Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Sally Hegazy's "Microphone:" Music, Stories, Memories


Mon 05 Jul 2021 | 01:45 AM
Rana Atef

"Microphone: Gowa El Mazzika Hikayat" (Microphone: Beyond Every Tune is a Story) by Sally Hegazy is one of the most impressive newly released books in the 52nd Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF).

The book revolves around simple and catchy links between international figures, music, and stories beyond those simple tunes.

Hegazy told SEE News that those stories were supposed to be released as a series of articles for an online magazine, but unfortunately, the magazine was closed. So, she decided to release those articles in a form of a book.

Next, we asked her about the similarities between her book, and Omar Taher's "Ezaa'et El Aghany" as both share the same concepts. She explained: "I read Taher's book, and it touched me, however, the idea of linking between stories and music was presented before my eyes, and I started arranging my stories before the releasing of Taher's book."

She continued: "There is an obvious difference between my book, and Taher's one which is the concept of autobiography. Taher attempted to represent his own autobiography through music, but, mine is introducing several stories, some of them are related to me, about songs like places, films, characters, and situations."

Hegazy previously mentioned that she designed the cover art of the book. It depicts Marline Monroe and a cassette tape for Alaa' Abdel Khalek, so that was our following question! And the tape is related to the author's memories of the singer's songs.

She answered: "Well, this question aches the minds of everyone who sees the cover! Monroe used to perform certain songs during her films, and her last song was performed two months before her death. Therefore, there are various links between her life and the song."

Next, the writer mentioned that she dedicated one of her articles to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Kennedy referred to her husband's administration as Camelot, and she quoted parts from the play.

Finally, the book carries imagined conversations between the author and several iconic comics back at the time of silent films such as Charlie Chaplin.