“Before the revolution, we liked zombies, we liked the dead,” says Egyptian musician Ramy Assam. “But now we have dreams. “
Assam, who was arrested and tortured in March 2011 for his role as a marijuana agitator in Egypt’s 2011 revolution, is one of the musicians followed in a new MTV series, “Rebel Music,” on MTV’s 24-hour school channel and on www. Each episode of “. comRebel Music” focuses on another country suffering from internal turmoil. The series was created and produced by Nusrat Durrani, senior vice president and general manager of MTV World.
“Our paintings are aimed at tracking, digging and finding what’s going on with other young people around the world,” Durrani told me. He has been interested in showcasing youth music activism in countries that make headlines, such as Israel, Egypt, Mexico, India, Mali and Afghanistan. “We don’t listen to young people from other countries in those countries. We are necessarily listening only to politicians, interest teams and seniors. The voice of young people is missing. This omission is surprising given that young people make up the majority of the population in many of these countries. In Egypt, for example, 57. 2% of the population is under the age of 25 (compared to only 34% of Americans). MTV needs us to pay attention to what other young people have to say because they are the ones who will make a long-term decision for their country.
The series shows how music creates conflict and helps them. The Egyptian episode, for example, follows an organization of musicians that led to protests against Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood on June 30, 2013. The musicians worked alongside activists to build momentum for what in the end was one of the largest protests in history. “Art is expression and expression is what we want right now,” says Mariman, an enthusiastic Egyptian music promoter. The protests succeeded in ousting Morsi from power.
According to Durrani, many of the protest musicians documented in the series were encouraged by how music has been used in American history to facilitate social change. “If you look at the history of America, I think we’re leaders, we’re a great inspiration. to the world,” he said. Whether it’s someone like Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie or James Brown, every decade has wonderful musicians who have used their art to create social change. “
“Rebel Music” shows how music creates conflict by expressing discontent with the established regime, occasionally in the face of the threat of physically harming musicians and their families. But it also shows how music can create healing bonds between other people who have been in conflict. The Israel/Palestine episode, for example, shows various collaborations through artists that go beyond differences of nationality or religion.
Kobi Farhi of the Jewish-Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land points out that, as a source of musical inspiration, Israel is a land of riches. “We live in the position of maximum inspiration on Earth,” he says in the episode. Do we take patterns from this position and put them into our heavy steel music?”Farhi began a musical collaboration with Abed Hathoud, the lead guitarist of the Arab-Israeli rock band Khalas (meaning “enough” in Arabic) that eventually resulted in a joint excursion for the two bands, the first of its kind. Khalas’ bassist, Rooster Tuning, is Jewish, according to him, his nationality does not apply to his music. “I belong to the Jewish people,” he says, “but my true faith is music. “
The episode also describes the activities of famed Israeli musician David Broza while collaborating with Mohamed Mughrabi, a rapper from a refugee camp in East Jerusalem. to politics, from issue to war, then you repackage the stage and maybe step forward,” Broza says.
Some other people are skeptical about the real time at stake when Israeli and Palestinian musicians join forces. Omar Barghouti is an educator who argues in the episode that such collaborations only normalize a situation deviant from other people oppressing another. , as the musical collaborations of Abed Hathoud of Khalas mean that there is hope for peace one day “if we all do the right thing”.
“Rebel Music” is inspiring because it features other young people who are passionate about music and ambitious enough to use it to combat opposing forces much bigger than themselves. According to Durrani, the series will remind young audiences of the strength of music. “Music provokes, music inspires, music rarely hurts. But music heals, music connects and music transcends. So he does all the things that all intelligent art does. .
But perhaps what will amaze audiences most about “Rebel Music” is how new and applicable the music sounds. All over the world, talented musicians make exciting music, whether it’s hip-hop, metal, folk or rock n’ roll. More than ever, we can connect with each other by sharing them.
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