1929

Abdallah, Ould Lamine (b. 1929) was a French former long-distance runner who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Alternative names include:

Abdallah, Ould Lamine
Ould Lamine Abdallah


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Akef, Naima

Naima Akef (b. October 7, 1929, Tanta, Egypt - d. April 23,  1966) was a famous Egyptian belly dancer during the Egyptian cinema's golden age and starred in many films of the time. Naima Akef was born in Tanta on the Nile Delta. Her parents were acrobats in the Akef Circus (run by Naima’s grandfather), which was one of the best known circuses at the time. She started performing in the circus at the age of four, and quickly became one of the most popular acts with her acrobatic skills. Her family was based in the Bab el Khalq district of Cairo, but they traveled far and wide in order to perform.

The circus disbanded when Naima was 14, but this was only the beginning of her career. Her grandfather had many connections in the performance world of Cairo and he introduced her to his friends. When Naima’s parents divorced, she formed an acrobatic and clown act that performed in many clubs throughout Cairo. She then got the chance to work in Badeia Masabny's famous nightclub, where she became a star and was one of the very few who danced and sang. Her time with Badeia, however, was short-lived, as Badeia favored her, which made the other performers jealous. One day they ganged up on her and attempted to beat her up, but she proved to be stronger and more agile and won the fight. This caused her to be fired, so she started performing elsewhere.

The Kit Kat Club was another famous venue in Cairo, and this is where Naima was introduced to film director Abbas Kemal.  Kemal's brother, Hussein Fawzy, also a film director, was very interested in having Naima star in one of his musical films.  The first of such films was "Al-Eich wal malh" (Bread and Salt).  Her costar was singer Saad Abdel Wahab, the nephew of the legendary singer and composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab.  The film premiered on January 17, 1949, and was an instant success, bringing recognition also to Nahhas Film studios.  

Naima quit acting in 1964 to take care of her only child, a son from her second marriage to accountant Salaheldeen Abdel Aleem.  She died two years later from cancer at the age of 36.  

A selective filmography of  Naima Akef reads as follows:

Aish Wal Malh (1949)

Lahalibo (1949).

Baladi Wa Khafa (1949).

Furigat (1950).

Baba Areess (1950).

Fataat Al Sirk (1951).

Ya Halawaat Al Hubb (1952).

Arbah Banat Wa Zabit (1954).

Aziza (1955).

Tamr Henna (1957) with Ahmed Ramzy, Fayza Ahmed and Rushdy Abaza.

Amir El Dahaa (1964).

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*****

Abdelkader Alloula (Arabic: ‎عبد القادر علولة) (b. 1929 in Ghazaouet, Algeria - d. March 10, 1994 in Oran, Algeria) was an Algerian playwright. He was assassinated by Islamists. 

Alloula was born in Ghazaouet in western Algeria, and studied drama in France. He joined the Algerian National Theatre upon its creation in 1963 following independence. His works, typically in vernacular Algerian Arabic, included:

• El-Aaleg (1969) - "The Leech", a satire of corrupt administration
• El-Khobza (1970) - "Bread"
• Homq Salim (1972) - "Salim's Madness", a monologue based on Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman
• Hammam Rabbi (1975) - "The Lord's Bath", based on Gogol's The Government Inspector
• The Generous Trilogy:
  • El-Agoual (1980) - "The Sayings"
  • El-Adjouad (1984) - "The Generous"
  • El-Litham (1989) - "The Veil"

He was working on an Arabic version of Tartuffe when he was assassinated by two members of FIDA (Islamic Front for Armed Jihad) during Ramadan on March 10, 1994, as he left his house in Oran. His widow, Radja Alloula, and friends set up the Abdelkader Alloula Foundation in his memory.

His brother, Malek Alloula, was also a noted Algerian writer.

*****

Ahmed Fouad Negm (Arabic: احمد فؤاد نجم‎) (b. May 22, 1929 – d. December 3, 2013), popularly known as el-Fagommi (الفاجومي), was an Egyptian vernacular poet.  Negm is well known for his work with Egyptian composer Sheikh Imam, as well as his patriotic and revolutionary Egyptian Arabic poetry. Negm has been regarded as "a bit of a folk hero in Egypt."

Ahmed Fouad Negm was born in Sharqia, Egypt, to a family of fellahin. His mother, Hanem Morsi Negm, was a housewife, and his father Mohammed Ezat Negm, a police officer. Negm was one of seventeen brothers. Like many poets and writers of his generation, he received his education at the religious Kutaab schools managed by El-Azhar.

When his father died, Ahmed went to live with his uncle Hussein in Zagazig,  but was placed in an orphanage in 1936 where he first met the famous singer Abdel Halim Hafez.  In 1945, at the age of 17, he left the orphanage and returned to his village to work as a shepherd. Later, he moved to Cairo to live with his brother who eventually kicked him out only to return to his village again to work in one of the English camps while helping with guerilla operations.

After the agreement between Egypt and Britain, the Egyptian National Workers’ Movement asked everyone in the English camps to quit their job. Negm was then appointed by the Egyptian government as a laborer in mechanical workshops. He was imprisoned for 3 years for counterfeiting form, during which he participated and won first place in a writing competition organized by the Supreme Council for the Arts. He then published his first collection “Pictures from Life and Prison” in vernacular Egyptian Arabic and became famous after Suhair El-Alamawi introduced his book while he was still in prison. After he was released, he was appointed as a clerk in the organization for Asian and African peoples. He also became a regular poet on Egyptian radio.

Negm lived in a small room on the rooftop of a house in the Boulaq el-Dakror neighborhood. When he met singer and composer Sheikh Imam in the Khosh Adam neighborhood, they became roommates and formed a famous signing duet. Negm was also imprisoned several times due to his political views, particularly his harsh criticism of Egyptian presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak.

The residence of Ahmed Fouad Negm in the poorest neighborhoods of Cairo, Egypt, exposed him to the most talented professionals such as Sheikh Imam Issa, and impoverished poets and artists. It was Sheikh Imam in particular who compensated Negm for the earlier rejection by his orphanage-mate Abdel Halim Hafez.

In 1962, Negm was introduced to Sheikh Imam by a friend who believed that the two, poet Negm and composer Imam, could make a perfect duo. On the first occasion, Negm noticed that Imam took over an hour to tweak the strings of the Oud before starting his first demonstration to the new guest. Negm shouted "Allah" upon listening to Imam's singing and playing the Oud. The blind Sheikh was equally longing for inspiring words of the sort Negm had. That was the spark that lasted 30 years of concerted writing by Negm, composing by Imam, and singing by the two combined.

Negm was quick enough to sense that the blind Sheikh was a hidden treasure of Islamic literacy and music talent, and with his physical handicap, he could use the help of Negm's eyes and words. Hence, Negm proposed to stay in Imam's residence. As he recounted, his other rented room had property worth 6 Egyptian pounds, thus if he threw away the key for his other room, the landlord was required to take three months before breaking into the room and possessing its contents. Negm took the risk, abandoned his rented room with its contents and stuck with Sheikh Imam from 1962 throughout 1995.

In the early hours of 3 December 2013, Negm died at the age of 84 in Cairo.  

In 2007, Negm was chosen by the United Nations Poverty Action as Ambassador of the poor.

Ahmed Fouad Negm won the 2013 Prince Claus Award for ‘Unwavering Integrity’.