The famous poet, caricaturist, scriptwriter, producer and actor Salah Jahin once wrote a poem titled In Egypt's Name, “The palms are rising high... And the Nile River is flowing straight... The scenes are reflected upside-down on the water… And why would I care?” Many youth fell in love with the prominent Egyptian actress Soad Hosni's song, “Ya Wad Ya Teel”, but most of them do not know that Jahin wrote the song. Jahin's childhood was what shaped his personality. “One of the factors,” said his son Baha, “that shaped the personality of Salah Jahin was his father, Bahgat, who moved from one region to another like all public officials at that time, before settling in Cairo in the late 40s. So, of course, Salah Jahin used to travel all over Egypt with his father. He traveled to Upper Egypt and the Delta and over there he learned the songs of the farmers and peasants.” Jahin was successful in giving colloquial poetry widespread acceptance and it is because of this that an Egyptian colloquial poetry competition is held in his name. Hussain Adel, a lecturer in Arabic literature at the American University in Cairo, said, “He was a great poet. He made a very important contribution to colloquial Egyptian poetry. That was accomplished by admitting colloquialism as an authoritative language of poetry … he was second after Fouad Haddad, a famous poet who led in defending the Palestinians.” Jahin was inspired by the quatrain form of poetry (rubai‘i) suddenly as he walked in a Cairo street on his way to the magazine where he worked. As he arrived at ‘Sabah Alkhair Magazine', he met Ahmed Bahaa Eddin, who was the editor-in-chief and his friend at that time, and gave him the poetry. Bahaa Eddin told him to write four versus of poetry every week and so he wrote from 1959 till 1962. He stopped writing poetry for the magazine in 1962, but published his first collection of poetry from the magazine in 1963. He then started working for Al-Ahram newspaper as a cartoonist. His cartoons grabbed the attention of a large group of people and influenced the political condition of the country. “The Grand Night Operetta was something of importance that my father made,” said his son Bahaa, speaking about the Egypt's iconic puppet operatta. “He spent most of his childhood and adolescence outside Cairo. When he returned in 1947, he feared living in the city because he was used to living in the suburbs, so he decided to conquer Cairo by turning it into a piece of art. “He started visiting traditional districts and cafés to hear the phrases and expressions that were used in these neighborhoods to prepare for The Grand Night Operetta. In fact, it was originally written for radio since there were no puppet theatres back in those days. He wrote it and produced it on radio in 1957. When the Puppet Theatre was introduced in Egypt in 1960, they wanted a decent play to represent Egypt in a global puppet festival. So The Grand Night was reproduced as a theatre puppet play, and won first prize in the festival.” Egyptian artist Hassan Al-Imam was the first to introduce to Jahin the script of the famous Egyptian movie produced in 1972, Kali Balik min Zozo. He realized that this name would be worth millions of Egyptian pounds and so changed the movie's script, dialogues and songs. He perceived Zozo as a rebel—not against society but against what she was: the daughter of a belly dancer. It was this that made her strive and educate herself to overcome what she was. “This was the first movie that predicted the phenomenon of political Islamism at universities. The role of Mohyi Ismail in the movie who wore a shirt and fastened the upper buttons every time he stood to speak. That was a strange political prediction. My father told me that he was trying to introduce a musical with dancing—this was a revolution in itself, because this was the first production of this sort for cinema,” said Bahaa. Jahin began acting while at elementary school in Assiut. The school held a concert in which Jahin caught the attention of all those in attendance. This was a mind-blowing experience for the small community in Assiut. “People kept telling my grandparents what an amazing actor he was and so on. My grandmother was worried that he would favor acting over his studies or that he would start attending rehearsals. She decided that he would never act again. It seems he was afraid of my grandmother until he reached his 30s. It seems that he did not believe in himself as an actor or maybe acting was affecting his health. In his opinion, he failed as an actor,” said Bahaa. Jahin was awarded the Egyptian Order of Science and Arts of the First Class in 1965 and died in 1986 aged 55. During his career he made several films, composed poems, and wrote books including Qasaqis Waraq and Angham Siptambirriyah. Jahin composed a famous quatrain on death and life: The Son of Adam from nothing. I said: How awe inspiring The Son of Adam returned to nothing. I said: How awe inspiring Dust comes to life … and life turns to dust Is origin death or is it life?
