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The Soundtrack of Revolution: Celebrating #Jan25 Through 25 Music Videos that Gave it Voice (Part 1)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a song is worth a million, and a video gone viral is worth even more.

Since protests ran aflame in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, taking down the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, we’ve all be witness to the country’s triumphs, its setbacks, its challenges, and most importantly its contagious hope for freedom through peaceful protest.

Over the next several weeks, as we approach the anniversary of Jan 25th, our three-part Music series will highlight the grassroots role music played alongside the organic movement of defiant idealism that had nothing to lose but its own voice.

“We are Egyptians” - Hannah Magar, featuring The Brothahood

Hannah Magar, an Egyptian Muslim student in Australia who describes herself as “not a professional,” felt compelled to contribute to the movement through her music after watching the media coverage of Tahrir Square demonstrations. “Watching the brave people of Egypt in awe these last couple weeks, I feel they certainly deserved a song,” she wrote on YouTube. “It was the absolute least I could do.”

Featuring renowned Melbourne-based Hip Hop group The Brothahood, “We are Egyptians” not only recaps the country’s revolution through a montage of photographs taken during the protests, its lyrics capture the national unity and pride that “[tore] down walls and walked on water, / burned out flames, removed a dictator… saw the impossible and said I am possible.”

Watch the video here

Hannah Magar (feat. The Brothahood) - We are Egyptian (remix)

“Back Down Mubarak” – Master Mimz

In Hip Hop, the fastest growing music genre in the Middle East, finding a female artist in the male-dominant pool of Arab rappers is like finding a four-leaf clover. Shadia Mansour, based in London, is one of the biggest (and few) names. Up there with her is Moroccan emcee Myrian Bouchentouf, better known as Master Mimz, also based in the UK.

On February 1, only ten days before Mubarak’s resignation, she released her biggest hit Back Down Mubarak, which immediately shot her to fame. Featuring the old-school Hip Hop sound through samples of Ludacris’ “Number One Spot,” the song is simultaneously commanding in its criticism of the corruption of Mubarak’s regime and uplifting in its pride for the Arab Spring, which Mimz saw as a human rights issue as opposed to a political one. Interwoven with her call out to the crooked dictator is her commentary on the role of women in Arab society and the need to break cultural expectations to foster female independence: “First things first, get me a job. / Then let’s talk about my hejab.” Though fun in beat, the song’s lyrics are forceful. “Everybody stomp your feet / Tired of being chewed like meat / Call it Jasmine Revolution / Lost world we are the solution / This shit don’t smell like a flower / It’s the rise of people power.”

Watch the video here

“Irhal” (Leave) – Ramy Essam

It’s almost impossible to witness media coverage of the Egyptian revolution and not hear some tidbit sound clip of Ramy Essam, who we recently named as one of the Five Arab Music Artists to Watch in 2012. When the 24-year-old struggling musician and architecture student traveled to Tahrir from his hometown Mansoura to take part in the protests, he paid close attention to its chants, strung them together into a song, and Irhal became an immediate Internet sensation, catapulting Essam from “nobody” to “Singer of the Revolution.” After getting arrested, beaten and tortured by the Egyptian military in early March, his voice has only gotten stronger, “personif[ying] the powerful role that music played in the Arab Spring.”

Watch the video here

“25th of January” - Ahmed Mekky, featuring Mohamed Mohsen

Against a montage of photos taken during the demonstrations, “25th of January,” from filmmaker / actor / rapper Ahmed Mekky and singer Mohamed Mohsen, is as much a call to action as it is a commemoration for the date it was named for and the youth who drove that day to history books.

While the video has no subtitles, you can read the lyrics as you watch the video (translation courtesy of Universal Subtitles):

The Egyptian’s dignity with solve so much.

He will restore his dignity himself and corruption will fly away.

January 25th,

The greatest date of an Egyptian revolution against the bitterness of many years.

The youth raised their heads up high. They’re not wearing shackles.

They want their legitimate rights. They asked for them with all politeness.

They turned the other cheek in Tahrir Square.

If you’ll meet them, smile and your heart will almost fly away.

The youth understand the meaning of unity. They united and made change.

The Egyptian’s value as a human being today, after the revolution, is so much greater!

Don’t be afraid, my country. In the worst adversity you protect us.

We are your children. Be a man! We put you above our heads and our eyes.

My grandfather and my great-grandfather were martyred for you and they protect you.

Their grandchildren will never, ever forget you or sell you out.

Standing firm like lions with total unity for the sake of liberating you!

And among them are those who were martyred and who sacrificed their blood for your sake.

Thank you to every young person who voiced his opinion without fear.

Men, standing back-to-back, made the world watch and see.

As long as there is division and fitna our rights will be lost.

Look how, from the outset, we united with one hand and remained lions.

Christian, Muslim, cultured. My mother! Rich, poor.

They all joined and raised their cry above each other and transformed.

Even if you don’t implement all of our demands, we’ve already gained

So much because the whole world knows who we are!

It isn’t manliness and morals… only the time of adversity.

Every household remained united and, by God, we were overjoyed!

The Egyptian’s dignity will solve so much.

He doesn’t want humiliation and injustice and insults – he wants to be valued!

His country he has is like an exhibit. He’s afraid for it to change.

He will restore his dignity and corruption will fly away.

He demands change! Yes, he wants change!

He’s patient, yes! But if the country explodes, he will be a dangerous weapon.

If you go out to Tahrir Square, you will find a small nation within the nation,

A nation where if someone strikes you, he will tell you, “sorry.”

And if someone wants to trespass, he will tell you, “only with your permission.”

And if someone wants to see your identity card, he will tell you, “don’t think too much of it. We’re required to.”

Within [the nation], you often hear the word “Haasib” because women pass by freely.

Within it, there is no contrariness or sexual harassment.

When the Christian prays, the Muslim guards his back.

When the Muslim prays, the Christian guards his back.

This is the Egypt we want.

Watch the video here

“Ghadan Yawmon Afdal” (Tomorrow Will Be Better) – Mashrou’ Leila

In 2008, a music workshop at American University of Beirut turned into what is now known as the Lebanese group Mashrou’ Leila, “Arabic for ‘an overnight project’ lusting out a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums ad keyboards.” Describing themselves as “an experiment,” the band forged an identity that effortlessly blends Arabic Tarab, rock, folk pop and electro. Their hit “Ghadan Yawmon Afdal,” originally released in 2010, is their reinterpretation of “Clint Eastwood” by the Gorillaz. In early February, they re-released the song on YouTube in solidarity with the protesters in neighboring Egypt. While the video has no subtitles, the song itself is a smooth groove, accompanied by footage of the band in rehearsal, performance and the recording studio.

Watch the video here

“Sefr” (Zero) – Haitham Nabil

One of the first protest songs released after January 25th was “Sefr,” by Egyptian pop star Haitham Nabil. The song’s title, translated as “Zero,” features very little music, instead focusing on Nabil’s commentary on what he saw as Egyptian dignity being reduced to zero under Mubarak’s rule. He barely sings, reciting the lyrics in one steady note, making the song sound more like a piece of spoken poetry, set against images taken from Egyptian demonstrations (translation courtesy of Hani Almadhoun):

In our right, we won’t compromise

We are all one and we will unite

This is it, everyone will pitch in

The word will be the same

We love in one land

Our land, not anyone else’s

I started to evaluate things with myself

As I watched things around me

I saw an old man like grandpa

Who came to demand his rights

A young man with a cause

And who won’t compromise propped him up

A girl worth a hundred men backed them up

I was silent, silence was my weapon

I thought it over and realized I was zero

I will change, I am small in my own eyes

I am small

I cannot lead in silly things

And run away from serious matters

In our right, we won’t compromise

We are all one and we will unite

This is it, everyone will pitch in

The word will be the same

We love in one land

Our land, not anyone else’s

Watch the video here

Masrah Deeb (Deeb’s Stage) – Deeb

Shot in Tahrir Square just weeks before protests began, rapper Deeb’s “Masrah Deeb,” released on February 3, became his farsighted call to Egyptians to wake up to the country’s problems. “My people need medicine… open your eyes / be careful not to close them,” he says. Set against B.B. King guitar samples and with Cairo as his stage, the song chronicle’s Deeb’s daily experiences and relationship with music as he troves through the city to construct a microphone he later uses at a performance. The song may be about him, but by mixing his story with street shots of Cairo, Egypt becomes just as big of a character as Deeb himself. Calling himself “a doctor / in the beat department,” he also brings the attention to the role music plays in harmonizing otherwise separate voices. The underlying metaphor beneath it all is clear: for a true wake up call to happen, everyone needs to pull together to construct a unified Egypt. “I’m sacrificing my time / waking my people up / the mic’s my friend / it welcomes my honesty” refrains against montages of ordinary people singing the lyrics – Deeb may be the doctor, but he acknowledges that he can’t heal Egypt alone.

Watch the video here

Ehlam Ma’aya (Dream with Me) – Hamza Namira

Like Ghadan Yawmon Afdal, Ehlam Ma’aya, released in 2008 by singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Hamza Namira, was written well before the revolution, but in its timeless message, it was revived during protests as representation of what Egypt can become. Namira, who is known for taking on social and humanitarian issues in his music, explains the song as a message of hope and change for a better future: “Life has a lot of things that are worthwhile, things that deserve expressing in music and songs, so it’s not fair letting love and romance monopolize music.”

Watch the video here

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 in the coming weeks in our three-part series showcasing music videos representing January 25 and the Egyptian revolution.

*Photo Credit: RamyRaoof

Read Part Two and Three here

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