Songs for Tahrir on BBC Radio

Palestinian singer and musician Reem Kelani’s current project revolves around Sayed Darwish. The project will include and go beyond just a double album that will include a selection of Darwish’s songs. Alongside the album she is preparing two books, one in Arabic and aimed at an Arab audience, the other in English. They will include detailed musicological and historical notes, the original lyrics in the Arabic version and a quality translation in the English version. There will also be a chronology of Darwish’s life as well as a glossary of musical and cultural terms. Kelani was in Egypt during year 2011 visiting Cairo while exploring the role of music in the uprising, meeting with protesters, activists and musicians. Kelani asserts that her visit to Egypt and Tahrir Square, and finding the revival of many of Darwish’s songs, gave her project a new perspective. ‘Songs for Tahrir’ presented by Reem Kelani exploring the role of music in the revolution and the importance of Darwish to Egyptians today will be aired by BBC Radio 4 at 11am GMT (1pm Egypt time) on Wednesday 18 January.