May, 1998:

* Visual Arts:

- Artist Nabil Anani held his eighth solo exhibit at the Wasiti gallery in Jerusalem, showcasing the continuation of his direction towards working with leather and natural dyes.

- A group exhibit of new works by Suleiman Mansour, Tayseer Barakat and Nabil Anani was held at the Ziryab gallery in Ramallah. The show was collection of   works executed in the last 4 years for exhibits in Paris, Sharjah and Scandinavia, which had not been previously exhibited locally.

- The Matall gallery of Ramallah held a week of celebrations in homage to poet Mahmoud Darwish. It featured poetry recitals, monodramas, etc.. As well as an exhibit by Hussni Radwan, Khaled and Hassan Hourani, Suleiman Mansour, Mohammed Khalil, Jawad Malhi, Khalil Rabah and Samir Salameh, of works inspired from Darwish’s works.
 

* Literature:

-Young poet and journalist Mourad El Soudani published his first poetry collection, at the Ministry of Culture Presses: Raghabout, “Desires”.

-Poet Ghassan Zaqtan also published a new collection of poems for the local market, featuring many of his poems of the last few years which had been published outside Palestine. The collection is titled Tarteeb El Wassf,  “The Order of Description”.
 

* Music:

- On May 15th, the 50th anniversary of the Nakba, internationally renowned Tunisian ‘Oud player Anwar Brahem gave a recital of his new works in Ramallah. He had been previously detained for 8 hours at the Allenby bridge by Israeli military authorities, and did not have time to repeat for the concert.

- Marwan Abado’s Palestine concert tour was canceled by the Israelis. See Sakakini May news for details.

- ‘Oud player Samir Jubran continued his tour with a concert in Beit Sahour, as did the Oriental Music Ensemble of the National Conservatory of Music with more concerts in Jerusalem.

- The Jerusalem Choir performed Bach’s Coronation Mass during their annual spring concerts  in Ramallah and Bethlehem.

- Classical guitarist ‘Amer Nakhleh gave a recital of Terraga, Albinez and  Bach works in Jerusalem.
 
- German pianist Friederike Hauf returned to Palestine and gave a recital of Beethoven, Chopin, Mendelssohn, etc.. in Jerusalem.
 

* Cinema:

- A festival of Catherine Deneuve films was organized in Gaza City and Ramallah by the French cultural centers. It featured old films such as “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”. And more recent ones, such as “Ma Saison Préférée”, & “Généalogies d’un Crime”
 

* Theater:

- The Jerusalem Qassaba Theater premiered a new production of Syrian playwright Mohammed Maghout’s satirical play on Arab nationalism in Jerusalem and Ramallah “The Clown” (Al-Mouharrej). The play was directed by George Ibrahim and featured an ensemble cast of regular Qassaba players. The Qassaba also held performances of their production of “Death & the Maiden” in Jerusalem.