ArtOfNubia - Nubian Art, Music, Song, Dance, Arageed, History, Literature, Poesy, Painting, Traditions

Nubians Love Poems

Please note that the arrangement of the Poets is not based on the expertise and the intensity of their artistic production, but the arrangement is based on the amount of information available to us about them

Poesy is the soul of art. It is the message wrapped like a rose into beautifully rhyming words, expressing the deepest of feelings, conveying strong emotions and mirroring the poet's mental power that gives life to any song and pleasure to its listener.

Poesy is the fundamental art that has been practiced in Nubia since the dawn of time, inspired and beautified by the splendid surroundings and affectionate gatherings. In their villages at the shores of the Nile in what is now southern Egypt and Northern Sudan, Nubians like to sit together and share stories and poems. Some of them are composed by talented poets, others created spontaneously. One person of the community launches a verse, and another answers with a completing rhyme. This artistic activity goes on until an entire poem is formed.

As most travel in old Nubia took place through ships on the Nile river, ship captains used to entertain their passengers during their voyage by singing or reciting poems. That helped spread the poem from one place to another; often new verses were added, creating long poems conceived through artistic cooperation.

Since the 1950s, when oral transmission started to be replaced by writing and the Nubian language was written in Arabic or Latin letters, enthusiasm for poesy grew, and almost every Nubian village had its poets. While some early poetic works were immortalized into songs, many others were lost. The forced evacuation of many Nubians from their villages of origin after the construction of successive dams were built and Lake Nasser (or Lake Nubia) drowned their villages took a further toll on artistic works, as people only could take with them essential possessions and where wide-spread throughout the region. This tragic event found its expression in Nubian art, mainly in poesy and songs, describing the Nubians' sadness and frustration about the loss of their native lands and way of life. However, despite the relocation to inhospitable environments and dispersion of many Nubians to surrounding and far-away cities and countries, the Nubians' passion for poesy survived and persisted.

In recent efforts to revive the Nubian language with the establishment of its own alphabet, as well as attempts to salvage Nubian culture and art, Nubian poesy enjoys a strong resurgence with poets of the new generations taking up the heritage of their ancestors and composers, singers and musicians adapting them to amazing new songs and Nubian communities organizing events and competitions.

In order to preserve the great Nubian art of poetry, known poets organize workshops in which they teach the art of poetry to aspiring poets, and teachers of Nubian Language - who often are poets themselves - perfect the new generation's knowledge of this melodious and beautiful ancient language.

Follow us on our poesy page to share our admiration and appreciation of Nubian poesy, both in Nubian and Arabic language!

(Wherever possible, we will try to translate or explain the setting and meaning of the Nubian poems)

The Great Nubian Poets

Dr. Mustafa Abdelqader - د. مصطفى عبد القادر

Dr. Mustafa Abdelqader is a leading Nubian scholar from the village of Adindan, and Head of the Nubian Heritage Association. Like another 100'000 Nubians, as a young man he and his family had to emigrate from his village, which would be flooded by the creation of the artificial Lake Nasser. The profound wound in his sould and his nostalgy for his village led him to write extraordinary poems filled with deep feelings and compose the famous song "Babur Kusuna", describing the pain caused by the displacement.

Tareq Salah Eldin - طارق صلاح الدين

The regretted Artist Tareq Salah Eldin was a brilliant poet, musician and singing artist from the Nubian village of Eniba. His poems written in his specific personal style express deep feelings, his love for Nubia and wise messages to the Nubian community wrapped in colorful descriptions and use of the original Nubian language, to the love and admiration of the Nubian artistic community who venerate him as a Father of contemporary Nubian Poesy.

Ez Eldin Abuzid - عز الدين ابوزيد

Ezz Eldin Abuzeid from Abu Simbel is a creative and very prolific poet and composer, having written as many as 150 poems and composed the melodies which are sung by a number of leading Nubian singing artists. His writings express his deep love for Nubia, his concern for the preservation of the Nubian language and heritage, wise guidance for upholding ethic values, as well as emotional romantic feelings in his beautiful love songs.

Hilmi Abuzid - حلمي ابوزيد

Hilmi Abuzid from Old Nubia's Abu Simbel is contributing to Nubian Art for several decades, writing close to 100 poems in Nubian and Arabic, and composing more than 100 songs sung by most great Nubian singers. Defying the hardships of displacement, Hilmi Abuzid insisted in preserving, influencing and enriching Nubian poesy and music, and his beautiful poems and songs became an important part of contemporary Nubian artistic heritage and are resonating in the souls and hearts of all Nubians.

Dr. Mohammed Omar Taha - د. محمد عمر طه

The Nubian scholar Dr. Mohammed Omar Taha is one of the greatest poets of Nubia, having written significant poems that are sung, among others, by the prominent Nubian artist Khidhir El Attar and the famous three sisters "Al Balabil". Being a professor of Nubian language Nobiin and researcher in Nubian heritage, he attaches utmost importance to the wording using old Nubian words and the meaning and message of his poems, that describe Nubian traditions and encourage good behavior.

Hussein Jaser - حسين جاسر

Husein Jaser, born in Old Nubia in the village Ghenine u Shabak, is one of the greatest masters of modern Nubian poesy, and he is considered by many contemporary poetes at their spiritual father. According to the words of the brilliant Nubian artist, musician, composer and poet Seid Ibrahim Qurty:"The poet Hussein Jaser made wonderful tunes and works of art characterized by creativity and constant renewal, and that was something new and innovative at that time using easy and beautiful vocabulary.

Mamdouh Bakhit - ممدوح بخيت

Mamdouh Bakhit from Abu Simbel is lovingly called the "Poet of the Hearts", for his many beautiful love poems touching the deepenst feelings. His works of art are embedded into expressive melodies by the greatest composers, and sung by many of the most famous Nubian artists. Like other great magicians of the word, Mamdouh Bakhit attaches importance to the vocabulary he uses and promotes the conservation and propagation of the Nubian language among the young generation of Nubians.