Nancy Ajram, one of the most popular of the Lebanese music video stars at the heart of my beloved but sadly neglected Nancy-Haifa Culture Wars, has released a video about the recent Lebanon-Israel war, complete with lots of stark images. Quite a change from her usual "good girl who might get naughty" videos; a very different impact from a video by, say, Shaaban Abd al-Rahim who always sings about political topics. You can watch it here, courtesy of YouTube:
There has been a lot of controversy over the various Lebanese pop stars - which ones left the country and which ones stayed (Nancy stayed), which ones supposedly criticized Hezbollah and which ones didn't (Haifa Wehbi was the subject of a particularly nasty smear, if I remember correctly). I don't have the time to write much about it, and haven't been following it all that closely, but readers are welcome to comment on how the Lebanese pop tarts have been dealing with the war.
Nancy may live in Lebanon but I think she at least until recently divided her time between there and Cairo, at least I know she had a dwelling in Cairo and spent a good amount of time there.
Posted by: Anna in Portland (was Cairo) | September 19, 2006 at 04:00 PM
Nancy (or at least her publicists) made rather a big deal about how she stayed in Lebanon during the war, at least.
Posted by: the aardvark | September 19, 2006 at 04:19 PM
My son says that this song is an old Lebanese song that she re-made. Interesting anyhow.
Posted by: Anna in Portland (was Cairo) | September 19, 2006 at 06:43 PM
Well I'm emotional these days, but I'm weeping. I can tell that it's sort of a banal song...because I understand the words, and she's pretty silly, but I'm still crying. This war broke our hearts. I cried through the film Bosta two nights ago, as well.
Posted by: Leila | September 19, 2006 at 07:53 PM
To clarify - I figure if I can understand the words to the song, then it's written to about a second grade level, and therefore the lyrics are not high-flown poetic ode. Furthermore the tune and orchestration are pretty standard. And I am sorry she has to deform her lips with silicone or whatever. But I'm still weeping.
Posted by: Leila | September 19, 2006 at 07:56 PM
does your son know who sang it before?
Posted by: ياسمين حميد | September 20, 2006 at 01:31 AM
What a lame pathetic song.
She needs to take lessons from Fairuz or Julia Boutros.
Posted by: Karim | September 20, 2006 at 01:57 AM
Can anyone settle a debate for me? Is Nancy Ajram Egyptian or what?
Posted by: Anne | September 24, 2006 at 01:47 PM
No, she's very Lebanese as far as I know.
Posted by: the aardvark | September 24, 2006 at 04:49 PM
nancy is lebanese. if she keeps a flat in cairo, it's probably for when she's recording there.
Posted by: carine | October 12, 2006 at 07:42 PM