Ahmed Fouad Negm

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Ahmed Fouad Negm (Arabic: احمد فؤاد نجم; popularly known as el-Fagoumi الفاجومي) is an Egyptian vernacular poet. Born in Sharqia, Egypt in 1929, Negm is well-known for his work with Egyptian composer Sheikh Imam, as well as his patriotic and revolutionary Egyptian Arabic poetry. Negm has been regarded as a folk hero and voice for the Egyptian underclass.^[1]

1 Background
2 Work
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] Background

Ahmed Fouad Negm was born to a family of fellahin in the Egyptian countryside. His mother, Hanem Marsi Negm, was a housewife, and his father Mohammed Ezat Negm, a police officer. Negm was one of seventeen brothers, only six of whom are still living. Like many poets and writers of his generation, he received his education at the religious Kutaab schools managed by El-Azhar.

When his father died, he went to live with his uncle Hussein in Zagazig, but was placed in an orphanage in 1936 where he first met famous singer Abdel Halim Hafez. In 1945, at the age of 17, he left the orphanage and returned to his village to work as a shepherd. Later, he moved to Cairo to live with his brother who eventually kicked him out only to return to his village again to work in one of the English camps while helping with guerilla operations.

After the agreement between Egypt and Britain, the Egyptian National Workers’ Movement asked everyone in the English camps to quit their job. Negm was then appointed by the Egyptian government as a laborer in mechanical workshops. He was imprisoned for 3 years for counterfeiting form, during which he participated and won first place in a writing competition organized by the Supreme Council for the Arts. He then published his first collection “Pictures from Life and Prison” in vernacular Egyptian Arabic and became famous after Suhair El-Alamawi introduced his book while he was still in prison. After he was released, he was appointed as a clerk in the organization for Asian and African peoples. He also became a regular poet on Egyptian radio.

Negm lived in a small room on the rooftop of a house in Boulaq el-Dalkror neighborhood. When he met singer and composer Sheikh Imam in Khosh Adam neighborhood, they became roommates and formed a famous signing duet. Negm was also imprisoned several times due to his political views.

In 2007, Negm was chosen by the United Nations Poverty Action as Ambassador of the poor.