Hummus-Sana
Eighty-eight years after its founding, the “Doha Al Mimas Club” is still an echo of authenticity and the ancient Arab musical heritage, taking Mimas of Homs as its name and commemorating the women's magazine “Doha Al Mimas” issued in the twenties of the last century by the journalist Mary Abdo Shakra.
Since the club was founded in 1933, generations of cultural and artistic institutions have left their mark in preserving original art, starting with its founder, Murad al-Sebaei, who launched in 1960 the Homs theater troupe and led it ably.
In a statement to SANA, the club's president, Tamam Al-Awani, explained that Dohat Al-Mimas remained a beacon of culture throughout these years, at the level of music or theater, so he specialized in muwashah, role and qad, and toured the provinces and some Arab countries and performed concerts there and presented and embraced prominent names in the world of authentic art such as Naguib Zain Al-Din and Abdul Al-Wahid Al-Shawish, Abdel-Rahman Al-Zayyat, and Amir Al-Bazouq Muhammad Abdul-Karim. Important names took place in his direction, including Farhan Bulbul, Hani Shamout, Saeed Al-Sarraj, Muhammad Berri Al-Awani, and in the field of theater, Maher Oyoun Al-Soud, Mazhar Tulaimat, and others.
The club also visited the musician Muhammad Abdul Wahhab and the two singers Nour Al-Huda and Karawan, and he had great friends such as the Aleppian musician Ali Al-Darwish and Abdul-Latif Al-Nabaki Al-Nayati, who worked in Baghdad as director of the Institute of Arab Music and who used to come to him and exchange experiences.
Al-Awani pointed out that the club members believed in the national culture as a way to distinguish it and embrace the Arab musical heritage, while at the same time they kept pace with the requirements of the modern era, which imposed the use of some modern instruments capable of accompanying Arab singing, such as the electric organ that was synthesized to serve Arab singing styles.
One of the most important goals of the club, according to its president, was to revive the art of Arab representation and music by establishing bonds of friendship with the top Syrian musicians and Arab music lords at the level of the Arab world. Doha Al-Mimas also recorded his national positions in a number of theatrical performances that confronted the French occupation and demanded his evacuation from our homeland.
Al-Awani stressed the club's constant keenness to participate in various social and cultural events in Homs and abroad, especially in cultural centers and civil associations, by presenting rich artistic programs that meet the artistic taste of the diverse audience by presenting traditional links and modern songs consistent with the nature of contemporary Arab singing.
Okay El Hassan
