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Tripoli, 20th May 2007.
I have known Malek since we were kids. Both of us used to spend the summers in Bazbina and we used to enjoy it very much. I always loved the fine arts and I got along very well with those persons in Bazbina who had the inclination towards the arts and showed talents in painting. Malek was on top of the list. To name few others, were Zouhair Chdid, Nicholas Issa, Maurice Boueiry, Saad Moussi etc.
Malek was born in 1942 in Al-Mina (the sea port of Tripoli) where his father, Abdel Razzak, worked there in the Railway Station. In 1963 he earned his BA in fine arts from The University of Texas at Austin. He held many posts, among which he was the principal of the School of Education in Halba and professor of fine arts at the Balamand University. Also, he is a founding member of the Environmental Association for North Lebanon whose head office is at Al-Mina.
My wife Samia and I visited him in his apartment in Al-Mina. His wife Faten welcomed us with her usual cordiality and Malek himself, and in no more than 20 minutes, prepared the best knafeh I have ever tasted. Malek and Faten have three boys who are all graduates and all married with beautiful families.
In another visit to their place, they offered us Bagajah. It is a home prepared sweet that is known only to the Mouraby family of Bazbina. Malek tells me that it is originally a Turkish recipe.
You can contact Malek for the Knafeh and Bagajah recipes on his mobile phone
+961-3-431470.
I show below some of Malek's paintings which were displayed at his apartment:
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