Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam at SACERAU anniversary (Photo: Ahram)
The Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SACERAU) celebrated their 70th anniversary, and the first year anniversary for Intellectual Rights in Egypt, on Monday 22 December. Both were held at the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House.
SACERAU was born out of the French Society of Authors Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) in 1944 to be its first Middle Eastern headquarters.
SACEM is a society for the administration of artists and performers’ rights in France and Europe, and offers three main services: collection and distribution of royalties, promoting creators, and defending its members’ rights.
After the successful collection of musicians’ royalties, the office’s Egyptian authors decided to create their own entity in 1946. The Egyptian society SACERAU plays a similar role for its members- managing copyrights for musicians and collecting their royalties, and also offering a pension programme. The two entities are still cooperating, as SACEM collects royalties for Egyptian authors abroad.
SACERAU is headed by poet Sayed Hegab who was present on Monday for the anniversary event along with the Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam, Minister of Planning Ashraf El Araby, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Khaled Hanafy, and head of Cairo Opera House Inas Abdeldayem, among other artists and writers.
Renowned singer Iman El-Bahr Darweesh performed during the celebrations, as did singers Aly El-Haggar and May Farouk.
“We are celebrating a very important association,” El-Namnam stated during his speech, adding that SACERAU was founded during World War II, and despite the surrounding destruction, Egyptians are still keen on progressing and protecting the rights of creative minds.
“Egypt is standing tall and it will remain so, a light beaming with us all, Muslims and Christians, rich and poor,” El-Namnam continued.
For his part, Hegab highlighted the importance of Egypt’s heritage and it being an epicenter of knowledge to the world, “from our ancestors the Pharaohs to the ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina, from the National Church to the 19th century intellectual Refaa El-Tahtawy, all has contributed to building a rich culture.”
“The 1960s marked a cultural boom at the hands of many great poets and composers, and during that golden age the soft power of culture managed to bring all the Arab countries around Egypt, which was at the forefront of creative rights laws,” Hegab said.
“We hope to work on developing the society and its actions so it can fulfill its aspiring role,” he added.
The ceremony proceeded to honour a long list of iconic Egyptian artists: legendary musician Sayed Darwish, poet Younes ElQady, composer Mohamed El-Qasabgy, poet Ahmed Ramy, musician Zakareya Ahmed, poet Bayram El-Tonsi, musician Mohamed Abd EL-Wahab, poet Badie Khairt, musician Riyad El-Sonbaty, writer Abo El-Seoud EL Ebiary, musician Mahmoud El-Sherif, poet Maamon El Shennawy, musician Farid El-Atrash, poet Hussein El Sayed, musician Mohamed Fawzy, and the poet Morsy Gameel Aziz.
An award for intellectual property was granted to Mahmoud Lotfy, the legal advisor for SACERAU over the course of 40 years, and poet Mostafa Abd El-Rahman.
A number of television channels were also honoured for their efforts in the protection of intellectual property, including CBC and ART.
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