08 October 2005
BEIRUT: For the second year in a row two artists from the Middle East have been honored in the annual Prince Claus Awards for Culture and Development. Egyptian comic dramatist Lenin El-Ramly and Iranian satirist Ibrahim Nabavi will both receive $25,000 in recognition of their work over the last 30 years, the Fund announced on Thursday.
The principal award of $100,000 goes to South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (more famously known as Zapiro) for his role in stimulating social and cultural development in South Africa. Zapiro's satire in cartoon form is edgy, cutting and subtle, scrutinizing eloquently the current social and political realities of South Africa, the African continent and the global arena. This year the Prince Claus Fund opted for the theme of "Humor and Satire" and not without reason.
Around the globe writers, musicians, artists, comedians and cartoonists are using humor and satire to critique and express their views on the conditions in which they live, and many are virtually unknown outside their own countries.
Last year famed Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish won the principal award for his life's work under the theme "The Positive Results of Asylum and Migration," and in what seems to be a continued theme for the awards, an increasing number of Middle Eastern figures are gaining recognition every year.
"The Fund is focusing on and looking for quality, and because in the Arab world there is a lot of artistic/cultural quality, it is on that criteria we decide to give an award," the Fund's media spokesperson Christine Wagner said.
Both Ramly and Nabavi are deserved winners.
Ramly was born in Cairo in 1945 and is a man who, as a comic dramatist, audaciously questions the social conventions, hypocrisies and bigotries of both Egyptian society and the Arab world. His work encompasses popular television dramas, experimental theater, and an oeuvre of approximately 40 plays and 12 films. His dramatic techniques vary from farce and parody to satire and the absurd.
Wagner indicated that Ramly was given the Prince Claus prize for his emphasis on political satire and comedy, and for maintaining a balance between popular entertainment and serious social, political and ideological satire.
A satirist who believes his job is to unmask those who propagate fallacies - be they politicians or clerics - Nabavi was born in1958 in Iran. He deploys his incisive wit to parody official speeches and statements, and to undermine allegations and rationalizations. Through his work in the Iranian press, Nabavi has single-handedly reinstated a long tradition of political satire despite the risk of imprisonment. In 2002 he was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
For the first time this year, recognition was also given to an Armenian, the poplar 50-year-old actor, singer and comedian Michael Poghosian, for using comedy and satire to stimulate the creation of an open society and democracy in Armenia.
The Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development was established to mark the 70th birthday of Prince Claus of the Netherlands on September 6, 1996, with the purpose of "expanding insight into cultures and promoting interaction between culture and development."
This year is the ninth year of the awards, which are chosen by a distinguished panel of judges and former laureates.
The other honorees are Kenyan dancer and choreographer Opiyo Okach, Brazilian archaeology professor Ni?de Guidon, Indonesian contemporary puppet master Slamet Gundono, Tanzanian cultural historian Abdel-Sheriff, Zimbabwean stand-up comic Edgar Langeveldt, Argentinian cartoonist Joaquin Salvador Lavado (alias Quino), and Congolese painter Ch?ri Samba.
For more info on this year's Prince Claus Awards go to www.princeclausfund.org
