Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Ghawi Michel Ghawi (October 26, 1950 – July 27, 2020) was a Palestinian musician, co-founder and former dean of the Faculty of Arts at An-Najah National University. He was also a member of the jury of the New Star program, which was presented by Ma’an TV, from 2010 to 2015.
his life
Ghawi was born on October 26, 1950 in the city of Nazareth. He obtained a music diploma in 1970, then a master’s degree in conducting from the National Conservatory of Sofia University in Bulgaria in 1977. He also obtained a doctorate in music with a specialization in conducting choirs from the National Conservatory in Sofia also in 1981 He lived in Lille, France, where he studied the verbotonal method. In addition to Arabic, he mastered several languages, including Hebrew, Bulgarian and French.
his professional career
Since his graduation, he has worked as an assistant professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus. He also became the first head of the art department since its establishment at the Faculty of Arts in 1982. In 1983, he participated with a group of Palestinian academics and artists in establishing the first academic department in Palestinian universities for fine arts. The department awarded a bachelor’s degree in He majored in plastic arts and musical sciences, then participated in the establishment of the Faculty of Fine Arts at An-Najah National University in 1993, and was its dean from 1994 to 2002, and became its dean again between 2013 and 2020 until he was relieved of it on July 22, 2020 due to to his health.
Ghawi also worked in the field of phonetics, speech therapy, hearing and stuttering, and contributed to the establishment of the Audiology and Speech Department program at An-Najah National University in Nablus.
In 1996, he held the Sebastia International Arts Festival. The festival hosted many dance and music performances from different cultures around the world for four years until it stopped in 2000 following the outbreak of the second intifada.
He has many musical works, including: “The Kafr Qassem Epic” and “I am from this city.” He also composed poems by Mahmoud Darwish, Tawfiq Ziyad, and others. He was a member of the jury of a number of musical and singing programs, such as New Star and We Heard Your Voice.
Controversy over stopping the performance of “Ishtar Theater”
On December 10, 2019, during the launch of the closing ceremony of the “We Are All Against Violence” campaign at the Turki bin Abdulaziz Theater at An-Najah National University, Ghawi intervened to stop a dance show that combines circus, dance and theater under the name “Enheduana” organized by Ishtar Theater at the request of the An-Najah University administration. national. After several attempts by the university's administrative authorities to stop the performance before his intervention, the audience was surprised by his appearance on the stage, and he later spoke about the reasons for his request to shorten the show's duration, as it is a work that does not fit the circumstances of its presentation with the privacy of the university. He said: «The artist took off part of her clothes in front of the students and the audience, and this is not welcome. I personally have three daughters, and the clothes they wear in the city of Nazareth in the occupied Palestinian interior in 1948 differ from that in the city of Nablus, for example. We must take into account the general taste and traditions of the society in which we are.
The suspension of the show caused a wave of anger against him inside the hall, and sparked a great controversy on social media, as some considered it "violence against women and an assault on art and theater."
his musical compositions
Ghawi’s musical production was divided between some orchestral works, including: a work called The Sheikh’s March, and a symphonic work entitled “A Tour in the Neighborhoods of Nazareth.”
He also contributed to composing the lyrical works of a number of poets, such as: the anthem “I am from this city” from the words of the poet Tawfiq Ziyad, and the red Tuesdays from the poetry of Ibrahim Touqan, and the anthem “Hatwa fi Qaffi al-Qayd” and the anthem “A Thousand Times Easier” by the poet Tawfiq Ziyad, and others.
He also contributed to the composition of some epics, such as: The Kafr Qassem Epic, from the poems of Tawfiq Ziyad. The epic includes fully composed pieces and other passages closer to the recital, and the Ghorba epic from the poetry of Jamal Kawar.
his death
He passed away on the morning of Monday, July 27, 2020, at the age of 69, as a result of an incurable disease.
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