Lost cities, 20s divas and 2011 uprisings

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Singer Umm Kulthum, Mounira al-Mahdiyya, Badia Masabni. These are the names of the pioneering performers working in Cairo's dance halls and theatres in the 1020s whom Raphael Cormack has written about in his new book. From that period of cosmopolitan culture to the uprising in 2011 - how has Egypt shifted ? New Generation Thinker Dina Rezk lectures at the University of Reading and she's been reading the new novel by Alaa Al Aswany - The Republic of False Truths. Edmund Richardson researches Alexander the Great and he's written about a Victorian pilgrim, spy, doctor, archaeologist Charles Masson who found a lost city in Afghanistan. Anne McElvoy presents.

Raphael Cormack's book is called Midnight in Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt's Roaring '20s

Dina Rezk is a New Generation Thinker and Associate Professor of History at the University of Reading. Her recent research has focused on the upheavals of the 'Arab Spring' across the Middle East.

Edmund Richardson is a New Generation Thinker and Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham. His book is called Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City

Producer: Ruth Watts

Image: People celebrate at Tahrir Square, Cairo on 3rd July 2013 Credit: BBC (Abdel Khalik Salah)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?
0:23.3	It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.
0:28.8	Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.
0:33.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:37.9	Hello, I'm Anne McHlevoy and in this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast, we'll be visiting Egypt.
0:44.3	But which won? Home to the female stars of Cairo's 1920s entertainment industry?
0:49.3	The destination for passing 19th century archaeologists?
0:53.7	Or, 10 years on, the country adjusting
0:56.2	to the aftermath of the failed protests of the Arab Spring. Stay listening to find out after
1:02.0	this short message.
1:08.0	The human voice. Isn't it amazing? I'm Peter Brathwaid and I'm an opera singer, but I'm not here to tell you about my voice. I want to share my love for five extraordinary voices that have changed the way I sing and listen. Some you might know, others you probably won't. But they and their stories all need to be heard.
1:29.6	So have a listen to In Their Voices,
1:34.5	my series of essays diving deep into five voices that have hit me for six.
1:35.5	The essay. Search for this series and all other available episodes in BBC Sounds. sounds.
1:59.0	It's ten years since the Egyptian revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak.
2:02.2	The Nationalist O'Guard vied with progressive young liberals and conservative isomists over the country's future. And it's the images of Tahrir Square,
2:08.5	occupied by tens of thousands of protesters that came to symbolise the hopes of those involved
2:13.5	in the wider Arab Spring. Today we'll be talking about Egypt via a controversial novel
2:19.4	that deals with the impact of those crushed protests,
2:22.5	a fugitive 19th century archaeologist who passed through it,
2:26.3	and the female entertainers and entrepreneurs of Cairo in the 1920s, including this one.
2:33.0	Music in the 1920s, including this one.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.