February

Bekheit Bayoumi (1942)

Bekheit Bayoumi was a popular Egyptian lyric poet who made an indelible mark on the soundscape. Born on 18 June 1942, in the village of Kafr Al-Hataba in Daqahliya, he graduated from Al-Azhar School in 1960 in Mansoura and later also earned a diploma in calligraphy.

He started his life as a teacher at a private school before turning to writing songs.

He was famous for co-writing songs for the popular Fawazir Ramadan (Ramadan riddles), starring Nelly for 17 consecutive years, and he was a pioneer who introduced the culture of riddles to the Egyptian art.

He wrote the songs of the famous television weekly show Serr Al-Ard that was screened on Egyptian television in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to give agricultural advice.

He wrote many songs for radio series like Khamis wi Gomaa (Thursday and Friday), Al-Ustaz Afifi (Mr. Afifi) and Ahlam Al-Asafier (Bird Dreams).

Bayoumi also wrote the songs of films like Deil Al-Samaka (The Fish Tail, 2003), directed by Samir Seif and starring Hanan Turk and Amr Waked, Al-Sajenatan (The Two Prisoners, 1988), directed by Ahmed Al-Nahas and starring Elham Shahine, Samah Anwar, and Youssef Shaaban as well as the film Assad Allah Massaak (Have a Good Evening, 1987), starring Fouad Al-Mohandes, Laila Taher, and Somaya Al-Alfi and directed by Ibrahim Al-Sahn.

March

Helmy Bakr (1937)

Veteran composer Helmy Bakr passed away at the age of 87 following a struggle with illness. He was born in 1937 and graduated from the High Institute of Arab Music and worked as a music teacher before serving his military term.

During his time in the army, the Armed Forces organised a concert by the Algerian singer Warda who listened to some of his melodies and was impressed enough to introduce him to the director of the Egyptian radio at the time, Mohamed Hassan Al-Shajai.

Helmy Bakr then composed the song Kol Aam Wa Antom Bikhair (Wishing You the Best Every Year) for the radio, and it was performed by Abdel-Latif Al-Talbani, becoming a great success.

Bakr composed more than 1,500 pieces of music for famous singers like Laila Murad, Warda, Nagat Al-Saghira, Mohamed Al-Hilw, Ali Al-Haggar, and Medhat Saleh. He composed the music for nearly 48 plays including the famous Sayedaty Al-Gamila (My Fair Lady, 1969), Hawadit (Stories, 1967), and Mosiqa fil Hai Al-Sharqi (Music at the Eastern District, 1971).

He also composed music for many Fawazir Ramadan (Ramadan riddle programmes) like Fatouta, Oum Al-Oref and Eima wi Sima, and he composed the music for many films like Adawya (1968), Shei Min Al-Azab (A Bit of Torment, 1969), Hob wi Kebryaa (Love and Pride, 1972), Viva Zalatta (1976), Leman Toshreq Al-Shams (For Whom the Sun Shines, 1976), and also many TV series like Abrag Al-Akaber (High-Class Towers, 1987) and Sabah Al-Ward (Morning Full of Roses, 1995). He also was the composer of the famous national song Al-Hilm Al-Arabi (The Arab Dream).  

At various times Bakr was married to actress Soheir Ramzi, Tunisian singer Aliya, and Shahinaz, the sister of the late veteran actress Shiwikar. He received several awards and honours, including the Excellence Award from the former minister of information.

April

Salah Al-Saadani (1943)

He had been absent from the public eye for many years. Yet the renowned actor was so widely and deeply loved his death sent shockwaves across society. Al-Saadani is remembered for numerous film and especially television roles, the most iconic of which may be as the rich Omda — or village mayor — Soliman Ghanem, an upstart in Cairo high society, in the phenomenal television hit Layali Al-Hilmeya (Hilmeya Nights, 1987), a character he played so convincingly many Egyptians think of him now as a distant relative. Al-Saadani also played Al-Usta Hassan Al-Noaman, a role for which he is lovingly remembered, in Arabesque (1994), another hit TV show.

Al-Saadani was born on 23 October 1943 in Giza, and he graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture. During his university years he joined a number of theatre troupes where he often performed with the aspiring talents and comedians, including subsequent comedy superstar Adel Imam, a lifelong friend, on campus stages. His career took off when he began to collaborate with director Nour Al-Demerdash on series like Al-Daheiya (The Victim, 1964), La Tutfei Al-Shams (The Sun Will Never Set, 1965), and Al-Raheel (Departure, 1967). It was in the 1960s that he began to appear in films too, performing in Niazi Mustafa’s Shayateen Al-Leil (Devils of the Night, 1966) alongside the already established film actors Farid Shawki, Hind Rostom, and Amina Rizk.

Another landmark that demonstrated his outstanding talent was Al-Ard (The Land, 1970) by Youssef Chahine, with whom he also collaborated on Al-Youm Al-Sades (The Sixth Day, 1986), starring Dalida and Mohsen Mohieddin. In the 1970s and 1980s he began to play lead roles, starring in Ali Abdel-Khalek’s Oghnia Ala Al-Mamar (A Song on the Passage, 1972), together with Mahmoud Morsi, Salah Qabil, Mahmoud Yassin, and Madiha Kamel, and the iconic October War film Al-Rosasa La Tazal Fi Gaibi (The Bullet Is Still in My Pocket, 1974), directed by Hossameddin Mustafa and co-written by Ihsan Abdel-Qoddus and Ramses Naguib, also starring Mahmoud Yassin, Hussein Fahmy, Nagwa Ibrahim, and Said Saleh. Al-Saadani’s credits from that time also include Mohamed Salman’s Kalam fil Hob: Shellet Al-Moshaghbeen (Talking About Love: The Troublemakers, 1973) and Mohamed Fadel’s Shaqqa fi Wasat Al-Balad (An Apartment in Downtown, 1975).

With Adel Imam as well as Farid Shawki, Nelly, and Hatem Zulfikar, he starred in Samir Seif’s Al-Ghoul (The Beast, 1983), written by Wahid Hamed, about a journalist who accidentally witnesses a crime. In 1985 he starred in Qadiyet Am Ahmed (Am Ahmed’s Case), a social drama directed by Ali Reda, and featuring Farid Shawki, Farouk Al-Fishawi, and Maali Zayed. Two years later he starred alongside Nour Al-Sherif, Poussy, and Mushira Ismail in Mohamed Al-Naggar’s Zaman Hatem Zahran (The Time of Hatem Zahran). But later in life he focused on TV. His recent credits include Ahmed Saqr’s TV adaptation of Alaa Al-Aswani’s The Yacoubian Building (2007), Mohamed Al-Noqali’s Al-Batniya (2009), and finally Magdi Abu Emeira’s Al-Qaserat (The Minors, 2013).

All through this, while dabbling in the radio from time to time, Al-Saadani never stopped doing theatre. He was part of the stage productions Al-Dokhan (The Smoke), directed by Mourad Mounir and featuring Karima Mukhtar, Somaya Al-Alfi, Faiza Kamal, and Sami Maghawri, Maarouf Al-Eskafi (Maarouf the Cobbler, 1966), directed by Farouk Al-Demerdash and featuring Abdel-Moneim Ibrahim, Soheir Al-Morshedi, Kawthar Al-Assal, and Naima Wasfi, and — remarkably, with the legendary comedian Fouad Al-Mohandes and the equally legendary Abdel-Moneim Madbouli directing — Al-Sekerter Al-Fanni (The Executive Secretary, 1968). Al-Saadani also starred in the play Negmet Nos Al-Leil (Midnight Star, 1972), directed by Kamal Hussein and featuring Sanaa Mazhar, Kawthar Al-Assal, and Mahmoud Abu Zeid, as well as two versions of the great Syrian dramatist Saadallah Wannous’ Al-Malik Howa Al-Malik (The King is the King), the last directed by Mourad Mounir in 2006.

He is the brother of the renowned late satirist and humourist Mahmoud Al-Saadani (1927-2010) and the father of the talented actor Ahmed Al-Saadani.

Sherine Seif Al-Nasr (1967)

Sherine Seif Al-Nasr made an immediate impact when she appeared on the scene in the early 1990s. She had not been heard of for some years, but news of her death at the age of 57 shocked her audience.

Seif Al-Nasr was born in 1967 in Jordan to an Egyptian father, the journalist Elhami Seif Al-Nasr, and a Palestinian mother. She studied law at Ain Shams University, graduating in 1991, and moved to France to work at the Egyptian Embassy before meeting director Youssef Francis, who launched her acting career back in Egypt.

Among her earliest roles was Wagih Al-Shenawi’s television series Ghadboun wa Ghadebaat (Angry Men and Women, 1993), in which she starred alongside Salah Zulfakar, Aida Abdel-Aziz, and Sherif Mounir. She also appeared in the second season of Magdi Abu Emeira’s great Al-Mal Wal Banoun (The Fortune and the Progeny, 1995), alongside Hussein Fahmy, Ahmed Abdel-Aziz, Sherif Mounir, and Aida Riad, and with Ahmed Abdel-Aziz and Gihan Nasr in Man Aladhi La Yoheb Fatma (Who Doesn’t Love Fatma?) in Ahmed Sakr’s 1996 Man Aladhi La Yoheb Fatma (Who Doesn’t Love Fatma?)

On the silver screen she starred alongside the late legend Ahmed Zaki, Sanaa Gamil, and Adel Adham in Sawaa Al-Hanem (The Lady’s Driver, 1994), directed by Hassan Ibrahim. She also appeared with comedy superstar Adel Imam in Al-Noum fil Assal (Sweet Oblivion, 1996), directed by Sherif Arafa, and Amir Al-Zalam (Prince of Darkness, 2002), directed by Imam’s son Rami Imam, as well as in the stage play Bodyguard (1999), also directed by Rami.

Seif Al-Nasr disappeared from the public eye from 1996 to 2001, a period that coincided with her marriage and ended with divorce. She had two other husbands. Her last appearance was in Amr Abdeen’s 2007 television series Asaab Qarar (The Hardest Decision).

September

Atef Beshay (1951)

Beshay was born in Cairo and he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, and the Higher Cinema Institute, graduating in 1976. He started his career with Shafik Shamma’s TV series Al-Walima (The Banquet, 1979), starring Taheya Karioka, Nabila Ebeid, Emad Hamdi, and Karima Mukhtar.

Beshay wrote the screenplays of two comedy films, Ela Man Yahumuhu Al-Amr (To Whom It May Concern, 1985), directed by Abdel-Hadi Taha, featuring Samir Ghanem, Noura and Abu Bakr Ezzat, and Fawzia Al-Borgwaziya (Bourgeois Fawziya, also 1985), directed by Ibrahim Al-Shaqanqiri, which focuses on the relationships between residents of the same neighbourhood with different political views, underscoring some significant issues like poverty and corruption.

His silver screen credits also include Al-Wazir Gai (The Minister is Coming, 1986), starring Wahid Seif and Sayed Zayan, directed by Ibrahim Al-Shaqanqiri, and Al-Hilm Al-Qatel (The Deadly Dream, also 1986), starring Elham Shahine and Youssef Shaaban, directed by Adel Al-Aasar.

In 1987 alone he wrote Inaam Mohamed Ali’s Yawmeyat Emraa Moasra (The Diary of a Modern Woman), starring Laila Taher, Salah Qabil, Ragaa Al-Geddawi, and Inaam Salousa, Al-Shaqanqiri’s Mohakmet Ali Baba (Ali Baba’s Trial), starring Yehia Al-Fakharani, and Esaad Younis, Yehia Al-Alami’s Qabl An Yantahi Al-Omr (Before We’re Gone), an adaptation of Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’ novel, starring Farid Shawki and Karima Mukhtar, and Saad Arafa’s Al-Malaeka La Taskoun Al-Ard (Angels Don’t Live on Earth), starring Mamdouh Abdel-Alim, Poussy, and Said Saleh.

He also wrote Wa Nasayt Anni Emraa (I Forgot I was a Woman, 1994), another Ihsan Abdel-Quddous adaptation, directed by Atef Salem, and collaborated with director Karim Diaaeldin on Al-Ukhtabout (The Octopus, 2000). Many of his television credits date from this time: Alia Yassin’s Al-Leqaa Al-Thani (The Second Meeting, 1988), starring Mahmoud Yassin and Poussy, with each episode telling a different story; Nass wi Nass (People and People, 1989), based on the work of humourist Ahmed Ragab and cartoonist Mustafa Hussein; Yehia Al-Alami’s hit Demou Sahebat Al-Galala (Her Majesty’s Tears, 1993); Samir Seif’s Cinderella (2006), starring Mona Zaki, about the life of the legendary actress Soad Hosni; and Ahmed Sakr’s Emaret Yaacoubian (The Yacoubian Building, 2007), based on Alaa Al-Aswani’s novel.

His last work for the television was Tager Al-Saada (Merchant of Happiness, 2009), directed by Sherine Adel.

Elias Khoury (1948)

The death of Elias Khoury in his hometown of Beirut at the age of 76 marks the end of one of the Arab world’s most distinguished literary careers, marked by devotion to the Palestinian cause and dialogue with Western literature. One of a tiny handful of Arab writers to be interviewed in The Paris Review, Khoury is perhaps best known for his 1998 epic of the flight and plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Bab Al-Shams (Gate of the Sun), made into an eponymous two-part film by his friend the Egyptian director Youssri Nasrallah in 2005.

Khoury was born into a Greek Orthodox family in the Christian Beirut district of Achrafieh, and graduated from the Lebanese University, where he studied history, in 1971. He had lived in Jordan, where he enlisted with Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, after the 1967 defeat to Israel, leaving in the course of the Palestinian exodus following Black September of 1970. He had evidently been completing the necessary course work remotely, since he also earned his PhD in social history from the University of Paris only a year after his graduation, in 1972. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, the year he published his first novel, On the Relations of the Circle, Khoury fought with the pro-Palestinian Lebanese National Movement.

As well as two short story collections, plays, screenplays, and criticism, Khoury wrote 12 novels including White Masks (1982) and Yalu (2002), several of which earned him a very prominent place in the annals of Arabic literature in English translation. They were translated into many languages, Hebrew included. Khoury was a visiting professor at numerous universities in the US, where he spent half a year. He edited the Lebanese newspaper Al-Nahar’s seminal and prestigious cultural supplement, Al-Mulhaq (The Supplement), from 1993 to 2009. His awards include the 2000 Prize of Palestine for Gate of the Sun, the 2007 Al-Owais Award, the 2008 Prix du roman arabe for As Though She Were Sleeping, and the 2016 Mahmoud Darwish Award.