posted
• Black Egyptians sue and demand album be banned • Row casts fresh light on racism in region
by Jack Shenker in Cairo guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 November 2009 18.37 GMT
Haifa Wehbe, one of the Middle East’s biggest pop stars. Photograph: Joseph Barrak/AFP
One of the Arab world's biggest pop stars has provoked a torrent of outrage after releasing a song which refers to black Egyptians as monkeys.
Haifa Wehbe, an award-winning Lebanese diva who has been voted one of the world's most beautiful people, is now facing a lawsuit from Egyptian Nubians claiming the song has fuelled discrimination against them and made some Nubian children too afraid to attend school.
The row has cast fresh light on the position within Egyptian society of Nubians, who are descended from one of Africa's most ancient black civilisations and yet often face marginalisation in modern Egypt.
Wehbe, a 35-year-old model turned actress and singer, is widely regarded as the Middle East's most prominent sex symbol and has been no stranger to controversy in the past. Her skimpy outfits and provocative lyrics (one previous hit was entitled Hey, Good Little Muslim Boy) have earned her the wrath of religious conservatives and forays into the political arena have also sparked debate, including her very public praise for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the 2006 conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
The latest accusations of racism came after the release of her new song, Where is Daddy?, in which a child sings to Wehbe, "Where is my teddy bear and the Nubian monkey?".
Wehbe has since apologised profusely for the offending lyrics, insisting they were penned by an Egyptian songwriter who told her that "Nubian monkey" was an innocent term for a popular children's game. That hasn't stopped a group of Nubian lawyers submitting an official complaint to Egypt's public prosecutor and calling for the song to be banned.
"Everyone is upset," said Sayed Maharous, 49, the Nubian owner of a coffee shop in Cairo. Adul Raouf Mohammed, who runs a nearby store, agreed. "To compare a human being to an animal is insulting in any culture. She has denigrated an entire community of people, and now some of our children are afraid to go into school because they know they will be called monkeys in the playground."
The row over Wehbe's song has highlighted a growing sense of communal identity among Nubians in Egypt, a country where the government has traditionally promoted a very monolithic brand of nationalism, sometimes to the exclusion of religious or ethnic minorities.
Despite breaking through into the cultural mainstream – several Nubian novelists are well-regarded within Egyptian intellectual circles and Nubian singers such as Mohammed Mounir are among the most popular in the country – Egypt's estimated two million Nubians remain largely invisible on television and film, except as lampooned stereotypes.
Interesting video and yeah she's stunning looking!!
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Egyptian Censorship forbids Haifa’s new clip from airing
Posted: 24-11-2009 , 13:46 GMT
Dr. Sayed Al Khatab who is the president of the Egyptian censorship had made a decision to forbid the new clip for the song “Baba Feen” (where Is Daddy) for the famous Lebanese superstar Haifa Wahbe, claiming that she had made some inappropriate remarks about the Egyptian ethnic group the “Nuba”. He also points out that the song did not get the official permission to air.
Sayed stated that he refuses any type of insults on any group of people in the Egyptian culture especially after meeting one of the parliament members who is part of “Al Nuba” people.
The parliament member calls on the Egyptian censorship to interfere and to stop Haifa’s new song from airing on television. “Al Nuba” people were furious with the lyrics that Haifa used like “Al Qird Al Noby” (Al Nuba Monkey).
It is needless to say that Haifa’s new song has been facing problems since it started airing, because the poet Mustafa Camel, who wrote the song, filed a lawsuit against Haifa for presenting the song without his permission.
posted
Well good it's about time they had this conversation in Egypt..I do hope they don't stop there but demand to take their place at the table of every aspect of Egyptian life...they do need a counter African centered culture. Make that fight happend people we in the west did it back from the 30~now..the high point was in the 60ts~70ts but that fight and counter African centered culture needs to take place.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic