A nice conversation with Dr Kamel O. Mahadin

I am so concentrated on writing about my music experiences that I forget how many other things I could share. For instance about very important people in my life, important men like Kamel Mahadin, my Architect friend. It is so obvious that I forgot to introduce him to you. Now having him in Rome again for his upcoming book Matera/Petra-Petra/Matera, I got the chance to chat with him again and we decided to let you know about his very special impressions of Rome.

. kamel! It so great to have you again in Rome today.
You know why I say again…. how many times have you been in the eternal city in the last past 20 years? let say since we met?
You came for your job…
You came for the pleasure with your family and friends…
Sometimes you came just to find some release..
Tell us your very special experience with Rome /in Rome and with the Romans please…

. I have been visiting Rome for more than 100 times in the past 20 years.

Before this I started coming for my job, I was collaborating with La Sapienza when I was Chairman of the Architecture Department at Jordan University.

Then this led me being more fascinated with Rome and through my love for drawing and sketching I began spending more time reading the urban landscaping and open spaces of the city of Rome. The best thing that happens to me whenever I am here is that I am sure I am charging my soul and building up new waves of the way I look at life.

These colourful historic walls of buildings in Rome taught me a lot about Architetural vocabulary “scale, colour, unity, rythm, variety and harmony” and on how spaces work together in harmony with buildings.

Every time the aroma of the city goes to your soul and tells you not to leave the town. Whether you are sitting at a corner having coffee, my favourite place is Rosati in Piazza del Popolo, or facing the Pantheon and watching the water features with the pigeons moving around it.

The amazing thing is watching people going through the piazzas and the colourful way of their behaviour… almost like dancing with the stars in Rome…

You don’t have to speak the language you have to listen to it or see how Italians dress or how they eat. You never get fed up of Rome and the way people live here. Wether you are in Trastevere or in Villa Borghese or near the Colosseum or at the Vatican, every place has its own piece of story and I think – if I am not mistaking — there is a kind of nostalgic “déjà vu” in all the moments I spent here. The green of Rome, the landscape of old Rome nothing like it anywhere in the world and it summarizes for me the Mediteranean landscape all together.

Cities like Istanbul, Cairo or Rome they always speak to you and keep you attached to them forever. You never feel tired of it. Every return is a new Spanish Steps, new Piazza Navona… you can experience here the richest and the most diverse restaurants… yes they offer similar food but every restaurant has a unique taste.

I slept in 5 stars hotels or 4 and even 3 stars or stayed at some friends houses and for me all of them were amazing experiences.

I always felt safe walking in the streets of Rome at any hour.

Adoring Rome for so many years has been displayed in all my books, more than 1000 watercolours only for Rome and my travels stetch books have some wonderful memories of the city, the people, the spaces and it is not enough I will come again and again and keep on painting what I feel here so deeply.

-Thank you Kamel for these words… I just want to add that anyone interested in contacting you is most welcome and can do it through your offical website.
www.mk-assoc.com