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Hisham Matar

Michael Berkeley is joined by is Libyan author Hisham Matar. His choices include Arabic music as well as Chopin, Sibelius, Ligeti, Schubert and Bob Dylan.

Michael Berkeley's guest is the novelist Hisham Matar, who was born in New York to an affluent Libyan family. They moved back to Tripoli when he was three, but six years later his father was accused by the revolutionary government of being a reactionary, and the family was forced to flee to Egypt. While Hisham Matar was studying architecture in London, his father was kidnapped from his home in Cairo and delivered to the Libyan secret service. The last the family heard of him was in 1995, and they have no idea whether he is still alive, held as a political prisoner, or dead.

Hisham Matar's first novel, 'In the Country of Men', was published in 2006, and nominated for that year's Booker Prize. It is a moving account of the political world of male violence under a brutal dictatorship, mirrored in the domestic sphere where women are the chattels of men.

Hisham Matar has chosen a wide range of music for his Private Passions selection, in which various types of Arabic music are interwoven with works by Chopin (his 'Revolutionary' Study Op.10 No.12), Sibelius's Violin Concerto played by Jascha Heifetz, Ligeti ( a piano piece from 'Musica ricercata'), Schubert (the song 'Nacht und Traume), and Bob Dylan (I Shall be Released, sung by Jeff Buckley).

1 hour

Last on

Sun 29 Aug 2010 12:00
大象传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Shed Alhezam

    Sayid Darweesh

    Performer: Shed Alhezam

    • SAWT AL-QAHIRA 10.

  • Fr茅d茅ric Chopin - Study in C minor, Op.10 No 12 (The Revolutionary)

    Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (piano)

  • [unknown]

    Oghniat Al Wadaa

    Performer: Fairuz

    • EMI ARABIA 01-CC-100010-2.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47 - 3rd movement, Allegro, ma non tanto

    Performer: Kyung-wha Chung. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andr茅 Previn.

    Performer: Jascha Heifetz (violin), Chicago Symphony Orochestra, Walter Hendl

    • RCA RD87019.

  • [unknown]

    Ahwa Kamaran

    Performer: Ghada Shbeir

    • FORWARD MUSIC 63447930017-2.

  • Gy枚rgy Ligeti

    Tempo de Valse (No 4 from Musica ricercata)

    Performer: Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

    • SONY SK 62308.

  • [unknown]

    Leley Leley el Layl Mawal (Part 1) (Vocal Power Demis Roussos)

    Performer: Sabah Fakhri

    • B002IDA78C.

  • Franz Schubert

    Nacht und Tr盲ume

    Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)

    • EMI 565670-2.

  • Nubia Escalay

    Song with Tar (The Water Wheel)

    Performer: Nubia Escalay

    • NONESUCH 72041.

  • Bob Dylan

    I Shall Be Released

    Performer: Jeff Buckley

    • COLUMBIA C2K 89202.

Broadcast

  • Sun 29 Aug 2010 12:00
    大象传媒 Radio 3

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