A Poem, A Lute And A Blind Musician

The Palestinian raising star poet Tamim Barghouti wrote this song in January, and a young Egyptian musician Mostafa Said composed the music and performed in Tahrir Square during the days of the protest. This is a very real poem written by Tamim who is also Egyptian and has grown up there.


This reminds of me of the collaboration of two other icons, the Palestinians poet Mahmoud Darwish and the iconic Lebanese composer Marcelle Khalifah. The lute gives the poem a voice and makes it a lot more meaningful bringing this poem to new audience who are not too much into reading poetry.

The fact that the musician is blind and his flawless performance combined with his voice ensures that this song will be around for some time. The verses of this poem pretty much talk about the corruption and death that took place, it also goes deeper into history and using simple everyday language and that world famous Egyptian humor to drive the massage of change home.

يا مصر هانت وبانت اجندة مفتوحة بي بي سي BBC Ya Masir Hanit We Banit