An Egyptian union is attacking electro-chaâbi, at the request of the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who sees this popular movement as an affront to “morality” and at “good taste”.
“Whoever mentions the word mahraganat on his videos will be immediately removed, this word will completely disappear from our lives”, warned the head of the musicians’ union Mostafa Kamel at a recent press conference.
In October, the same union, which depends on the Ministry of Culture, temporarily suspended the work permits of artists from the Mahraganat movement, “holidays” in Arabic, a true mode of expression for young people on a mix of popular and electronic music. Electro-chaabi, another name for mahraganat, is a far cry from the pop melodies that dominate the Arab world.
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And in early 2020, the union had called “all tourist establishments, cruise ships, nightclubs and cafes not to do business” with the musicians of this musical genre. But nothing helped, the singers continued to take the stage in front of thousands of young people resuming their heady self-tuned tunes.
Bling music
Flirt, dream of social ascent, ego trip and bling-bling codes, their words are on everyone’s lips in Egypt where more than half of the inhabitants are under 25 years old. When Mostafa Kamel was elected, some hoped that this popular singer, who also talked about romance backed by convertible cars in his music videos, would be more lenient with a genre regularly attacked by the cultural establishment.
But he stayed on the same line. There will now be two categories for Egyptian artists: those whose voice will be judged at the level by the union will be eligible for the title of “popular singer”the others will fall into the section “vocal performance”. These will be convened every three months by the union which will assess whether their performance “respect the union, the fatherland and the young people”, explained Mostafa Kamel. Artists of the electro-chaabi movement will also have to “submit their texts to the censorship office of the Ministry of Culture” and take an oath not to “contravening Egyptian morality”even if they perform abroad.
“So if we want to talk about life, our daily lives, we have to wait for someone to tell us how to do it?”got carried away Moscow, rap singer, a genre that flirts with the mahraganates in Egypt, in a video seen by tens of thousands of Internet users.
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The union wants to have control over the writing but also to force the singers to “to employ musicians registered with the union”, hammered Mostafa Kamel, denouncing the rampant unemployment in the ranks of his union. To go on stage, the singers of mahraganat will have to surround themselves with at least 12 musicians. For rappers, six will be enough: “a pianist, a bassist, two guitarists, a drummer and a percussionist”detailed Mostafa Kamel.
class contempt
It is this point in particular that made the artists jump because the mahraganat proudly claim to be the music of artists without means. Born in the working-class neighborhoods of Cairo when free sound processing software appeared in the early 2000s, they have attracted those who have always been excluded from conservatories and traditional schools of Arabic scholarly music.
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For critic Joseph Fahim, “the contempt for the mahraganates displayed by middle-class supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi’s power stems from self-denial”. In a recent forum, he sees “a refusal to recognize that the mahraganates embody the majority of society, that this is how young men speak, dress, think and love”.
Rap and mahraganat are the two most listened to musical styles in Egypt since the “revolution” who overthrew Hosni Mubarak in 2011, embodying a festive youth determined to break the shackles of a conservative society. And if in their country – one of the beacons of Arab song – the mahraganats are struggling to gain official recognition, one of the leading figures of the movement, Hamo Bika, is having a full house these days on the other side of the Red Sea… in Saudi Arabia!