Singer Shaaban Abdel-Rehim dabbles in politics once again with his latest tape, Al-Darb fil 'Iraa (Hitting Iraq). Nevine Khalil reaches for the headphones He's at it again. Shaaban Abdel-Rehim, the flamboyant singer with the comic demeanour, glazed-over eyes, and hallucinatory style is making headlines after releasing a new ditty about the US-Iraq standoff. Al-Darb fil 'Iraa (Hitting Iraq) is the name of the song which gives voice to the basic sentiments of the man on the street regarding everything that's wrong in world affairs right now: Iraqi and Israeli weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), UN inspections and sanctions, the war on terrorism and Afghanistan, 9/11, Arab disunity, and more. Although released quite recently, it is not yet that easy to find Shaaban's tape on the market; at least six retailers were visited before Al-Ahram Weekly found a copy. In any case, the Iraq song has already made its way onto one of the "hit mix" compilations of popular songs usually inundated with syrupy odes of love. But Shaaban's forte has never been the music. His songs all feature the same monotonous beat, interrupted once in a while by a trumpet and some percussion, and his signature refrain "heyyyy". By keeping the tune standard and unrefined, listeners tend to focus more completely on whatever mispronounced pearls of wisdom Shaaban has to offer. On Hitting Iraq the crooner does not disappoint. "Enough! Chechnya, Afghanistan, Palestine, South Lebanon, Golan Heights, and now Iraq," he opens dramatically, and then breaks into the song: "heyyyy... Enough decoys, we're fed up/ Take a look at Israel and forget about Iraq We will disarm, that's a beautiful thing/ You want to search Iraq, go search Israel instead Since the twin towers, we've been living in a dilemma/ If one thousand died then, how many more thousands have died as a result Now it's Iraq after the Afghanis/ Nobody knows who will be next Leave Iraq alone, people, there's nothing left there/ The strikes have brought it down and finished off everything Do you want to divide it up, or what exactly?/ Or is the truth that you have your eye on the oil? I fear for them and to be honest I'm at a loss/ Are you coming to fulfil the Israeli dream? We will destroy terrorism and expel the occupiers/ Hitting Iraq is never the solution The people of Iraq are pitiable, what can they do/ From the beginning they have been the victims If for once they listened to us, no one would have invaded/ And the outsider would not have come We sent hundreds of messages, we were like busy bees/ If only they would have listened The president could sense it, he sent him a hundred letters/ He didn't listen to anything and put stones in his ears I wish I could see the Arabs like the crescent and the moon/ I wish for once one of our conferences would be a success. Enough excuses, we're fed up/ Take a look at Israel and forget about Iraq" The lyrics to Shaaban's latest hit were written by his long-time collaborator, songwriter Islam Khalil, an Arabic primary school teacher from Qanater, just outside Cairo. Khalil also wrote the words to Shaaban's biggest hit ever, 2001's Ana Bakrah Israel (I Hate Israel) which grossed a record LE4 million. Just like now, Shaaban's words were thought to perfectly reflect the mood of the Arab street. I Hate Israel was not only critical of the Jewish state, but sang the praises of then Foreign Minister Amr Moussa's diplomatic style. Only a few weeks later Moussa left the ministry to become Arab League Secretary General. Over the next three years, other pseudo- political "hits" by Shaaban included Amrika ya Amrika (America, Oh America), which urged the US to re-think its foreign policy and convince Israel to make peace with its neighbours; and a duet with his son meant to be an imagined dialogue between Mohamed El- Dorra and his father just moments before the young boy was killed by Israeli troops in what has become one of the Initfada's strongest graphic symbols, since the moment was actually captured on camera. Shaaban has also sung about domestic and personal issues, commenting on everything from finding a job in Toshka, to the pollution of the Nile, the Egypt Air crash, quitting smoking, pumping iron, and girls wearing tight clothes while boys wear bracelets. A reality check, however, reveals that Shaaban himself is a heavy smoker and adorns himself with heavy gold-chains. Is the voice of the masses merely leading people down the proverbial garden path?
