CAIRO —
Egypt’s state-affiliated musicians’ union on Sunday announced a temporary ban
on electro-beat “mahraganat” singers, the cultural establishment’s latest move
to crack down on the hugely popular genre.
اضافة اعلان
Mahraganat, often
known as “electro-shaabi”, or popular electro, relies heavily on
computer-generated and synthesized beats, and has a wide reach.
Some purists in
socially conservative Egypt — a cultural powerhouse in the Arab world — view
its blunt lyrics tackling topics including love, power, and money as
overstepping moral boundaries.
The union has
“decided to temporarily suspend permits issued to mahraganat singers, in order
to fully study their case (and) in order to preserve Egypt’s artistic value”,
it said in a statement on Sunday.
The suspension
came as Egyptian singer
Mustafa Kamel became the union’s chief.
His predecessor,
Hani Shaker, had led a campaign against what he called an “unacceptable” genre,
issuing a decision in February 2020 to ban mahraganat performers from clubs,
cafes, hotels, and concert venues.
“This kind of
music which is loaded with sexual innuendo and offensive language is completely
unacceptable. That’s why we have pulled the plug on it once and for all,”
Shaker said at the time.
The measure was
unevenly enforced.
Union spokesman
Tarek Mortada said on Sunday that a committee would be formed in coming days to
study the issue and determine a course of action, which could include a
permanent ban.
The move, he
said, is to “preserve public taste in the country”.
Mahraganat music
has gone mainstream in Egypt, with its outlandishly named stars monetizing
social media success after the country’s 2011 uprising.
With its roots in
impoverished urban neighborhoods, it has often sparked the ire of critics as
“low-brow”.
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