Poet Khalifa takes home COLAPESCE
A Bahraini poet has been honoured for his 50 years of dedication to preserving Bahrain’s folk heritage and linking it to global intangible cultural heritage. Poet Ali Abdullah Khalifa received the 2024 COLAPESCE Award for Creative Excellence in Global Cultural Achievement from the University of Messina, a prominent institution in southern Italy.
Born in Muharraq on March 4, 1944, to a family of pearl divers, Khalifa received his education in Bahrain. Through his own efforts, he continued on a path towards acquiring a wide breadth of general knowledge. As a poet and a researcher in popular culture, Khalifa writes his poems in both classical Arabic and the vernacular of his native country. His first poems were published in Bahrain and Lebanon in the early 1960s, and his first collection of poems was published by Dar Al-Ilm Lil-Millain in Beirut in 1969.
Khalifa’s illustrious career includes guiding Danish Professor Poul Olsen in 1963 and Swiss Professor Simon Jargy in 1966, as well as conducting extensive fieldwork across the Arabian Gulf. His efforts spanned regions such as Dhofar and Sohar in Oman and Wadi Al Dawasir in Saudi Arabia in 1978. Additionally, Khalifa’s contributions to Iraq’s Popular Heritage magazine and the establishment of the Gulf States Folklore Centre in Qatar in 1981, funded by seven countries, underscore his influence and commitment.
In 1983, Khalifa organised four major international conferences in Doha, bringing together global academics to design field collection strategies and train locals in documentation methods. These initiatives led to the formation of research teams that gathered oral heritage from the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. Furthermore, he launched Qatar’s Folk Traditions journal in 1985 and established Bahrain’s Popular Culture Archive for Research and Publications in 2008, supported by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
The multilingual journal Popular Culture, founded and overseen by Khalifa, has been a cornerstone of peer-reviewed research for 17 years. Distributed to 167 countries, it is recognised by major universities as a reference for academic promotions. Professor Lillo Alessandro, Chair of the Award Committee, praised Khalifa’s significant contributions, including his election as the first president of the International Organisation of Folk Art (IOV) in Bergamo, Italy, in 2016.
Khalifa’s professional career also includes that as of the founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Abdul Rahman Kanoo Cultural Centre since 1994, Director General of the Cultural Research Department of the Royal Court in Bahrain since 2001, Director General of Folk Culture for Studies, Research and Publishing since November 2007, Editor-in-Chief of Folk Culture Journal since January 2008, Director of the Department of Cultural and Scientific Affairs at the Issa Cultural Centre since 2008, Secretary General of the Isa Award for Service to Humanity since 2010, and Founder/Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Book Forum since 2019.
Khalifa established IOV’s first headquarters in Manama with a Bahraini team, facilitated scholarships in folklore studies in the UK, Egypt, and Tunisia, and negotiated unprecedented collaboration among six international organisations, earning UNESCO’s appreciation. His unwavering commitment to cultural preservation and global collaboration continues to inspire and enrich the world’s understanding of intangible cultural heritage.