El Houari Mohammed Ben Brahim Assarraj (; 1897–1955) was a poet from
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
. He is especially well known as the poet of
Marrakech of the first part of the 20th century. He wrote poems for both king
Mohammed V and for his opponent
El Glaoui.
According to his biographer Omar Mounir he was "considered a nationalist by the French, a traitor by the nationalists, a alem by the man in the street and a rascal by the ulemas."
[Omar Mounir, ''Le Poète de Marrakech'' : "Individu inclassable, inconstant en qui les nationalistes voyaient un traître et les Français un nationaliste, l’homme de la rue le voyait âlim, les oulamas le voyaient voyou".] Mohamed Ben Brahim studied at the Ibn Yousouf University in
Marrakech and the
Al-Qarawiyyin University
The University of al-Qarawiyyin ( ar, جامعة القرويين; ber, ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵉⵏ; french: Université Al Quaraouiyine), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in ...
of
Fes
Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 mi ...
. He worked as a university professor for a short period and, after that as a journalist.
Many of Ben Brahim's poems are put to music and still popular in present-day Morocco. Karima Skalli is one of his work's interpreters.
Mehdi Khayat interprets Ben Brahim's poetry in his musical work, titled "Mehdi Khayat and the poet of Marrakech"
Bibliography
*Omar Mounir, ''Le Poète de Marrakech'' (=''Shair Al-Hamra''), Editions La Porte, Rabat, 2001.
*Ben Brahim, Mohammed (1949). “Ilayka Ya Ni Ma Sadiq”(To you my dear friend). Tetuan, Morocco: Hassania Publishing Company
*Ahmed Cherkaoui-Ikbal, ''Le poète de Marrakech sous les tamis'' (1958)
*Abdelkrim Ghallab, ''L'Univers du Poète de Marrakech'' (1982)
*Ahmed al Khoulassa, ''Le Poète de Marrakech dans l'histoire de la littérature contemporaine'' (1987)
References
External links
*Said Hajji.com: fragments from the journal ''Al Maghrib'' no. 396 (1940
(translated in English)
*Bouchra Lahbabi, "Maoussimyyat : hommage à Ben Brahim, poète de Marrakech", ''Le Matin'', 28 - 10 - 200
(retrieved 15-7-2012)
*maroc-hebdo.press: Un poète chez les hommes (second article
(in French)
20th-century Moroccan poets
1897 births
1955 deaths
People from Marrakesh
19th-century Moroccan people
20th-century poets
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