Once upon a time, Egypt was home to some of the best poets and singers who together created musical masterpieces that elevated the heartaches of a nation during politically dire times.
Now, as Egypt marks its fourth year in a row with barely any political stability, it seems that today’s singers have taken it upon their shoulders to reassure the nation. Only this time, we lack poets and all the available singers are pop artists. Cue the collective groan.
On Feb. 26, an operetta entitled "Misr Orayba" (Egypt is Near) was released and caught on like wild fire on social media. The song features many celebrities from Egypt and the Gulf countries and was intended to promote tourism in Egypt.
Within a day or two of the video's release, Facebook and Twitter were crammed with comments on the song that varied widely between applause for the artistic making of the video and great dissent for how Egyptians were portrayed, in addition to utter disregard to Northern Africans and tourists of other nationalities.
The "operetta" also sparked a lot of controversy for what some considered a political message rather than an invitation to visit Egypt.
"Misr Orayba" is not the first time we've seen celebrities join hands to support the political standpoints in Egypt, represented often in the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah El Sisi.
After Mohamed Morsi was removed from office, Egypt was hit with what seems to be an endless series of patriotic disasters presented under the umbrella of art. The first of which was, of course, Teslam El Ayady. The alleged operetta strongly praises the military.
Afterward, in July 2014, another operetta was released to fight terrorism . Given that none of my friends had the strength to watch the musical horrors of this video till the end, some speculated it may have been successful at scaring away the terrorists.
While everyone prayed with their hearts for the celebrities to just stop being patriotic, Egyptians were once more presented with material fit only for mockery. Again, celebrities were on air multiple times a day to scare terrorists away through this most vigorous video .
I'm not sure how much more pop-art politics Egyptians will be able to handle, so let's hope this trend comes to an end soon.