Abu Khalil Qabbani (Arabic: أبو خليل القباني / ALA-LC: Abū Khalīl al-Qabbānī; 1835–1902) was a Syrian playwright and composer active as a pioneer of Arab theatre at the time of the Arab nahda movement in Damascus and Cairo, Qabbani has been called the "Father of Syrian theatre", and has influenced later generations of playwrights and actors.[1] Further, he introduced short musical plays (similar to an operetta)[2] in Arabic theatre and worked to establish a theatre district in Damascus.[3]
Biography
editQabbani used to give female roles in his plays to younger boys with high pitched voices, because women were not allowed to act in theatre at his time. His play Abu al-Hassan al-Mughaffal caused a wave of protest because of his mockery of the historical Caliph Harun al-Rashid. This enraged religious authorities, who sent a delegation to complain to the Ottoman caliph in Istanbul. Following this, the authorities closed down Qabbani's theatre, the only avant-garde theatre in the region,[3] and prevented theatrical performances in the Ottoman province of Syria.[2][4] After that, Qabbani left for Egypt and produced his plays there until 1900. Two years after his return to Syria, he died in 1902.
Notable relatives
editAbu Khalil Qabbani's brother was the grandfather of the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani and the diplomat Sabah Qabbani. Other notable relatives include British cultural historian Rana Kabbani of Syrian descent and her daughter, the writer and literary translator Yasmine Seale.
Reception
editSyrian playwright Saadallah Wannous wrote a play called Evening with Abu Khalil Qabbani,[5] and Khairy Alzahaby represented him in the epic series Abu Khalil Qabbani.[6] Syrian cultural historian Taissier Khalaf published a book about al-Qabbani's visit in the United States in 1989 as well as about Qabbani's style of theatre.[7][8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Carlson, Marvin (2021), Myers, Robert; Mejcher-Atassi, Sonja (eds.), "Wannous and Syrian and World Drama", The Theatre of Sa'dallah Wannous: A Critical Study of the Syrian Playwright and Public Intellectual, Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15–33, ISBN 978-1-108-83856-6, retrieved 2024-03-20
- ^ a b Hamdan, Masud (2006). Poetics, politics and protest in Arab theatre. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 1-84519-106-4.
- ^ a b Qabbānī, Nizār (1999). Arabian love poems : full Arabic and English texts. Bassam K. Frangieh, Clementina R. Brown. Boulder, Colorado: لين رنر. ISBN 0-89410-881-6. OCLC 39905314.
- ^ "Qabbānī, Abū Khalīl al- | Syrian dramatist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
- ^ "رفي لمتعة القراءة - سهرة مع أبي خليل القباني".
- ^ "مسلسل - أبو خليل القباني - 2010 طاقم العمل، فيديو، الإعلان، صور، النقد الفني، مواعيد العرض".
- ^ Khalaf, Taissier (2018). Min Dimashq ilá Shīkāghū, riḥlat Abī Khalīl al-Qabbānī ilá Amīrkā 1893 (From Damascus to Chicago, the Journey of Abu Khalil Qabbani to America 1893) (in Arabic). al-Muʼassasah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Nashr. OCLC 1031399379.
- ^ Khalaf, Taissier (2019). Waqāʼiʻ masraḥ Abī Khalīl al-Qabbānī fī Dimashq, 1883-1873: ḥaqāʼiq wa-wathāʼiq tunsharu lil-marrah al-ūlá (The events of Abu Khalil Qabbani's theatre in Damascus, 1883-1873: facts and documents published for the first time) (in Arabic). Manshūrāt al-Mutawassiṭ. OCLC 1110667615.