CAIRO, 7 March 2005 — Hundreds of Egyptian university students in Alexandria, north of Cairo, held a protest yesterday against what they called “bawdy music videos”.
The protesters in Alexandria University, lead by the Muslim Brotherhood students, said that videos are too seductive to be aired in an Islamic country that has customs and tradition that must be respected.
“The Egyptian TV and other satellite channels have to stop immediately the ongoing invasion too raunchy for local consumption,” said Muhammad Abdel Fattah, a spokesperson and organizer for the demonstration, which is the first of its kind in the country. “We are not against art, but we are also very concerned about the indecency of the videos that will affect the young Egyptians and the coming generation,” he told Arab News.
Following the demonstration, Egypt’s state-owned television announced that it will implement a ban on a number of music videos deemed inappropriate by the TV’s censorship committee.
The list of the would-be banned clips — most of which are Lebanese with a number of Egyptian clips — includes songs by very famous singers such as Haifa’s “Nifsi Aaish”, Rubi’s “Leih Bidari”, Najla’s “Bahh” Bosi’ Samir’s song “Bahibo Howa”.
Other acclaimed singers on the blacklist include Elissa, Maria, Amr Diab, Nawal Al Zoghbi and Nancy Ajram.
The censorship committee claimed that these songs have models who dance seductively, disrespecting Egyptian social norms.
“Many singers have crossed the limits in their videos and therefore we have to stop them,” said an official at the TV’s committee who asked not to be identified. “The ban would apply to all video clips that include hot scenes, but some of the songs will be only edited.”
This is not the first time that Egyptians have been outraged by video clips. Last year, the Egyptian television said it banned 700 videos, following a ruling by the People’s Assembly that channels airing seductive videos will face legal charges.
The Egyptian Music Syndicate had also filed several lawsuits against Egyptian singers who perform without obtaining permission or being a member of the syndicate.
“The Syndicate would never give a permit or accept a member who produces these kinds of videos that are demeaning our artistic values,” said Mohamed Abdel Rahman, music critic and member of the Music Syndicate, who said that Rubi was the center of anger of critics and viewers alike. “I think a presidential decree should be issued to ban these video clips before it is too late to protect our society.”
