Tuesday March 19th, 2024
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Ali Elhaggar Becomes the First Egyptian Singer to Receive Sultan Qaboos Award

The award celebrates his poetic approach to politics and social issues.

Staff Writer

Ali Elhaggar Becomes the First Egyptian Singer to Receive Sultan Qaboos Award

Singing legend Ali Elhaggar is the first Egyptian singer to be awarded the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Art and Literature.

The award for culture, art and literature is granted annually to Arab artists and thinkers in the fields of literature, social sciences, humanities, history and translation, amongst others. The award aims to promote arts and culture in the Arab world, with a vision to advance intellectual thinking and promote contemporary thought.

In a press conference, the Secretary General of the Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Sciences described the award as a valuable indicator of the cultural, artistic and literary contributions throughout the Arab World.

Elhaggar, son of the late singer and composer Ibrahim Elhaggar, is renowned for encouraging artists to consider their political and social context in their music, and many of his songs deal with these topics. Elhaggar is also perceived by many to take a literary approach to his musical expression due to his fascination with poetry. He often incorporates the works of various poets in his lyrics, such as the prominent Egyptian cartoonist and poet Salah Jahin, and the poet Fouad Haddad.

Recently, Elhaggar performed alongside Reham Abdel Hakim at the closing ceremony of the Arab Music Festival, which took place at the Alexandria Opera House on November 12th.