UMMA - Biased or Just Cute?

I toured the museum once with Afsheen, then set out on a slightly different adventure to find answers.  In my quest to discover the mystery of the missing art exhibit on Middle Eastern and / or Islamic art, I recently contacted the UMMA regarding their policy on exhibits and selection of art to be displayed. 

My questions and answers will be outlined shortly, however, suffice it to say that while the museum workers seem to have good intentions, my conclusions from our conversations may be a bit pessimistic, but hey, it’s my opinion, so feel free to draw your own conclusions. 

When researching the Middle Eastern exhibition, I found on the UMMA website that there seems to be a substantial collection in the area….

            So when I asked UMMA one of the responses I got was that there simply wasn’t much?? (and I was pointed to the lovely plate which Afsheen has a brilliant picture of).

            A response from another UMMA staff was that there wasn’t a significant donation to create a permanent exhibit, and yes, the UMMA does have a good collection in the area which comes in and out of rotation.

However, my correspondence with the Museum did lead to a great deal more knowledge about how art is selected for exhibition and galleries.  It seems that the museums are largely dependent on donations, which explains why our museum over-represents some regions of the world while shunning others.  Also, it appears that art attracts similar art, and as museums come to be known for certain collections they invariably gather more of these materials through charitable contributions.  Finally, the curators have some say in the matter, and the simple fact is that there have not been Middle Eastern curators at the museum while there have been a number of Asians, etc.

Still, I have to agree with Afsheen that the exhibits seemed sub-par when it came to representing many parts of the world.  (even the architecture exhibit had nothing from the Middle East where some of the most amazing buildings are conceived). 

After thinking about the ideological work of representation for the last semester, one cannot but help to question the work that is done when a museum represents so many cultures and at the same time shuns so many others.  What does this say about the importance of art from these neglected regions?  How come Africa and Asia are largely represented by exotics, yet their architecture and contemporary art are rather ignored?  How can a museum represent everything on a limited budget and donations while still showing appreciation to donors and not shunning anyone?

The questions here are many, but go out and decide for yourself what ideological work is done by the museum.  It really is remarkable, and whatever you decide, it is a great little place to study and browse are Orientalist past, present, and future?

My Review of "Paradise Now"

This afternoon I watched director Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now". We had watched short clips of this in class, but watching the entire film was a much more meaningful experience. The movie did an excellent job of depicting a perspective we rarely hear about in the American media. It is a story of two best friends, Said and Khaled, who decide to sacrifice their lives as suicide bombers in resistance to the occupation of their downtrodden Palestinian hometown of Nablus.

The imagery of the film is very powerful, and serves as an effective means of communicating the hopelessness both men feel. In one scene, they stare out into the desolate vastness of their city. They are stuck in hell; Nablus is a crumbling city home to a crumbling people. Violence is an everyday occurence, and with very little economic opportunities available, Sayid and Khaled are easily swayed by promises of prosperity and immortality in the afterlife. Khaled justifies their decision to become a suicide bomber by saying, "in this life, we're dead anyways".

But are they? The movie hints that there are things to live for, even in the most hopeless of situations. There is laughter, family, and love, even in the lives of would-be suicide bombers. The movie lets the audience dwell on the multi-dimensional layers of relationships that Sayid and Khaled have with the people around them. Many of those who love the two men have no idea of their intentions, and this tension is difficult to watch. As much as this is a story of young men (or "boys", as they are often referred), the role Palestinian women play is equally, if not more important.

The women in the storyline are often burdened with the consequences of the actions of rash men. Suha, Sayid's love interest, knows this all too well. She lost her father, who others proclaim as a hero, to the struggle against Israel. Sayid's mother knows loss intimately as well; she lost here husband to an execution, and at the end she loses her son too.

Even though one of the men "comes to their senses" so to speak, the story is still a bleak one. Khaled remains alive, but without his best friend. It took more bravery to abort their mission than go through with it. The living have to bear the weight of what the dead left behind.

The fact that the movie never makes a firm ideological stand makes it even more powerful, in my mind. The Israel-Palestine conflict is tragically complex, and the violence is predictably cyclical. The result: innocent people on both sides become victims of its collateral damage. When will it stop?

Rachelle Megan Halasa

I had the pleasure of interviewing my friend, whom I mentioned in the last post. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to also interview a relative of hers but maybe I will be able to do that and post it after we present. For now, here are some of my questions and her answers:


Alka: Where were you born?
Rachelle: Johnson City, Tennessee. I moved to Michigan when I was in kindergarten because of my dad’s work.

A: What does it mean to you to be an Arab American? In what ways are you Arab and American?
R: You know, I never really identify myself as an Arab American. I always say I’m Jordanian. I think I identify more with being Jordanian than American because everyone here is American or American citizens and it makes me sound more unique to associate myself with my Jordanian identity. “Arab” encompasses a large population and Jordanian means I’m from a specific country. If I say I’m Arab, I could be from Morrocco.
I live here and I have all the opportunities that other Americans have so in that way, I’m American. I think that’s what sets me apart from my parents. They’re Jordanian, not natural born American citizens so I have more opportunities than they did and also, I feel like I’m more aware of the freedoms I have and I take advantage of them more than my parents do. Like say my mom to this day has never voted but I stood in line for three hours just so I could vote for the first time because it meant so much to me. Although I’m American and have the same opportunities, I’m also Jordanian because I know some Arabic and I’m familiar with all the foods and some of the cultural traditions because of my parents.

A: What's the biggest difference between here and when you visit Jordan? How are women treated?
R: I visited in fifth grade so a lot has probably changed since then but I do remember feeling kind of uncomfortable walking in the streets sometimes by myself and I would never wear shorts. Like here, I always wear shorts…I would never wear shorts while I’m there. I think my dad told me not to wear shorts and no one else was either, so I felt uncomfortable. I just remember most of the women covered their bodies and wore a hijab.

A: Is most of your family in America or in Jordan?
R: I probably have more family back in Jordan but we have like a lot here. My mom has ten brothers and sisters and I think like six of them are here. My dad talks to his family on the phone on major holidays and sometimes on the weekends.

A: What do you know about the Israel-Palestine conflict? Which side, if any, do you identify with?
R: Most of what I know is what I learned in school. My parents never talk to me about it. I think it’s like a religious-based conflict or historical-based and my parents don’t know much about history or religion. They’re both more into science, I guess. No, I don’t really have an opinion about the conflict because I don’t know enough about it to have an informed opinion.

A: Did you notice any changes when flying or in the way people treat you in general after 9/11?
R: Personally I wasn’t really affected. Sometimes at school, you’d hear people make jokes about terrorists and Arabs as if they were synonymous. But no one ever personally attacked me or called me out. I remember a few times after 9/11 when I was flying with my dad, he always got the random security checks.

A: What religion does your family identify with? What about you personally?
R: My dad was baptized Catholic and my mom was baptized orthodox Christian. I was baptized orthodox Christian because when I was an infant we were living in Ohio and we were really close with my dad’s side of the family so we went to their church and they were orthodox Christian so they just baptized me there. When I came to Michigan though, we went to a catholic school and I made the personal decision to be confirmed Catholic but that was probably due to the influence of my surroundings. Today, if you ask my parents, they’d probably identify themselves as Christian but neither are active in terms of going to church.

A: What do you think are the most prevalent/damaging stereotypes about Arabs or the Middle East? How do you think we can combat these?
R: Like I said, the current stereotype is Arabs=terrorists and there are also just some misunderstandings about the Muslim faith. I think the media does a lot of their stories on muslim fundamentalists but every religion has their radicals. I think the religion is foreign to begin with and then the media does all their coverage on the fundamentalists which makes people think all Muslims are like that but the religion is actually really similar to Christianity. It’s a monotheistic religion and “Allah” is actually the same thing as the Christian god. I think that people have to be proactive, and look for the facts. The media has already instilled a sterotype that has been in play since 9/11—we can’t undo this damage. Basically, people can not believe everything the media says, and they need to seek the facts through outside sources.

Iranian Typography: A New Form of Graphic Design

I recently came a new emerging art from Iran. Iranian graphic designers are beginning to have their works more recognized outside of Iran. What really makes Iranian graphic design unique is their incorporation of traditional Farsi typography into their works. Iran has always had a deep visual history and Iranian calligraphy has evolved many times over this long history. With the introduction of Islam into Persia a strong bond was made between the two and today Persian calligraphy is an essential piece to Islamic art.

Today young graphic designers are using this ancient art as influence for there work.

Iran: Then and Now

When we think about the images that we are fed of countries in the Middle East such as Iran this is usually what comes to mind.

An angry mob with some sort of anti-American fundamentalist ideals. But what many haven't seen are images portraying a radically different country before the Islamic revolution occurred.



Before the Islamic revolution took place Iran was a very westernized nation, enjoying fashions and trends almost exactly the same to those here in the United States in 60's and 70's. You would be hard pressed to see many difference between fashion in the two countries.

Much has changed since those times as Islamic law is now in effect but hopefully one day the young people of Iran can once again enjoy the freedom of living in a culture that they can have fun in.

An Afternoon at the Museum

I like many others had the privilege of taking a visit to the newly remodeled and renovated art museum here on campus. Since I have been going to school here at Michigan the art musuem had been closed while undergoing its renovation so I really did not know what to expect when I walked in.

I was frankly astonished by the quality and amount of art that was assembled in this collection. Beautiful pieces of art in various forms of medians and from many different eras. As I explored further into the museum I took note of all of the great amount of diversity in the galleries, there seemed to be art from every part of the globe.

Being a student in Amcult 235 I was eager to view the various Middle Eastern art and see if they displayed art with orientalist influence or was counter-hegemonic. I looked in my map of the museum and saw that there was no "Middle Eastern" gallery to be found. I figured that they may have just lumped it in with one of the Asian galleries but after walking through them there was no Middle Eastern or Arab art to be found. I scoured the whole museum and all I was able to turn up was one plate from Iran tucked away in a corner of a hallway.
I found this lack of Middle Eastern art to be very dissapointing. Even after inquiring about the location of any Middle Eastern art by the staff of the museum even they confessed that they could not think of any pieces. I left the museum bittersweetly, I am very happy that we here in Ann Arbor can enjoy a firstrate art museum but at the sametime dissapointed that the majesty of Middle Eastern Art could not be enjoyed by the memebers of the community.

Nancy Ajram

I told a friend of mine (her parents are from Jordan) about our project and she told me about Nancy Ajram, a lebanese singer who is apparently very popular. I did my research on YouTube and found a video (linked below) called Boussi Boussi Bouss. I couldn't find a translation of the song but the video was a little shocking to me.

I was hoping I'd see a video that ideally would show the lived and daily struggles of a woman living in Lebanon. Instead, I saw the same old tropes we've been learning about in class.

The first thing you hear, before the music even starts, is a rooster crowing. The video has so many elements of the primitive and exotic view of the Middle East. The girl is shown washing her clothes in a bucket and then hanging them up on a clothesline outside to dry. Not only that, but there are random ducks and other animals all around her as she's doing this. This is obviously a manifestation of the naturalization trope. The woman in the video is reduced to being shown as innately closer to nature.

The woman is also shown as exotic and forbidden. A man is on the street and she looks at him through her window and is holding her hair in front of her face as if to show how shy and coy she is. She does this several times throughout the five minute video. During the whole video, the man follows her on his bike and at one point, she has a basket on her head and is swaying her hips in front of him. bell hooks would argue that this is a case of Eating the Other. It looks complimentary on the surface but what do we really know about this woman and her relationship with the man, or any other part of her life for that matter?

That being said, I actually really like this song. :)

Boussi Boussi Bouss:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5W_O0w1f-4

Nancy Ajram's Official Website:

http://www.nancyajramonline.com/

Torture on TV

One evening after attending a lecture where we watched a documentary criticizing the way television represents torture on popular shows like "24", I tuned in to "Lost", a show I never miss. Coincidentally, that night's episode would feature a torture scene. Expecting some sort of progress after the criticism, I expected the torture to be more realistic; as I had just learned a few hours earlier, torture rarely works instantly like it does on television.

These expectations quickly proved unrealistic. As I watched Sayid, an Iraqi character known for his own history as a torture artist in Saddam's army, get tortured himself, I couldn't believe that so little had changed. What I witnessed was the classic torture case: a threatening Arab is on the receiving end, and he quickly spills all the details. In this case, Sayid was tied to a tree and forced to ingest a drug that supposedly has psychotropic truth-inducing powers. He proceeds to reveal the frightening truth while laughing maniacally.

Even today, this is a familiar role for Arabs on screen in America. At least the audience is meant to sympathize with Sayid, which is a small way the representation has evolved. But that's no excuse for the stereotype-perpetuating torture scene, which echoes a history of discrimination.

The fact that I tune in every week for pure entertainment speaks to my own culpability, though. They wouldn't produce "Lost" if nobody watched. By garnering millions of viewers, the mainstream media profits from keeping people entertained. As a consumer of entertainment, I should choose to consume art that comes from a diversity of perspectives that meshes with my values a little more.

In that spirit, my next post will be a review of a foreign film that challenges the dominant paradigm that the mainstream media presents. I'll be watching "Paradise Now" (2005, directed by Hany Abu-Assad) this week, and letting you know what I think.

The episode of "Lost" referenced above aired on March 25th, 2009. You can watch it for free online here: http://abc.go.com/player/

U.S. – Iran Standoff ‘09 – Journalists on the front

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/war-zone-2-journalist-cartoon.jpg

When I saw the article on the reporter Roxana Saberi this morning, it seemed destined for our blog…. And serves as a springboard to a discussion of how personal problems become those of state and country.  The stories vary slightly, but in the end, all of the major propaganda networks provide something close to the same thing: an Iranian American has been jailed for 8 years for “spying” in Iran. 

Where the story becomes interesting is how various versions try to appeal to different masses, while also satisfying governmental needs. The networks invariably mention that the secrecy and lack of information coming from the oppressive Iranian state, meant to contrast with that one would see in the “free” world.  Furthermore, depending on the article, it is interesting to note how each news agency helps the reader take ownership over this poor journalist who is at the center of it all.

For example, the BBC article tells us that she is both educated at Northwestern and Cambridge, and, furthermore, she is going on a hunger strike… She has thus been elevated to the status of British elite via her education, and furthermore equated to the most famous protestor to the British Empire, Gandhi, through her method of protest to the sentence.

Al Jazeera, furthermore, takes care to note that she has worked for the BBC, NPR, and Fox News in her reporting career, apparently to demonstrate that she reports mostly for western news…  Also, it is the only article to note that there have already been calls by the U.S. government for her release prior to sentencing.

Fox and the WSJ both focus on defending Saberi as an American and have patriotic undertones that help to accentuate the “us vs. them” relationship represented by the conflict.  

Regardless, the story serves as a constant reminder of the power of the media in current world affairs and the degree to which a journalist can come to represent the relationships between 

states.  It also seems to be eerily similar to the current detention of journalists in North Korea.

Fox

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517041,00.html

Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124005279095031897.html#mod=whats_news_free?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8005660.stm

Al Jazeera

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/200941895439716470.html

AP on North Korea

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hM96sRn69bkN1XDLqb2_pkmFxqdgD979F7J80

Israeli Rock Quarries as Context of Occupation

Because so much of what we know about the Middle East comes from the print news media, I thought that I would do another post on a mainstream news article. Historically, they've had a complicit role in perpetuating stereotypes of Arabs. Over the course of the semester, we've looked at many examples of how the news media treats the Middle East. Said characterizes its approach as rife with "bafflement" and "decontextualization". But I've been looking for examples of how reporting on the Middle East might be progressing. You couldn't find a better example than the Israel-Palestine conflict. In my efforts to counter the mainstream narrative, I'm going to discuss another news article that breaks from the norm of current reporting.



Oftentimes, the American news media will discuss events in Israel/Palestine without even mentioning Israel's occupation of the West Bank. But this New York Times article is essentially about the occupation. One result of Israel's occupation is the encroachment of Israeli industry into the West Bank, which is made even more questionable because this happens at the expense of the Palestinian people and their natural resources.

It was refreshing for me to see the occupation so explicitly addressed: "The land of the West Bank is, of course, disputed. Israel occupies it, and the Palestinians want it for a future state". By making the focus of the article the illegal transfer of resources from the West Bank to Israel, the article tells part of the conflict's story from the Palestinian perspective.

But one fair piece of reporting can't undo decades of bias. I remember distinctly watching news coverage of the Second Intifada and its impression on my young mind. The instigators blamed for the conflict were the Palestinian terrorists who began using themselves as suicide bombers in Israel. The sensationalist reporting, especially on television, made it hard to frame the issue in a way that testifies to the history of the conflict and the mutual culpability of both sides. As a result, I have lasting images seared into my memory of the terrifying violence perpetrated without reason by Palestinians against helpless Jews. Now I've come to recognize that such reporting is just one perspective of a very complex conflict.

You can find the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/world/middleeast/07westbank.html?scp=3&sq=israel%20rock%20quarry&st=cse

Stay posted for my upcoming review of a recent episode of "Lost" that tackles the issue of torture, with an Iraqi at the center of the storyline. Also, I plan on watching and reviewing "Paradise Now" if I can get my hands on a copy.

ZigZigLand?

ZigZigLand???

            What the heck is this?  I’m sitting there and my girlfriend throws a movie in, Driving to Zigzigland, and I just sit there, staring, thinking she’s crazy…  But I’m not here to discuss her sanity, rather, I would like to take credit for the discovery of a new country.  That’s right Zigzigland, the greatest place on earth.  And furthermore, as discoverer and flag-planter, I would like to get started on the exploitation of the natives, so I’ll try to keep this entry short.

            Fact of the matter is, the film covers the mundane daily life of a Middle Eastern Taxi Driver living in Los Angeles, as he struggles to become a successful actor in Hollywood.  Zigzigland is his fictitious homeland, and he uses this as a tool to poke fun at the ignorance of the various passengers he encounters on a daily basis.  Over the course of a couple of days we follow Bashar, the main character, as he delivers customers around the city, auditions, and struggles to survive.  Through many conversations, observations, conflicts, jokes, and every day issues he explores the plight of the immigrant in a post 9/11 world.  The only positions he seems to be offered are that of the terrorist and the average American seems rude and ignorant (but of course there are exceptions to every rule). 

            So if you’re looking for something fun but at the same time serious, check this out.  It has been featured at film festivals and seems to have gotten warm receptions… but better yet, I enjoyed it despite not being able to understand the Arabic parts or some of the cultural references.

Links:

Zigzagland Trailer

http://www.drivingtozigzigland.com/trailer.html

p.s. if you are a budding historian documenting the lives of these bloggers in the distant future, keep in mind that sarcasm (among other things) may not be common in your lifetime, so bear with us.

Aldo (the musician, not the shoe store)

Aldo is an Australian born singer whose music falls in the genre of "Franco-Arabic" music. His "West meets East" style was very popular in the Middle East in the mid 90s. His album "Yalla" in particular was well received and he had three hits from it. Aldo's parents were European. They immigrated to Australia, one from Italy and one from Germany. As a teenager, Aldo experimented with bands called 'Nautilus', 'Diablos', and 'Rivali'. One was a rock 'n' roll band and the others, Italian cabaret bands so it is evident that he liked to dabble in many different types of music. He even took opera lessons! This may be why he decided to fuse different types of music together so that so many different audiences could enjoy it.

It probably helped that his wife was Egyptian. He realized that he had a love for Middle Eastern culture and made many contacts from his performances throughout the Middle East. Back in Australia, he worked with Arabic migrant communities as well.

Aldo even helped create "Arabic Radio" in the early 90s which was a radio program that he ran along with his brother-in-law and an Egyptian composer. He had many native Arabic speaking presenters on his radio show. It was credited as being a bridge between Western and Eastern culture, unlike some other radio shows of the time that were accused of being "too Western".

Because of the show, he was invited to sing at an Arabic function where they wanted him to sing at least one song in Arabic. Though he had doubts, friends and family helped him learn a song and it became a hit. He then went on to record many more songs in Arabic with a rock 'n' roll style. The link below is one of these from his record named Yalla.

Aldo's music is counter-hegemonic because instead of being Western or Eastern, it's an asymmetrical blend with elements of European or Western music and Egyptian or Middle Eastern influences. The only problem is that it still uses these binaries to describe it. When you say "West meets East", you think of two separate entities coming together, each with a beginning and end. The goal is to show that they can be intertwined without it being two separate entities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrXl3eNtbSA

Three Imams "Warmly Received" in Berlin

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an unusually good article in the New York Times that highlighted an unconventional theater project. The article is about a play titled "Radio Muezzin", a one hour documentary-style performance fashioned in response to recent censorship of Imams in Egypt. The Egyptian government in Cairo has begun to limit the number of Imams (Muslim prayer leaders) permitted to broadcast their voices over loudspeakers. Because the play is critical of government policy, it has been censored in Egypt, but commissioned (strangely enough), by Berlin's municipal government.

You can read more details at the link posted at the bottom, but the play basically consists of 3 Imams going through their daily routines of prayer-calling in Arabic. They tell stories of their successes and hardships, with the common thread being, of course, the beauty of Islam and its effect on their lives. It has been received well by Berlin audiences. Given that German citizens in general have been opposed to encroachments by Islamic immigrants and new mosques, it's quite surprising that this play has been without controversy.

How common are these type of theater projects in the United States? Would the reception differ? How much does the average American know about Imams and Islamic Egyptians? These are just some questions that came to mind while reading the article. As we've learned in our class this semester, too often our media has blinders on when covering the Middle East. Usually news stories about the Middle East concern terrorism or other forms of frightening disorder and chaos. It was refreshing to see one that dealt with the daily struggles of regular Muslims, and to see Germans looking so kindly upon them.

Here's the link to the article, what do you think about it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/theater/19abroad.html

On a slightly lighter note...

My main focus on this blog will be Arab music and musicians and how they contribute to counter-hegemonic ideologies. Music plays a big role in my life and I'm excited that it relates so well to this class and this project. I hope you enjoy my first post!

One Arab artist that I have been listening to for a few years now is "Massari". I only recently learned (from his website: http://www.forevermassari.com/) that his real name is Sari Abboud and that he was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He currently lives in Canada and is known as "Massari", which means 'money' in Arabic. He hopes that his name will come to mean something more than just monetary wealth; a wealth of opportunities to fulfill goals and dreams. More on that later.

His musical influences include Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, and George Wassouf, an Arabic singer. The result is a poppy R&B with even more flavor.

Massari has been using his beautiful voice to bring attention to those in need. He has founded an oranization called "Save the Future" that will work with other nonprofit organizations like World Vision, The Leukemia Walk, The Aids Conference, Cancer Research Foundation, The 30 Hour Famine, and Unicef. His childhood experience with war was one of the reasons he got involved in charity in the first place. "Growing up in a country that was being torn by a civil war has helped me realize that as long as there is a war in this world, there will always be people in need. From a young age, I began taking every opportunity to get involved with a charitable organization".

A quick Google search reveals what Massari is referring to: The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990. There is a lot of information about the war, even a site that gives a very specific timeline of the war. However, there is no explanation for the war. No one seems to know the real reason for the war. All I found was, "the war was fought along both religous as well as political borders". What these religious and political borders are, I'm not sure. There is, however, an article from the Washington Post concerning a "hostage during Lebanon's Civil War". It mentions the head of the American University of Beirut, who was abducted by "pro-Iranian Shiite Muslims". There is no mention of why he was taken hostage or why the University was a target in these attacks.

I kind of got off track there but please check out Massari at the link above.

To listen to George Wassouf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tBNO3kPVUs

Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012703161.html

April 9 - Some thoughts on music

I was reading an article recently that helped me to make some sense of the passion of the Arab World with regard to the Palestinians.  What I was able to get from the article, and you can get the link below, was that popular music in the Arab world has helped to change the Palestinian plight from a personal to an Arab concern.  That is, Palestinians have become the symbol for repressed Arabs everywhere, and through the use of music common people have a great bond (regardless of the official stances of the various governments in the area). 

 

This article described songs performed by the thousands, and got me thinking.  Naturally I went to youtube.  There I found Michael Jackson singing the Heal the World, We Are the World, and any number of other U.S. songs that strive to bring international issues to the forefront of the American mind.   However, despite the effort they come across as corny and I doubt many people would count them among their favorites.  It was rather difficult to find the older Arab songs on YouTube, however, the article clearly describes some of them being performed by tens of thousands and becoming national favorite songs… something rarely seen anywhere today…

 

This further led me to the idea that the problem of Israel-Palestine is something owned by the entire Arab world… so I remembered conversations with my numerous Arab friends.. they all own the issue of Palestine as their own – be they Syrian, from the Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi – I detected no sense that the were far removed from Palestine (many of them travel regularly to the Middle East, and even organize protests and vigils as tensions unavoidably escalate between Israelis and Palestinians every year… This appears a clear testament to the argument posed by the article (although it is certain some of this sentiment must also come from popular news, movies, and other media as well).  Hey, I even found an Israeli-Palestinian peace song with artists of both nationalities, but strangely I couldn’t locate the song “Al-Hulm al-'Arabi,” (The Arab Dream) despite the fact that it came out on television in 1998 and was reportedly performed by hundreds of thousands of people in Beirut…  This seems like censorship, because these songs are purportedly nationalist and sympathize with the Palestinians, guess it’s hard to find out (if someone has a clip of this song or the performance in Beirut could you please put a link up).  Similarly, I could not locate the song mentioned in the article "al-Quds Hatirla' lina" (Jerusalem will return to us)… It’s certainly possible that I suck at searching Youtube and Google, but hey, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find a song by it’s title right?? I would like to find someone to translate these epic performances as I watch them, but I guess that’s just not possible.

 

I guess where this is going is that if art has such an influence that Arabs round the world identify with the Palestinians, where is the American equivalent…  there are dozens of songs and statements that have been around and are readily accessible since Vietnam, yet public outrage at the current war in Iraq seems to pale in comparison with the epic protests of the 1960s.  Furthermore, if this music and art has brought the Arab world together to such an extent, why have their notions and lyrical ideas (clearly popular and well-selling) been so limited in the U.S. I’ve even found that these songs of protest are the favorites of many Arabs….   

 

Surely this entry asks many questions to which there can be any number of answers (and there’s always the possibility I got some stuff plain mixed up), I just hope it stirs the pot (so to speak), and helps us to consider the popular effects of the media, political censorship, etc.. be they musically inspired or otherwise.

Here are some links from pieces I referenced:

 

Michael Jackson Peace Superbowl (1993)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5upJ1I_jDY

 

We are the World:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxT21uFRwM

 

Wantani Habibi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYqfVgF67gE

 

Jewish-Palestinian Peace Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d_i2F2LlF8

 

Article:

“Liberating Songs: Palestine Put to Music” by Joseph Massad

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3247332