September 2007
When families go to play....
I have been busy traveling lately, to New York, Los Angeles, Joburg and now on my way to Washington. It doesn’t matter which airport or plane, there is a horrible common thread. Families on vacation . Stressed parents, arms filled with rubbish. Children cluttering up the business lounges . And wherever I look babies in business class!
The Syrians re-visited Troy... with Sulhi al-Wadi
It was a dream come true, twelve years ago, at the Umayyad Palace
in Damascus on
September 16, 1995. That was when Syria witnessed its first opera,
performed before a live audience of 2,600 people. The opera, Dido and Aeneas,
was significant because of its relevance to our heritage. Dido, the heroin, is
the daughter of the Phoenician King of Tyre, in
modern day Lebanon.
The story takes place in the city of Carthage in
Tunisia.
The music of this classical op-era was composed by Henry Purcell (1659-1695), a
great English musician, and the words were written by Nahum Tate, based on
Virgil’s classical epic, The Aeneid. The story reveals the immediate
aftermath of the sacking of Troy
by the Greeks. The city is destroyed and its prince Aeneas lees but is
shipwrecked near Carthage.
Queen Dido migrates west and also, finds the city of Carthage where she meets Aeneas, and they
fall in love. Her sister Belinda urges her to yield to Aeneas’s courting,
regardless of her status as a queen. The love story arouses the hatred of a
Sorceress and a team of witches, for whom: “Destruction is our delight; delight
our greatest sorrow.” They plan to whip up a storm to destroy the lovers’ affair.
Dido lees with her court, while a witch, disguised as a messenger from God,
approaches Aeneas and tells him to move on; this is the command of the Heavens.
As he prepares to embark, after having pledged to live forever after in Carthage, the witches
gloat at their mischief. Aeneas then sees Dildo and tells her that he is about
to leave so as to obey the Gods. He then changes his mind but she leaves him,
then dies.
A Syrian composer in Kraków
Growing up in Syria in an artistic family – his father was the well-known director Ghassan Jabri and his mother the distinguished Syrian artist Asma Fayoumi, his future was perhaps preordained. In any event, this talented 32 year-old musician is fast making a name for himself, both in Syria and internationally. Jabri is a graduate of the Music Academy in Krakow where he studied composition with Zbigniew Bujarski. He is currently working on his PhD under supervision of Professor Krzysztof Penderecki. His talent is fortified by the excellence of his technique, allowing him to explore the most daring visions and bring them to life by expression through music. Not only is his enthusiasm for the topic infectious but also interminable. FW met and talked with Jabri on a hot Krakow afternoon. He spoke openly about his life and music, struggling to describe the watershed moment that his music represents. Once you get a glimpse of what’s below the surface, he is a most charming, dynamic and passionate person. The intricate and intense world of Jabri, that lows swift and unbroken, is portrayed by his enchanting music. However, he insists that his Arabic origins will always mark his music because they give him his individual identity and passion. What inspired you to become a musician and at what age?
What do the Syrians eat for dinner?
According to WHO
statistics (2002), chronic diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and
obesity, have become the leading cause of death in Syria.
It makes you wonder whether the problem lies in our conventional Syrian cuisine, or in the direction in which our traditions, habits and lifestyles are developing.
Weight management in Ramadan
People gain weight when
their energy intake exceeds their energy output. In other words, this happens
when a person consumes calories (eating) more than s/he burns (in physical
activity). Watching our weights is necessary for a healthy life. There is no specific
age in which people should start taking care of their weights; monitoring one’s
weight should start from infancy with the mother taking care of her infant’s
weight and development. Weight gain is associated with several unfavorable
health conditions such as; indigestions, constipation, lethargy and tiredness,
headaches and muscle cramps. Moreover, weight gain negatively affects people
who suffer from certain illnesses like high blood pres-sure, high levels of
cholesterol, diabetes and heart diseases.
Coming back home to Damascus
After having been away from
Syria
for eight years without a single visit, my trip last July was a long anticipated
opportunity to re-discover my homeland and reassess the reasons culminating to
such a prolonged absence. It is often said that expatriates are lost between
two worlds— incapable of establishing a proper home in either one.
Was Khalil Gibran a ‘terrorist?’
With less than two weeks to go be-fore school bells
around the Unit-ed States signal the start of the 2007-2008 school year, much attention
will be focused on one particular school in Brooklyn, New York.
In so many ways, the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) is like any of its neighboring schools: it teaches math and science; physical education and art. However, this middle school has introduced a curriculum with a feature unique to any other school in New York: Arabic language and culture. In this city of 22 million, there are numerous schools focusing on particular themes, though few have generated as much controversy. Even before a single student was enrolled, labels such as «public madrassa,» «segregationist,» and “jihadi» were associated with the school.
Publish or Perish
In academia, “publish
or perish” refers to the pressure to publish work constantly in order to
further or sustain one’s career. In the world of public relations, you are what
you publish, or what is published about you by others, and thus through the
dissemination and repetition of information you must create a positive image of
yourself. If you fail to, then your image will surely perish in the face of
negative portrayals of you. Anyone who follows the news on a daily basis will
understand why much of the world has such a negative impression of Syria.
When the devil wears Prada in Damascus
Mohamed is a cashier in
one of Cairo’s
huge supermarkets; a branch of an international leading name in the world of
grocery shops. His monthly wage of 650 Egyptian pounds (roughly $120 USD),
earned for working 9 hours a day, 6 days a week. Mohamed tells me how he is
picked up by the shop’s bus at 4 pm, to start his shift at 5. He then closes
the cashbox at 2 am, boards the bus again around 3, and makes it home by 4 am,
the following morning.
The Syrians and AUB
A dear family friend, Dr Nicolas Chahine, convinced me to go to AUB back in the early 1990s. Dr Chahine, himself an AUB graduate, wrote me a letter on the day of my graduation saying: “Welcome to the world of those who have had life, and had it more abundantly!” It still amazes me how committed to AUB its graduates still are. The loyalty of the AUB alumni is so unique that it is unmatched among graduates of other universities around the world. A while back, some of us were gathered in Damascus, remembering our student days at AUB in the presence of some friends who were non-AUB its. They were unable to understand what was so special about AUB. We couldn’t really explain it and just said: «Well you see...AUB is AUB!» No need for explanation.