On Saturday, December 5th, the Society Of Authors, Composers and Publishers of the Arabic Republic of Egypt (SACERAU) celebrated 70 years since its establishment as well as 70 years of fighting for intellectual property rights.
The press conference that was held at Al-Ahram newspaper headquarters was run by the Head of SACERAU, renowned poet Said Heggab, and SACERAU members including poets Gamal Bekheit, Medhat el Adl, as well as singer Iman El-Bahr Darwish and composer Salah El-Sharnouby.
The event falls under the auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Culture, represented by Mohamed Abu-Seida head of the Cutural Development Fund, as well as Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which will collaborate with SACERAU in order to document and highlight Egypt's poetic and musical gems, as revealed by Khaled Azab, head of the documentation section of the Bibliotheca.
SACERAU's official celebration will be held at the Cairo Opera House on December 21 and events will include tributes to 16 Egyptian pillars of music and poetry: Musicians Said Darwish, Zakaria Ahmed, Mohamed El-Asabgi, Farid El-Atrash, Mohamed Fawzi, Mahmoud El-Sherif, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, and Riad El-Sonbati and poets Beiram El-Tounsi, Younis El-Qadi, Badie Khairy, Ahmed Rami, Abou el-Souod El-Ibiary, Mamoun El-Shenawi, Morsi Gamil Aziz, and Hussien El-Said.
Three books featuring biographies of the artists, the history of SACERAU, and memorable interviews with artists shall be published on the occasion. The festivities will include the honoring of Mahmoud Lotfy who was the legal consultant to SACERAU for the past 40 years as well as ART, Rotana, and CBC media entities, helping to protect intellectual property rights in all their media content.
On a parallel note, the festival shall host an exhibition of rare photos and documents of the honored artists in addition to a concert by prominent singers Ali El-Haggar, Iman El-Bahr Darwish, Loai, Ghada Ragab, and Reham Abdel Hakim.
And from this year onwards, SACERAU shall mark December 21 as Intellectual Property Rights Day in Egypt.
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