Damascus: Arab Cultural Capital for 2008

[Al-khiyal]

Fairuz

December 28, 2007 -- DAMASCUS (AFP) - - Damascus heads into a new year as the cultural capital of the Arab world for 2008, hosting a year-long series of theatrical and musical events, along with talks by renowned intellectuals.

American linguist and leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky, Czech writer Milan Kundera and Lebanon's famed songstress Fairuz are among the personalities coming to Syria as Damascus assumes the cultural mantle from Algiers.

But not everyone welcomes the planned events, with Syrian writer Ibrahim Haj Abdi calling them "ephemeral cultural festivities."

"Syrian intellectuals might have believed these promises (by the organisers) if only they had been accompanied by efforts to free one of the country's most important intellectuals, Michel Kilo," he wrote in Sunday's pan-Arab daily newspaper Al-Hayat, published in London.

Kilo was jailed in 2006 for being a co-signatory of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, along with nearly 300 Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals. In May this year he was sentenced to three years in prison.

The declaration called for an overhaul of ties between the two states and for Syrian recognition of the independence of Lebanon, where Damascus was the major powerbroker for three decades until 2005.

Twenty years after she last performed in Syria, Fairuz - the greatest female Arab singer since Egypt's Umm Kalthoum - will take to the stage on January 28.

In May a conference will bring together Chomsky, Kundera and novelist Isabel Allende, the daughter of former Chilean president Salvador Allende.

Another Syrian novelist writing in Al-Hayat also slammed the organisers of the year's festivities.

"My experience with the organisers quickly dismissed any hope... of seeing it revive the role of culture that has been destroyed over decades" in Syrian society, wrote Samar Yazbek.

The cultural year will get under way on January 10 with a fireworks display on Mount Qassiun overlooking Damascus, followed by an official ceremony nine days later.

Damascus becomes Arab cultural capital for 2008

[Al-khiyal]

Damas, capitale de la culture arabe 2008 :
Fayrouz, l’invitée phare de la manifestation

Samedi 29 Décembre 2007 -- Damas, capitale culturelle du monde arabe 2008 proposera, tout au long de la nouvelle année, des activités musicales, théâtrales et intellectuelles, auxquelles participeront la diva libanaise Fayrouz, l’intellectuel américain Noam Chomsky ou l’écrivain tchèque Milan Kundera.

Chaque année, la Ligue arabe désigne une capitale de la région pour accueillir diverses activités culturelles et artistiques. Alger avait été désignée pour 2007. Fayrouz, sacrée plus grande chanteuse arabe depuis la disparition de l’Egyptienne Oum Kalsoum, se produira à partir du 28 janvier dans l’ancienne capitale des Omeyyades (661-750), vingt ans après son dernier concert en Syrie.

En mai, une conférence réunira le linguiste et politologue américain Noam Chomsky, l’écrivain tchèque Milan Kundera et la romancière Isabel Allende, proche parente de l’ancien président chilien Salvador Allende. Cette série de manifestations a cependant été fustigée par l’écrivain syrien Ibrahim Haj Abdi, les qualifiant de «festivités éphémères de la culture».

«Les intellectuels syriens auraient cru aux belles promesses [des organisateurs] si seulement elles avaient été accompagnées d’efforts pour libérer l’un des plus importants intellectuels syriens, Michel Kilo», a-t-il récemment écrit dans le quotidien panarabe Al-Hayat.

M. Kilo est emprisonné depuis mai 2006 avec plusieurs de ses compagnons pour avoir signé la «Déclaration de Damas» prônant une démocratisation du pays. «Mon expérience avec les organisateurs a vite dissipé l’espoir (...) de voir cette manifestation ressusciter le rôle de la culture, détruite depuis des décennies’ dans la société syrienne, a renchéri la romancière syrienne Samar Yazbek.

[Bent_Bladi]

oh... my.... GOD!! damn, i'd KILL to be there on jan 10...

my grandmas house is on qasyun and everytime they have fireworks we get on the roof and watch it all from the best "room" in the house...

wow, fairuz, noam chomsky, ou kaman!!! lol, i never thought syria would be popular in a good way

about those jailed writers --- that's unfortunate... ya3ni just for signing the Beirut-Damascus Declaration they get jailed??!! i mean they did it to make syria a better place, the power heads in the government have got to stop obsessing over their money and power - they'll never achieve anything that way