O night, O my eyes - Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem - Lamia Ziade

Description

Summary:

Ô nuit, ô mes yeux is a graphic novel which, like Bye Bye Babylone (Denoël 2010), is composed of alternating pages of text and pages of drawings, according to a non-systematic rhythm. Generally speaking, a page of text is followed by several pages of illustrations.

O Night, O My Eyes traces the destinies of great and small Arab singers, from Cairo to Beirut, through Jerusalem, Damascus and Alexandria, from the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1970s. Lamia Ziadé recounts the lives of Asmahan, Umm Koulthoum, Faïruz, Sabah, Leïla Mourad, Nour el Hoda, Samia Gamal, etc. and those of their contemporaries (poets, politicians, bankers, emirs, kings, English officers, French diplomats, journalists, composers, directors, producers, actors, dancers, etc.) against the backdrop of major events in the Middle East over the century.

From the Nahda (the Arab intellectual and artistic renaissance of the early 20th century), through the Golden Age (the 1930s, 40s, 50s), to the twilight (since the defeat of 1967), more than anyone else, these women have embodied the radiance and blossoming of Arab-Muslim culture. They are a pillar of the spectacular radiance of the Egyptian cinema, which, by becoming talking, has especially become singing.

Their lives reflect all the forces, seductions, servitudes and paradoxes of the Middle East. In this conservative society, they succeeded, thanks to their audacity and talent, in imposing their art and conquering a freedom that they paid a high price for: their private lives were often extremely romantic and tumultuous, tragic.

Biography:

Born in Lebanon, Lamia Ziadé has published several children's books and The Maximum Use of Sweetness, an astonishing erotic work with text by Pincent Ravaler.