MIDDLE EAST PROFILES SERIES – INTERVIEW WITH EGYPT’S MAHMOUD REFAT – PART 2

Freedom Beat teamed up with Arash Sobhani of the Iranian band Kiosk, and Iranwire.com on a series of documentary profiles of contemporary Middle Eastern music artists who engage in nonviolent resistance through the medium of music. Arash traveled with journalist Jahanshah Javid of Iranwire to Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon in August of 2013 to meet musicians, interview them, share ideas, and to play music together.

Remixing Music For Resistance by Cassie Balfour

Mahmoud Refat, an independent electronic music producer, believes that a country’s borders shouldn’t dictate who can claim a certain type of music. Instead, when it comes to music, sounds should flow freely through checkpoints, free of labels like “western” or “middle eastern.” Refat emphasized that he doesn’t categorize music according to where it comes from, and his electronic music, which echoes sounds endemic to Detroit and is remixed around the world, supports his mantra. Music of resistance that remixes and borrows music from across cultures has the potential to build international solidarity or create unity among disparate groups of people. Many Egyptian musicians borrowed and repurposed both “imported” and historical Egyptian music and repackaged it strategically during the Egyptian revolution.

Some artists, like the rapper and journalist, Mohamed El-Deeb who was active during the Egyptian revolution, recognized that the “speak-truth-to-power” appeal of rap as well as it’s poetic lyricism, would appeal to Egyptians, who have long revered poetry even as a contemporary interest in poetry wanes in other countries. However, El-Deeb’s raps caught the attention of international media outlets as well and had the dual purpose of not only appealing to Egyptians in Egypt who could actively participate in demonstrations, but also helped build international solidarity among listeners around the world attracted to his beats. Deeb gave interviews in English and subtitled his music videos in English, which undoubtedly helped amplify some of the concerns about the revolution by drawing attention to Cairo.

Deeb’s verses bristle at injustice, but coyly skirt around directly identifying the perpetrators. In an interview with Cafe Babel, Deeb said that before Mubarak fell he never explicitly named names or implicated the government during the Mubarak regime, instead he chose to strategically omit any identifying details in favor of more vague terms so the government wouldn’t censor his music. Like Refat, Deeb doesn’t believe that genres should be tethered to one culture, saying in the interview with Cafe Babel that hip-hop, “‘Isn’t just a western creation; hip hop demonstrates the power of poetry, and Arabs love poetry very much. After the revolution many Egyptians got into hip hop because they saw the artists perform in Tahrir Square and they listened to the songs circulated on social media.”

Although many western news outlets were quick to characterize music of the Arab Spring as being  merely “soundtracks” to the revolution, music of resistance was utilized strategically and played an integral role in galvanizing support for the Egyptian revolution.

One band reached across decades to repurpose traditional music and poetry, appealing to Egyptians from all walks of life. Eskenderella, which was founded in 2001 by a group of Egyptian musicians from Alexandria, are well known in Egypt and on the international stage for covering and repackaging historical Egyptian songs by Arab composers such as Sheikh Imam and Sayeed Darwish as well as teaming up with famous Egyptian poets to set their poetry to music. Consciously or unconsciously, reworking traditional songs and poetry is a strategic way to appeal to more people and to invite people to listen to the movement’s demands because these songs and poems were already accessible to a wide array of Egyptians. Applying famous, traditional poetry and songs to the contemporary revolution was a way to connect Egyptians who love these historical pieces to modern day injustices and to create a sense of unity among many Egyptians.

Eskenderella participated in the Egyptian revolution, playing their music to large, diverse crowds in Tahrir Square. The band played Darwish songs such as “Qum Ya Masri” (Rise Up, oh Egyptian). When picking songs to galvanize crowds of people into continuing a mass direct action, it is no accident that musicians deployed poetry that vast swathes of Egyptians were already familiar with, and the politically active members of Eskenderella weren’t simply reporting on the revolution (like a soundtrack does), they were participating in it.

Creating unity among large swathes of people is absolutely critical for movements to thrive and succeed. The more people who participate in a nonviolent movement, the more likely it will be viewed as legitimate and powerful. The sweeping aerial shots lingering over the thousands of Egyptians who had flooded Tahrir Square right before the Mubarak regime fell demonstrated that a critical mass of people from diverse backgrounds were committed to the 2011 nonviolent revolution.

Music that appealed to all Egyptians simply because it was about being Egyptian, as opposed to a Christian or Muslim or other potentially dividing forces, reinforced the unity between diverse groups, from people coming from the upper-echelons of the Egyptian elite to children who grew up navigating the informal market in Cairo. Tahrir Square was renowned for being a public space where all could mingle together during the revolution, and music played a critical role in keeping this unity alive and beckoning people to the square.

Like Refat says in his video, music has no boundaries. Even though Egypt is still struggling to achieve the revolution’s goals, music was utilized to unite Egyptian citizens during the revolution and build international solidarity, and there is no doubt that Egypt’s music of resistance will continue to be remixed and repurposed in order to heal divisions, bring people back to the square, and appeal to allies outside of Egypt’s borders.

Cassie Balfour is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan and a Communications and Media Associate at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.  She had the opportunity to study and intern in Cairo, Egypt in 2012 where she witnessed first-hand how art was leveraged to create meaningful social change. Follow her on Twitter.

Executive Producers: Maziar Bahari, Daryn Cambridge, Tim O’Keefe
Produced by Jahanshah Javid
Directed by Tim O’Keefe, Arash Sobhani, Irene Su
Edited by Irene Su
Interviews by Jahanshah Javid, Arash Sobhani
Camera & Sound by Mohammad Talani, Jahanshah Javid
Freedom Beat logo animation by Sang Un Jeon
Freedom Beat Middle East Series animation by Beth Wexler
Music by Tim O’Keefe

Special thanks to Iranwire.com and The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict for their support & collaboration in the making of this series.