<
Posted on 02/02/2017 9:41:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
There's a music video that's been racking up millions of views for the last few weeks — and it comes from Saudi Arabia. NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas describes the scene:
"There's this amazing setup. You see women wearing full niqab — so they've got their faces covered, their hair covered, clad in black, it seems. And then they burst out in super-colorful outfits and doing all kinds of silly things, playing basketball and riding bumper cars," she says.
In a conversation on All Things Considered, Tsioulcas tells Ari Shapiro how the visual, inspired by a lesser-known, low-budget clip from 2014, has become a viral sensation. Hear their conversation at the audio link, and read an edited version below.
Ari Shapiro: I don't speak Arabic, but I know a good tune when I hear one. What do the lyrics say?
YouTube Anastasia Tsioulcas: So, that's where the real interest in this video is. The name of the song is "Hwages," which means something like "concerns" or "obsessions." And the lyrics are pretty subversive. They start out, "May men disappear, they give us psychological illnesses / None of them are sane, each one has an illness.
Basically saying, by definition, "Men are mentally ill." A bunch of Saudi women singing this.
Absolutely.
And what's amazing is how much this as really taken off across the Middle East: It's become hugely, hugely, popular. Who are the people behind this?
We don't know who the women are, but the video director is named Majed Alesa. He has become this viral video machine in Saudi. He now has this platform and he can amplify his message to his millions and millions of followers.
So, at one point in the video, there's a cut-out of Donald Trump that rises on a proscenium behind a stand that says half in Arabic and half in English, "The House of Men."
Has there been much pushback to it?
You know, it's funny — I haven't seen a lot of official pushback. You see YouTube comments in both English and Arabic saying, "This is not a women's movement, don't judge on this, our values are still really important to us." But you also see a lot of very positive feedback.
Throughout Saudi Arabia, throughout the Gulf, throughout the entire Middle-East, this is getting a lot of play and a lot of conversation. And you can dance to it.
I am not appreciating of the President Trump allusions.
Whatever. Keep them out of the USA.
It may be hard for most westerners to understand, but this video is a big deal. The authorities in Riyadh are probably holding their breath hoping it is a fad. Any follow up will be stamped out with prejudice, but this is how revolutions can sometimes start.
Pussy riot.
Weird. Almost like watching nuns bustin’ loose.
The allusion to Trump wasn’t negative. He was in the car with the guy giving a thumbs up to the women. In other words, no more kowtowing. The message I got is women are people too and Trump is shaking up the established order. Saudi Arabia is the source and financier for the Wahhabi fundamental creed behind Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the rest. This was a middle finger to it all.
Fake News
Girls just want to have fuh-un ...
... even in colorful gunny sacks.
The opening minutes of the video had birdsong, sounded like an American (Californian) song sparrow. Do they have song sparrows in Saudi Arabia? Wonder where this was filmed. Los Angeles perhaps?
Music sounded Egyptian.
The whole thing reminded me of the old 1960s show “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.”
One of the guys looked like Sasha Baron Cohen.
Ping
Well, Dick, I’ll have to give it a 4 as a dance tune, the rhythm is too foreign to me. But, I’ll give it a 10 for message ( did you notice how stereotypical the men were?) Total pussy riot! And for fashion, really they’re not much different than the Amish women. Ahh, to not have to wear make-up. Of course, it is sad to me as an American woman, that they don’t have a choice. But, that is their culture and their battle to fight.
Of course NPR never questions how liberating can a message be if the woman keep their faces cover throughout the video.
Why would they question a video that includes many shots of a cutout of NPR’s archenemy Trump, as the face behind their Islamic male oppressors?
Trump behind the male Islamists’ podium and Trump in the backseat of the male Islamists’ limo. Even beyond the usual NPR BS... pure leftwing diarrhea!
let them rot in the sandbox...
dont give a tinkers damn about their plight
saudi arabia is propped up by the USA...
WHEN DO WE FINALLY GET 9=11 JUSTICE ???????
My daughter used to tutor Saudi Arabian men.
They ARE mentally ill.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.