Poetry in revolts

"Many of these revolts have had their own poets. 1881 had the neo-classical qasidas of Mahmoud Sami al-Baroudi; 1919, the colloquial zajals of Bayram al-Tunsi. Salah Jahin became one of the leading colloquial poets of the 1952 Revolution, and his patriotic verse became core material for Abdel Halim Hafez, who pinned his career to Nasser. From the same period, Fu’ad Haddad’s mawwals also stand out — and are still sung today. Since the 1970s, it has been Ahmed Fouad Negm who has played the leading role as lyricist of militant opposition to the regimes of Egypt. For 40 years, Negm’s colloquial poems — many set to music by Sheikh Imam — have electrified student, labor and dissident movements from the Egyptian underclass. Negm’s poetry ranges from praise (madh) for the courage of ordinary Egyptians, to invective (hija’) for Egypt’s overlords — and it is no accident that you could hear his songs being sung by the leftist activists who spearheaded the first day of revolt on Jan. 25. Besides these poets, we could add many others — Naguib Surur, Abd al-Rahman al-Abnoudi, Tamim Barghouti — who have added to this literary-political tradition in their own ways." (thanks Barbara)