An American music company hopes Egyptian “mahraganat” will take off among Western listeners as reggaeton did. This dismays conservatives in Cairo
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskwas born in El-Salam city, a down-at-heel outer suburb in eastern Cairo, in the late 2000s. Performers reflected on everyday experiences, ranging from lost slippers to rising unemployment and police brutality. “These lyrics are important because they give a voice to the voiceless,” says an Egyptian anthropologist who, tellingly, does not want to be named. The songs, she says, are “a loud cry from an invisible part of Egypt”.
quickly spread beyond El-Salam and became the sound of working-class Egypt. Some in the country’s elite thought this elevation of ordinary life was in poor taste. The songs were rarely played on the radio; performers were not invited to appear on television.found new fans during the Arab spring of 2011. The beats could be heard on university campuses, in hotel lobbies and blasting out of cars. The clampdown on the music intensified after Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi came to power in a coup in 2013.
Sara Ramadan of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, a human-rights group, says that under Mr Sisi artists have been “encouraged to present an optimistic image of Egypt, and avoid reference to the military and police. The syndicate began enforcing this vision by restricting these artists.”musicians began to be fined for performing without a licence issued by the syndicate.
The restrictions reflect the increasing stifling of artistic freedom in Egypt—but so far they have been ineffective. In a digital age it is hard to silence entire genres. Mr Bika’s videos have millions of views on YouTube. “Moon Knight”, a recent Marvel series partly set in Egypt, included asong called “El Melouk” in an early episode.
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