April 11 marks birth anniversary of Egypt’s legendary colloquial poet Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi

CAIRO – 11 April 2022: April 11 marks the birth anniversary of the famous Egyptian colloquial poet, Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

Abnudi was born in 1939 to a poor family in Qena, Upper Egypt, and passed away after year of battling lung illness contracted from smoking.

Writing in colloquial Egyptian rather than classical Arabic endeared him closer to the Egyptian populace who affectionately dubbed him “El-Khal” (The Uncle). The sobriquet remained throughout his career.

His colloquial poems were sung as lyrics by a number of prominent singers in Egypt and the Arab world, including Abdel Halim Hafez, Shadia, Najat, Warda, Majida el-Roumi, and Mohamed Mounir and Marwan Khoury. He also co-wrote scripts for a number of Egyptian movies.

Throughout his life, Abnudi consistently received plaudits. Perhaps the most important of honors was the Egyptian State Award for Arts in 2001, which made him the first Egyptian colloquial poet to receive the prize. He also won the Mubarak award in Arts (now called the Nile award) in 2010 as well as Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity in 2014.