Timeline | Before 1800 to After 1930 | EGYPT | MUSIC, LITERATURE, DANCE AND FASHION
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Country | Theme | Description
1871
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Giuseppe Verdi’s Egyptian-themed Aida premiers in Cairo on 24 December.
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Yaqub Sanu‘ founds the satirical magazine Abu Naddara early in this year. It has immediate and wide appeal to both the literate and the illiterate, who find someone to read it to them.
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
The singer Salama Hijazi turns to acting with the Kirdahi and al-Haddad troupes. Through his contributions, many musical theatre troupes emerge such as Aziz Eed, Naguib al-Rihani and ‘Ali al-Kassar. As one of the first artists to travel abroad, Hijazi achieves worldwide acclaim for his musical and theatrical works. Warmly welcomed in Italy, Syria and Tunisia, he is granted awards of appreciation by many international governments. Hijazi’s statue stands at the Museum of Napoli.
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Qasim Amin publishes his book Les Egyptiens in French in 1894. In it he rejects the negative claims against the traditions of Oriental society made by Duke Drocom in his book, L’Egypte et les Egyptiens. In defence of Islam, Amin compares the rights of women according to Islam with those of civilized European women. In 1899, he then publishes The Emancipation of Women, which is severely criticized. In 1900, Amin refutes the arguments of his critics with The New Woman, a work that provides fresh fuel to his ardent battle for the emancipation of women.
1912
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Muhammad Husayn Haykal publishes the first volume of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He intended the book to create a cultural intermarriage between the East and West and hoped it would lead to a new intellectual revolution by providing an example to the West.
1917
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Strong cultural pressure at this time puts constraints on female performers. When the singer Munira al-Mahdiyya begins her career, she is the first female Muslim performer to appear onstage.
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Najib al-Rihani introduces a new type of theatre known as Musical Theatre or Operette. Cooperating with the famous Egyptian singer and composer Sayyid Darwish and the actor and writer Badi‘ Khayri, together, they produce several successful Operettes.
1919
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Taha Husayn is appointed Professor of History at Fuad I University, where, through his own will and craving for knowledge, he becomes the leader of the Arab cultural renaissance.
1922
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Mrs Dawlat Abyad writes a play to address the various problems experienced by Egyptian women in the early 20th century.
1938
Egypt | Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Abbas Mahmud al-Akkad writes his only novel Sarah in which he relates a personal experience with the only woman he loved. According to al-Akkad’s view women were to be respected and admired, and this appreciation for women is expressed in three books he wrote where he demands the full participation of women in building Egyptian society.