In a world full of scattered sounds and different colors, personal people will appear who are able to create creativity in the simplest and most profound words. Among the creators, Dr. Abdel Hafez Shams stands as an encyclopedic poet, with a magical touch that captures hearts and rearranges letters to weave the most amazing poems. Born in Beirut in 1940, Ibn al-Harmel continued to live between the hustle and bustle of the city and the tranquility of the countryside, creating a rare artistic balance that was evident in his poems and melodies. Today, we find ourselves facing a conversational journey with him.
Dr. Abdel Hafez Shamas, welcome. We would like to explore your literary and poetic career, which began at an early stage in your life. How has the environment around you influenced your talent and creativity?
– Thank you, dear colleague.
I am from the city of Hermel.
When I was ten years old, I felt things, times and places very deeply, which sparked the interest of my family and my classmates. This early sense of conflicting feelings and emotions, as well as the signs of talent that began to appear, distinguished me from my peers and made me rebel against the prevailing traditions of the time.
Your family’s influence seems to have played an important role in your literary life, especially when you were young. How was that?
– Yes of course. My late mother used to teach the Holy Qur’an, and she finished the Qur’an on her hand when I was six years old. This constant interest in my education left me no room to think about anything other than what was most important to me, namely my studies and my academic performance. My mother used to instill a sense of satisfaction in me through academic success, but at the same time, I used to get some psychological comfort through my fantasies and dreams that represented my whole future. mind
How did you deal with the conflict you had between your imagination and reality, which hindered you?
– I lived in a world of dreams and imagination that took me to a place where I felt that the whole world was in my hands. But at the same time, I was aware that the truth was hindering me. This conflict between my imagination and my reality gave me problems, but at the same time it made me develop strategies that would allow me to achieve what I dreamed of. Through these experiences, I was able to create bridges that connected me to the radiant truth that no one can hide.
How has your educational and professional path influenced your development as a writer and poet?
After graduating from the National Conservatory of Music at the end of 1956, I began teaching in schools in Beirut and the southern suburbs. After seven years, I was appointed as a Parliamentary staff correspondent, and then ended my service as the head of records affairs in the advisory office in 2004. During this time, I worked to develop my skills in poetry and literature through the Lebanese Radio, as an author and composer, where I wrote many of the texts that were recorded with the voices of male and female singers… they are number of more than four hundred lyric texts, written by me, and about fifty tunes. .. in the fifties, sixties, seventies and mid-eighties… before the radio stopped making songs and the militias took over the broadcasters in Amchit… The professional experiences gave this is a lot of experience for me and they helped to crystallize my poetic talent.
{How do you see the development of Lebanese music and its current status compared to the past?
Unfortunately, the Lebanese song saw a noticeable decline after the radio stopped producing songs in 1985. The song’s rank declined due to merchants and brokers controlling the market and the lack of text committees to monitor to maintain quality. However, in spite of this, there are poets, composers, and singers who have maintained their identity and audience and who continue to progress.
{Does your knowledge of poetry and literature affect your personal life and well-being?
– No, not at all. Even if the song doesn’t inhabit me like it did before, poetry is still my window to express my feelings and my vision of the world, and radio material is it is living that reveals reality in homogeneous artistic images… just like the essential, literary and political article…
Finally, what future projects do you plan to work on?
– I have many projects and titles in the future, which are in addition to my previous publications, which are nineteen poetry collections, four literary books, the book (Propositions, Its Provisions and Measures), the book ( Al-Muaysara), and the history of the clan Al-Amr Al-Waili between today and the past.
In a few days, the collection “Seventy Years of Poetry” will be published… and there are “Lights in Words”, “Science and Scholars”, and the history of the country of Baalbek-Hermel and its clans and families. .. and I will continue to work in these areas with the support of lovers, friends and colleagues, and I have never stopped being part of my readers. and God is the Giver of success.
