Last week I had to face the fact that I might either belong to an extinct species or be a dinosaur living in the era of globalization. It did not feel very flattering really, especially as I want to belong to a modern world; it is not good to be ancient in the land of modernity.
Every time I sit in a gathering someone has to mention the latest song they have heard and the latest video clip. When browsing through newspapers, I see gushy people write about the new stars, new singers. The coverage ranges from news items discussing glamorous looking young ladies and men with colored locks of hair, to criticism or praise. Mostly though I read criticism of the bad influence those singers might have and how bad their singing is.
Surrounded by this and to prove to myself and others that I can be as modern as the next person, I decided to dedicate an afternoon to satellite TV, to find out the latest trends in entertainment.
So I sat in front of the TV switching between channels. Arabic Music channels have grown in number to the extent that I lost track of which is which. It is obvious that there is an intention to create a channel for each citizen to satisfy all tastes. Anyway, the songs were playing and I was laughing, smiling or frowning most of the time. “Those people can’t be serious”, I told myself, and I had to remind myself that people actually listen to those songs and find them entertaining. So I forced myself to watch more and to listen more. After two hours I could not take it and switched the TV off.
OK I am a dinosaur; there you have it.
I could not understand what the singers were attempting to communicate. Most of their lyrics, if we can call them that, were vulgar and sometimes obscene. Most of them were love songs, but basically sickening love songs either too mushy or too vulgar. The middle ground was there definitely but it was swamped by a wave of the vulgar. I thought, “ When I was young if someone talked in this manner in front of others he or she would have been instantly reprimanded or least frowned upon. How come now we see and hear these songs all the time, our children go around humming them and we do not even blink?
Lyrics aside, I studied the look of the singers. Almost all the girls in the songs were wearing revealing clothes, which might be acceptable in some societies, but we have to think of our own first. That was not all. The girls were dancing in such a way that I think most families in this country would not be happy to see their daughters do.
Turning to the men, they all had their hair dyed in strange colors, wearing odd sort of clothes. If you happened to tune into the channel for the first time not knowing what language those singers used, you wouldn’t realize they were speaking Arabic.
That is all fine, since the whole world needs change, but we do not see American and European singers wear Arabic dress in their songs. Some American and European singers weave Eastern music into their songs but they integrate those elements in their songs harmoniously so that it does not stand apart from the whole structure. So why do we have to go to extremes to imitate other people?
I am not against cultural exchange, but blind imitation is senseless. Why do we need to copy others — unless we have nothing to offer? Obviously we understand globalization in the most superficial sense, as is our way with lots of issues.
I just hope one day when I switch to a satellite channel that I can tell which culture is being presented. And I hope that this confused musical scene does not mean we are culturally confused as well.
