Dr.. Anas Al-Aqib: Do not ask the Singers more than they afford (1-2)

Musician Dr. Anas Al-Aqib, the comprehensive artist, singer-composer, poet, translator, well-known music professor, owner of a major project, seeks to document all his experience, despite his difficult circumstances.
Talking to him takes a personal and general approach. In this part, Anas Al-Aqib pleads for the artists in Cairo and puts the dots on the letters.

Interview: Magda Hassan

How did you find activity in Egypt?
Found in Egypt many
Writers and artists. But it was clear that the artistic momentum that reached Egypt in the first days of the war, unfortunately, was the singers (qunas). In those days, they found a large market for singing in restaurants, and they took over the singing movement in Egypt until some artists appeared, such as Essam Mohamed Nour and Walid Zaki Al-Din Mohamed Hassan Al-Khader. Omar Ehsas, playwrights, and writers, and the numbers became so large that they were forced to form a union that brings together artists in Cairo, and they even began to have a home and activity.
Do you have any contributions?
Never, sick people prevent me from participating in activities
The artists were divided between displaced and refugee, and their efforts differed. Do you agree?
Talking about war and asylum is unfair. I may seek refuge in America because this is my choice. But during the war, people are equal, artist and citizen. Singers by in Egypt have nothing in their power to fight the war and stand against it for many reasons, the first of which is their preoccupation with life and its affairs for them and their families. Egypt has opened its farms to us, but we cannot transfer our political relationship to Cairo.
Is there someone who misses the clear role of the artist?
The lack of stance is not out of ignorance or fear, but this is the reality.
For example, if my sons had not taken care of my expenses, I would have gone to sing in restaurants, but we will not beg by singing, so I do not blame the artists in Cairo whose situation is difficult to the point that some of them do not have the right to transportation.
Do you mean they need help?
Let the artist know what other countries have done. The Germans created a project for singers and VIPs who took refuge in Cairo, and I applied for this job but did not get it. France also offers personalities according to their CVs.
Developed countries do not deal with embassies in everything, but there are other means of communicating with the world. We, the cultural advisor, are all in all. He does not participate because the job requires that he be an office worker
Is there a specific proposal?
There are dozens of musicians, writers, poets, writers, professors, and doctors in Cairo, and no one cares about them. Even the house there is a struggle, as usual with the Sudanese. I think that the next country should think that one embassy in Egypt does not carry out all the duties. Why can’t the Sudanese Academy of Arts be like many countries? This is the real, non-diplomatic face.
So you see the negligence on the part of other parties, not the artists
We have diverse cultures, so why don’t we benefit from them?

I think if artists stop singing, it is negligence. But it is an unintentional omission, but he who cannot eat cannot compose and compose
Whoever does not find someone to care for him cannot live a normal life.
Singers are my children and colleagues, and I see in their watching eyes that even artists in Sudan have not fallen short. Mohamed Naguib Mashal wrote to me and sent me Halawi Mashalin. I have a poem (Sudan Tomorrow) and I could not find a way to record it. I asked for help but did not find interest. Therefore, do not ask us for more than we can.
Those who accuse us of negligence have done what they have done for the homeland.
The artistic movement has moved to another arena. Do we expect a breakthrough?
The artistic movement dies in conditions like the one Sudan is going through.
We say no to the war and it has been going on for nine months. Who do we sing to? For the citizen who is unable to eat, drink and receive treatment! Sudan has become a cemetery. We sing a respectable song. Who can hear us?
After the fall of a civilian, who do we sing to? And the advance continues. What can I say except that I wish for peace in a poem, and those in control like war