Albawaba.com-Amman
By Rafat Sara
Jordanian comedy star Mousa Hjazin is celebrating nowadays the 47th anniversary of his birthday, while his fans are celebrating the 18th anniversary of his art career start.
Hjazin told Albawaba.com, “ I studied music at Helwan University in Cairo after my relatives had convinced my father that I would come back home to work as a music teacher and not as a dancer. Following that I had to prepare myself for a journey by air and not on the back of a donkey as we used to do during travel within our country.
I was a classmate of the renowned Egyptian singer Hani Shaker and student of the late Egyptian musician Ahmed Fuad Hasan who was the Masiyyah Troupe master. After five years of studying music I obtained a degree in music and returned to Amman to teach music at the Orthodox school.
I befriended the lute from the beginning and learnt its principles when I grew older and was scared to abandon it to play another instrument. It saw me as a faithful eastern and I used to see it more developed than the rebec.
I stayed for two months in Baghdad with Mohammed Said and Mazen Ajjawi to play my role in a joint performance entitled Zaatar Zaatar (Thyme, Thyme) along with Iraqi stars including Hind Kamel, Asia Kamal, Shatha Salem and Sami Qaftat.
Once upon a time, my former teacher Victor came to me from the Palestinian town of Jenin where I was born. He offered me to play roles in many plays in Ramallah and told me how Palestine lost security after it had been occupied by the Israelis. He also talked to me about his play performances and the enjoyment of meeting on the sacred soil of Palestine. I responded to him that I wouldn’t like to pollute my passport with the word ‘Israel’ which would be stamped on it in case I had to travel to the occupied Palestine.
People knew me through the series Haret Abu Awwad (Abu Awwad Neighborhood) scripted by Mahmoud al Zyoudi, Fuad al Shomali, Mohammed al Shawaqfeh and Hisham Yanes. They became closer to me through the plays She Ghad (Go) and Zaman al Shaglbah (Time of Upside Down).
After I broke away from my life friends Nabil and Ghassan al Mashini, Rabie Shehab, Abeer Essa, Hassan Ibrahim and Rashidah al Dajani, the audience liked me more particularly in the plays scripted and directed by Mohammed al Shawaqfeh. These included Hi America.. Hi Muwaten (Citizen), Muwaten Hasab al Talab (Citizen as per Request) and Ela Mann La Yuhimmuhu al Amr (To Whom It May not Concern).
I tried to uncover the political, economical and social developments, which we are living and prevailing in the region. I did my best and sometimes I was right but on some occasions I was wrong. My longstanding love to the audience never left my mind. My performance in the play La Tjeebu Sireh (Don’t Tell) marked the return of my spirit to the spirits of my fans.
I tried in collaboration with Rafael Baqqili to fight against ‘regional and racial orientation’ through the series al Elmu Noor (Education is Light) by portraying models of simple people from the Palestinian cities of Nablus, Hebron, Ramleh and Safad and the Jordanian cities of Amman, Sult, Irbid, and al Karak.
