Essays and Features

Lasting Legacy of Egyptian-American Musician Who Composed Ballet on Greek Myths and Musical Inspired by Political Protest

By

Naomi Pham

Egyptian-American musician, teacher and composer, Halim El-Dabh passed away on September 2, 2017 at the age of 96. His many ballet scores and inventive sounds, which led a 1975 Washington Post article, as cited by the New York Times, to describe him as “a modern composer of stature and accomplishment,” made El Dabh one of Egypt’s most famous diasporic composers, renowned as “a pioneer in modern music,” according to Jeff St. Clair of the radio station WKSU.

Jalal Khoury (1933-2017): Brechtian Realist Forged by 1967 War, and the Birth of Modern Lebanese Theater

By Elie Chalala

While the Lebanese theater traces back to the 1800s, specifically to 1848 and to Maroun Nakash, it has evolved in stages. Jalal Khoury helped to pioneer the realist, or modernist, movement from the mid-1960s until his death last December at the age of 84.

Essays and Features

Setting the Standards for Arabic Translation: Denys Johnson-Davies (1922-2017)

By

the Editors

Without the contributions of the legendary translator Denys Johnson-Davies, who passed away in Cairo at the age of 94, on May 22, 2017, much of the West might not have known of Naguib Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988, or of several other renowned Arab writers.

The Syrian War Has Taken Us Prematurely to Hell!

By

Father George Massouh

The crimes committed in Syria have surpassed what the human mind can imagine in terms of horrors and atrocities. Undoubtedly, in our cruel East, we have become accustomed to living with this reality, which plunges us down to the depths of hell. This horror lies in our acceptance of what occurs in our countries while we continue our daily lives as if nothing is happening, and justify the violence as a defense of central causes or as wars against terrorism. As if some want to convince us that terrorism can be defeated by “counter” terrorism.

From the Archives of Al Jadid: 'The Lebanese Abroad'

By

Emily Nasrallah

You tend to be harshest toward those closest to you because you know where they’re coming from, because your roots are intertwined with theirs and your branches are in continual dialogue with theirs.

Before you realize it, however, your sense of space expands so that your neighbors no longer remain only those on the same street as you, nor your relatives only those who are your first cousins, but also those whom you encounter wherever you go in the realm of emigration, or, as I prefer to call it, the realm of dispersion.

I have writt

Lebanese Christian Cleric Debunks Myth of Rejectionist Moral Outrage over Jerusalem

By Elie Chalala

Among the many vocal condemnations of this moral hypocrisy, Father Massouh’s voice remains one of the strongest. In an article written in Arabic, published in An Nahar newspaper, on social media, and then translated into English in the forthcoming issue of Al Jadid, Father Massouh punctures the rejectionist myth of supporting the Palestinian cause while also debunking their hypocritical decision process when choosing which causes to support.

Essays and Features

Former Lebanese Prisoners of ‘Tadmor’ Reenact Dark Days Within Assads’s Dungeons

By

Elie Chalala

Neither Idol nor Symbol: Fadwa Sulayman (1970-2017), Syria’s Artist Rebel

By Elie Chalala & Naomi Pham

Of the many elegies for Fadwa Sulayman, those which associate the Syrian stage and TV actress’s death with the defeat of the Syrian revolution have proven the most heart-wrenching and painful. The pain stems not only from witnessing the anguish of many Syrians over the fate of their revolution, but also from the physical and the psychological torment the exiled Sulayman experienced when, her body riddled with cancer, she witnessed the hard-won victory slipping away.

Essays and Features

The Arab-American Theatre: Still a Struggle for Visibility

By

Roaa Ali

Ibtihal Salem: Author, Social Critic, and Mentor

By

Caroline Seymour-Jorn

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