Page 6 - Issue17

issue 17
March 2020
ELITE
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Folk "Mahragan " Songs and Their Ban:

Exploring CU students ' Opinions

of people and regarding to the decision of banning the new type of songs
Cairo: Carolin Sherief, Mariam Hefny, Zeina Arafam H anya Bahaa
that it is a right decision ,but it will not be effect ive as the head of musicians
and Salma Yasser
syndicate banned the concerts not the production of songs so it is still
In the light of current events ,from the tremendous spread of a new
available.
type of songs called( تﺎﻧﺎﺟﺮﻬﻣ)the new type of folk songs has received

contradictory opinions from the Egyptians and aroun d the Decision of
On the other hand as a survey was conducted with a c ouple of students from
the Head of Musicians Syndicate “HANY SHAKER ” who Directed
faculty of commerce(Arabic section),one of the fema les was actually
to all the tourists institutions,Nile cruises ,Nightc lubs ,and Caf és ,not
listening this new type of folks songs. They all ag reed that they are deeply
to deal with singers who sing this new type of song s and how the
in love with new type of folk songs ,because they be lieve it creates fun and
decision caused a huge sensation.
jubilant vibes. They also believe that the reason be hind the banning of this
Accordingly, a survey was conducted to Cairo Univer sity Students on
type of music was the unacceptable terms including in the lyrics, unlike old
23rd February 2020. During the survey it was taken into consideration
type of folk songs. moving on, students from facult y of(Dar al-
to choose students from various faculties also it w as taken into
Uloom)stated they hate this new type of songs as th ey do not even consider
account to have an equal percentage of males and fe males to ensure
it as an art at all .Moreover ,they were totally wit h the decision of banning ,
getting a wide variety opinions to represent a larg e percentage of
since they believe that such type of songs have a st rong negative impact on
current opinion of youth. people , especially the young kids

Within this framework,many questions were asked to various Cairo
Students from the faculty of commerce (Georgia)expre ssed how much they
University Students which was revolving around to wh at extent they
despise this uprising type of music ,however they w ould still play it but
hear and love this type if songs تﺎﻧﺎﺟﺮﻬﻣ and their opinion what led to
only around friends ,who enjoy them to please them ,they had controversial
the tremendous proliferation also its effect on the society whether their
opinions when it came to choosing the better betwee n this new type of folk
opinion is negative or positive,They have also been asked whether
songs and the old type ;one preferred this new t ype for its beat , other
they prefer the old type of folk songs or the new o ne and specifically
preferred the old type due to its clean lyrics and a third sated that he does
they were asked about their opinion of the Head of Musicians
not like either . Concerning the reason behind the quick spread of this new
Syndicate “HANY SHAKER ” decision, and what they think is the
type of songs, they believe its linked to the fact that many people relate to
effective way to limit this new type of folk songs.
this songs in some way ,as it represents a lot of t hem and portrays there

daily social life problems that they go through . A dding up, they expressed
The first survey was carried out with two females fr om the faculty of
their disagreement with the banning decision of the head of musicians
economics and political science (French section ), th eir opinions were
Syndicate,because this type of songs has its own fa ns. They suggested that
full of diversity ,where one female expressed her l oving towards this
such a decision should be taken gradually, since it is hard to suddenly limit
new type of folk songs because it is joyful and exhi larating and helps
this type ofsongs.
her in general to get rid of stress however, she pr efers the old type of
The last part of our survey was conducted with 4 stu dents fromthe faculty
folk songs because it is influential and that is why it is still popular
of Law. Their opinions were extremely diverse. The fi rst student stated that
and famous till today and according to the Head of Musicians she is not a fan of this new type of songs as she c ould not understand some
Syndicate decisions it has two sides ,the first pos itive side that this lyrics while the other students actually enjoy them, but onlythe ones with
clean lyrics. They all agreed that the new type of s ongs have widely spread
will limit the declining of the general taste and the total who are
in such a strong rate because it is just new to our culture and people are
influenced to this type of songs, However , the negat ive side is that
always fascinated and attracted toward stuff that is not basic
this will destroy the Egyptian identity even if thi s identity she does not
Our results shows that most of the faculties ’ students agreed that this new
like it .The other female Express her feeling on how much she hate
type of songs has a negative impact on the society a nd led to the decline in
this new type of songs pointing that it is raucous a nd although she
the general taste in which, the society was quickly influenced by this new
hates it , she prefers it rather than the old type of folk songs Because
type and although of the diversity of opinions in t he surveys, all agreed that
old type of folk songs was plaintive and was able to express the
the younger generation is under threat, also they agr eed that thebest way to
problems that people suffered from in their daily life which reduced
limit this songs is through the censorship to be hav e an good terms and
the morale
content especially the lyrics

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