Palestinian Cultural Evening at AJA Lisbon

The MPPM promoted yesterday, Friday, at the Lisbon chapter of Associação José Afonso, a Palestinian Cultural Evening with music, poems and gastronomy.

Teresa Palma Fernandes introduced the session, which started with a reference to José Afonso, the patron of the place, where we were, listening to his song "Kissinger's Puppets" in which, at a certain point, he sings: "At the point of a rifle the People of Palestine / Sent Golda Meir a message divine ".

This was followed by the screening of the documentary "The Palestinian Culture" produced by the MPPM.

The actor Marques d'Arede began the reading of poems, starting with the poem "To Ahmed, Child of Palestine" by Guadalupe Portelinha.
Actress Maria Emília Castanheira then joined him to read poems by several Palestinian authors. Mazen Sabra, a Palestinian living in Portugal, accompanied them on the oud.

To conclude, we had several interpretations of the famous poem "To My Mother", by Mahmoud Darwich.

First, Mazen Sabra interpreted Marcel Khalife's version to music; then Maria Emília Castanheira and Marques d'Arede voiced the poem in Portuguese and, finally, Adel Sidarus said the poem in Arabic.

Mazen Sabra closed the space dedicated to poetry by interpreting a song of his authorship on the oud.

A Palestinian gastronomy tasting followed, in which mint tea accompanied falafel wraps and pita dips in hummus, culminating with a selection of Palestinian sweets.

The best conclusion to this tribute, through its culture, to a people that has managed to maintain, through decades of suffering, persecution and exile, its own identity and its fidelity to its motherland, systematically plundered, destroyed and occupied.