blistering critiques of the successive Nasser and Sadat governments.

Just one example is their song Shaq'a Buq'a Ya Dil Al-Far, which criticised the government’s handling of the 1967 war and called on the people to rise up and overthrow the regime. Subsequently, the duo were banned from radio and TV performances.

Another iconic song is “Nixon Baba”, written to commemorate — or satiricize — President Nixon’s 1974 visit to Cairo as part of Sadat’s infitah (or ‘Open Door’ policy) and general normalization of relations with the US.

Many of Negm and Imam’s verses rung out across Tahrir Square during the 2011 revolution.