Egyptian artist Mohamed Mounir
“The people are my beloved and my artery, they gave me an identity card.. The full name is a human being. The good people are my father.. The people are my beloved and my artery.” The famous late Sudanese poet, Mahjoub Sharif, did not know that his words would spark a wave of anger among his countrymen and their Egyptian neighbors after his death.
The circles between the two neighbors have been preoccupied over the past few days about the eligibility of Egyptian artist Mohamed Mounir to sing the well-known Sudanese song.
This confusion coincided with the announcement of an upcoming visit by “Al-King” as he is called to Sudan, where controversy erupted over the performance of the song (The People, My Love and My Artery), who left our world in 2014.
There were also many questions on social media about whether Mounir would actually perform the song, and if so, who approved it.
Consent is there
In turn, Muhannad Al-Dabi, Director General of the Nirvana Cultural Foundation, denounced the rumors about Mounir not asking permission before performing the aforementioned song.
He told Al-Arabiya.net that they inquired from the family of the poet Mahjoub Sharif about these conversations, and made sure that Munir communicated with Mahjoub Sharif before performing the song, and that the latter agreed to the matter without being paid for it, as he had been doing throughout his life, as he refused Always get paid for his patriotic and emotional poems or songs.
However, Sharif stipulated the approval of the artist Abd al-Latif Abd al-Ghani, who is known as Wardi al-Saghir, as the composer and performer of the song, and indeed this is what happened.
Mohamed Mounir
Wardi Al-Saghir was contacted at his residence in the United States of America, and he agreed to Mounir’s performance of the song.
Secret revealed for the first time
Al-Dabi revealed to Al-Arabiya.net a secret that was broadcast for the first time, which is that Mounir heard that song during his visit to some of his relatives in the city of Omdurman, and it settled in his mind and stuck with his conscience since that time until he performed it after many years.
Al-Saghir also confirmed, in press statements to local Sudanese websites, that Muhammad Mounir called him and asked permission to perform the song as its composer, and also asked permission from its poet, Mahjoub Sharif, and then recorded it after preserving their literary rights.
He added that Mounir’s performance was outstanding, and he re-distributed the song in a way that suits the Egyptian listener, and the song appeared bright, according to him.
Mohamed Mounir
A special song
It is noteworthy that the late Sudanese poet Mahjoub Sharif, known in Sudan as “the poet of the people,” wrote the lyrics of that song in 1971 AD, after joining the Sudanese Communist Party, which opposed the rule of former Sudanese President Jaafar Nimeiri (1969-1985), where in its original text was “the party.” My love and my life,” Wardi al-Saghir sang after the popular revolution, which overthrew President Nimeiri’s regime.
Mohamed Mounir
Many years later, Muhammad Mounir was fascinated by her, and he released a famous album with her in the year 2001 AD, titled: (I am my heart, a popular residence).
However, Mounir only repeated the first section of the song, unlike Wardi Al-Saghir, who sang it in full.
Mounir sang: (The people are my love and my artery / they gave me an identity card / the full name is a human being / the good people are my parents / the profession we struggle to learn / a student in a popular school / the school opened on the street / and the street opened in my heart / and my heart is popular housing).
Like wildfire, the aforementioned song spread along the lines of what it did in Sudan, when the artist Wardi Al-Saghir sang it in the year 1986, achieving resounding success and turning it into one of the icons of the Egyptian artist Mohamed Mounir, after he added his own imprint on the song.
It is scheduled that Muhammad Mounir will arrive in Khartoum on a rare visit to hold a public ceremony on the tenth of March, sponsored by the two cultural institutions, “Nirvana” and “Ratina”.
In addition, Mounir enjoys a remarkable audience in Sudan. His songs in Arabic and Nubian are very popular in Sudan.
