places like Algeria, where they have developed into Rai, considered a form
of folk music, in other regions they fell into the hands of the corporate
music industry, losing their subversive quality and the possibility of
reaching their full potential¹. Today’s Arabic pop music emerges in a
climate of globalization to meet consumer desires, namely sounds and
pictures that heavily mimic American music videos and entertainment at
the expense of political and subversive expression that may offend any
subsection of those viewers.
With adherence to a very specific (Western) musical formula and
permission only to discuss the topics of love, Dr. Salti argues that pop
music has become a “money-making venture”, excluding and casting to
the margins the indie artists interested not just in experimenting with
their sound, but in speaking on different social issues.
BELOW THE SURFACE
Arabic underground music isn’t a new phenomenon, but its renewed vigor
and insistence on its own existence was fueled by the recent events of
the Arab Spring. Hip hop, a Western genre created by Black Americans in
the South Bronx in the 1970s, has been repurposed to address the
circumstances of artists in the region. Tunisian rap artist El General, was
reportedly arrested for his track “President of the Country,” which spoke
out against the regime at the time of the Tunisian Revolution at the end
of 2010. “It really embodied the suffering of the Tunisian people,” Dr. Salti
said. “It was a cry for freedom.”
This hip hop movement spilled into Egypt where it was used to speak
against the Mubarak regime, and then the Levant, most notably in war-
torn Syria. Dr. Salti says it was Syrian-American hip-hop artist Omar
Offendum who piqued his interest in hip-hop music. Many other forms of
Arabic indie music borrow and appropriate elements of Western music
while staying true to their cultural influences and backgrounds. This is in
contrast to mainstream music which surrenders completely to Western
packaging and formulae without attempting to marry it with its reality or
musical repertoire.
Part of the Arabic pop formula is adhering to a system of
heteronormativity and gender roles, both in the lyrics and visuals of that