A change in his daughter sparked a concern for Taher Qassim
Taher Qassim, trustee of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival(Image: Colin Lane)
One of the city’s longest-running festivals is returning to the city this Summer. Founded in 1998, Liverpool’s Arab Arts Festival, began with a vision to keep Arab heritage alive.
For more than two decades it has “brought diverse groups of people together, increasing public knowledge and understanding of the richness of the culture”. Alongside this, it has established itself as growing into a platform for Arab artists locally, nationally and internationally.
This year is said to be no different as more Arab artists join to celebrate Liverpool’s unique identity – “a city, with a global community and brimming with artistry, that looks outwards across the world”.
After moving from Yemen in 1995, founder Taher Qassim, a 74-year-old grandad who lives in Garston, started to notice a change in one of his younger daughters. Speaking to friends also of Yemeni descent living in the city, they picked up on how their children had started to raise issues around such things as their names and clothes.
As the few pupils of Arab heritage in south Liverpool primary schools, Taher recalls, they found it difficult to display and celebrate a culture which stood out from the rest of the class.
Taher Qassim, trustee of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival
Hearing this, the former public health official at Liverpool City Council joined with fellow parents and began going from one house to the other having meetings, discussing ways to establish a stronger connection with their country’s traditions.
The importance of learning Arabic was underscored, and so it was decided who was going to do the teaching, how much it was going to cost, where it was going to be.
Taher’s eldest daughter, Afrah Qassim, was one of five teachers who volunteered to give lessons and run after school activities centring on learning Arabic and the region’s wider culture. This work laid the foundation for what is now Liverpool Arabic Centre and paved the way for an event known celebrated as the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival.
Taher, a dad-of-five, told the ECHO: “I’ve been all over the place and been to a lot of cities, but none are quite like Liverpool. Moving here was the best option for us, I love living here, and it was the best place for us to start the festival.
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival family day(Image: Liverpool Arab Arts Festival.)
“It has gotten so people involved now. It’s now part of the culture calendar, and thousands come. When we started we just thought, let’s have fun and get a little bit of presence in the city. But we never expected it to be this big to what it is today.”
This year’s theme is ‘Nostalgia’, which will be explored through music, theatre, visual art, literature and film. LAAF includes one-person performances and family events to film screenings, music homages, embroidery and cultural cuisine workshops and talks.
Several events are already confirmed including Penguin at the Unity Theatre, Hamzeh Al Hussien’s extraordinary story takes you on a personal tour of the places he knows best, Jordanian food and cultural experience with Yamama, Palestine Minus One and a A Grain of Sand by Elias Matar.
As always the festival will come to an end with a LAAF Family Day in Sefton Park. The Palm House will play host to a free afternoon of music, performance and authentic Arab culture, complemented by a range of stalls offering Arabic and Middle Eastern food, arts and crafts.