Published by Bayt Al-Hikma in Cairo, “Inverted Geography: On Egyptian Modernity and Its Dilemmas” compiles the final essays and writings of Mihab Nasr, the Egyptian poet and critic who passed away in 2023 at the age of 61.
اضافة اعلان
At its core, the book offers philosophical and critical reflections on major artistic and literary experiences, interwoven with the author’s personal memories of his hometown, Alexandria, particularly the Camp Caesar district. However, it devotes special attention to the monumental musical legacy of Umm Kulthum, whose artistic influence continues to be celebrated across Egypt’s cultural and literary circles this year. The tribute culminated in a large-scale art exhibition at Aisha Fahmy Palace in Zamalek, titled “The Voice of Egypt”, featuring paintings, sculptures, photographs, and caricatures inspired by her career, alongside rare memorabilia and press archives documenting her life and its defining moments — creating a unique visual experience that bridges fine art and historical documentation.
In his book, Nasr recalls a remark from a friend who once told him, “I can’t imagine someone like Umm Kulthum singing for just one man she loves.” She meant that Umm Kulthum’s performance transcends personal intimacy; even when her voice emerges from a wounded or broken place, it expands into something monumental — a wall collapsing under the weight of symbolic sorrow, where the beloved addressed in song gradually fades and disappears.
Nasr argues that Umm Kulthum’s physical presence on stage was both luminous and complex — a choreography of control and intensity. One foot would always step slightly ahead of the other as she led her orchestra, her arms poised but restrained, one hand clutching the famous handkerchief as if to anchor her posture — a testament to the precise boundary between grace and gravitas.
Contrary to common belief, Nasr contends that Umm Kulthum’s Egypt was not a patriarchal society, but rather a maternal one, where women often embodied the role of the “superego.” This, he notes, is a historical paradox — a revival of the matriarchal order dating back to ancient Egyptian civilization, reborn during the nationalist wave of the 1960s in both Arab and political terms.
Musically, this perspective finds its echo in Riad Al-Sunbati’s compositions for Umm Kulthum, which Nasr describes as majestic classical architectures molded to fit Oriental maqamat. His expressive style — built on long, swelling melodic phrases filled with sighs and refrains — evokes waves rising and breaking between longing, joy, and melancholy. For Nasr, Al-Sunbati used Umm Kulthum’s voice as a neutral yet transcendent instrument, elevating love to the level of a metaphysical ideal, representing the “struggle of passions” within a society defined by reserve and restraint.
Nasr also observes a defining trait in Al-Sunbati’s music: the sanctification of the written word. The composer imbued lyrics with dramatic weight and spiritual resonance, but never strayed beyond their textual bounds — avoiding what might have been considered the “heresy” of pure instrumental abstraction.
Ultimately, Mihab Nasr suggests that one of the reasons behind the universal reverence for Umm Kulthum’s voice lies in its authority:
“It does not address us; it commands us to stand in the presence of absolute, symbolic grandeur — the grandeur of emotions and ideas such as sorrow, the yearning of reunion, the trembling of our perception of time, and the silence saturated with both humility and pride.”
