Sexy Girls. Arab Beauty that’ll rock your world. Sea, sex and sun. Let the funky Arabs turn you on!
The new “Funky Arabs” single by Jad Choueiri, the Lebanese singer known for crooning love ballads, has had over 150,000 views on YouTube in one month.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4D6hJA846M]
Choueiri spends four and a half minutes singing about how Arabs are not the evil figures typically portrayed in Western media. “We’re not what you see on CNN and the BBC. […] Ain’t no bombers, we’ve got the guts,” starts off the track. So far, so good. But then the main message of the video really unfolds, which, when translated from pop star-speak, can be summarized:
“Arabs aren’t terrorists! We’re just like you, the all-wonderful West. We too have sexy blond girls with silicone boobs dancing in next-to-nothing clothes in smoky nightclubs, gyrating their hips and filing their nails. Our guys are all cut, and walk around wearing bling. We love to smoke, drink, and take drugs. We party all night and we are oh-so-cool.’
A disclaimer at the beginning announces that everyone who participated in the music video is an Arab, just in case you can’t possibly believe that such beauty, sexiness, and botox addiction exists in our countries.
The women in this music video, are, to put it simply, nothing more than half-naked eye candy. As Choueiri announces, “We’ve got sexy girls / Arab beauty that’ll rock your world.” The first woman we see is blond in a blue strapless dress and red heels, and her silicone implants are visible when she stands in front of an x-ray machine. Another is dressed in what looks like a pink ice-skating outfit, straddling a huge wine bottle in a martini glass. Another pours wine down her throat and then, on her hands and knees in a bikini, dances.
The men, unfortunately, don’t fare much better. Plucked to within an inch of their lives, they could not look more metrosexual if they tried. Ripped abs and humongous biceps seem to be the criteria that need to be fulfilled to be one of the “loaded guys” who “you gotta see when they get their highs.”
Strangely enough, there isn’t any “funny” stuff between men and women. The video basically goes as follows: Jad singing in his awful-looking shirt, sexy girls, Jad singing, sexy girls, guys and girls sitting in a group, Jad singing, guys and girls dancing stiltedly at the beach with a whole lot of water. For all this talk of getting freaky with Arabs, no one in the video actually gets freaky with anyone else.
With its over-the-top scenes, such as Choueiri arriving at a nightclub red carpet on a camel, and women injecting themselves with botox in the bathroom, Choueiri’s music video seems to be the poster child for parody. The singer’s handlers insist he is quite serious—inasmuch as pop can be taken seriously.
The idea behind Funky Arabs is to show a different point of view of a segment of the Arabic society,” reads an email from Jad Choueiri’s management to me. “It doesn’t have the pretension to represent the real face of the Arabs like some media has suggested. In a pop song, which is meant to be entertaining and fun, it would be probably inappropriate to display the cultural and social achievements of the Arabs in different fields. So the side that was chosen to be represented is the side that has to do with partying and fashion which is adequate when you are a member of the pop culture community. Although it may sound superficial to some, it is supposed to make us look more appealing to the West by showing that we endorse that type of ‘culture.’ You cannot follow these trends and be a terrorist or a close minded person because they are a representation of a deeper matter, the one of tolerance and openness. (emphasis mine)
Umm, make us seem more appealing? But who said “they” are all like ‘that?’
My biggest problem with this music video is not the gratuitous amounts of flesh on show by the scantily clad women–which let’s face it, has become the norm in many similar Arabic music videos–but the political implications of Choueiri’s message. Because if not a parody, then the video is certainly a textbook case of cultural appropriation. Listening between the lines, you could well take home the message: the only way we can prove we are not evil is if we try to erase our identities and emulate selective (read: the most materialistic) aspects of Western culture.
Choueiri’s only concessions to Arab culture: bellydancing and shisha smoking, of course! Nothing else we have “over here” is worth anything anyway. The orientalist image is complete once an x-ray machine shows us that a woman is carrying on her person handcuffs, a mask, and a whip. Arabs are all hypersexual, doncha know?
Some people have applauded Choueiri for trying to highlight different types of Arabs. Others have blasted him for portraying Arabs this way. Others shoot him down for the lukewarm lyrics and music—there’s even a dreadlock-sporting rapper who pops up throughout the track, perhaps aimed at upping Choueiri’s street cred.
I agree with the message of the music video: Arabs are not all terrorists. Duh. It’s a message we have to constantly emphasis and a stereotype we have to dispel. But the substitute image Choueiri is hawking is perhaps just as a bad–substituting one extreme for another is never a good thing. As a friend of mine said:
The benevolent Jad is dispelling the bomber stereotype by replacing it with the harem stereotype, the rich-Arab-with-money-to-burn stereotype, and the inferior-Arab-grovelling-for-western-approval stereotype. Right on, Jad.
This is an edited version of the original article which appeared in Egypt Today.
TweetTags: funky arabs, jad choueiri, jad shewery, jad shwery, Orientalism, racism
Jad has to be one of the biggest embarassments to my country, I have to say. But I never expected him to sink quite this low. When I first watched the video a few weeks back I was pretty much gaping at the screen the whole way through. I watched it again and thought.. ah, surely they do this in jest. And now they’re trying to tell me it’s serious?! But this is Jad.. who the heck takes him seriously anyway? Sure we’re not bomBers (gotta love the accent), but are we all bimbos instead? It’s hard enough trying to dispel the Lebanese slutty-superficial-materialistic stereotype as it is.
well he’s such a gibbering, talentless fool that i don’t think any audience could possibly grant him credence. tanfeed.
I’ve already seen a bunch of amateur Youtube videos depicting “the real Arabs”, “the real Iraqis”, “the real Afghans”, etc. The first video I ever saw was actually titled “the real Arabs” and it depicted photos of a bunch of Lebanese pop stars. Alot of commenters (who I assume were Arab) sneered that showing the Lebanese to be “the real Arabs” undermined the fact that not all Arabs are light skinned and “European looking”. I don’t know if these video makers intend for their videos to be taken seriously or not. I mean do they really expect others (namely Westerners) to believe that the majority of Arabs/Muslims behave just like Westerners??
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Great article Ethar, very well written! Unfortunately, an increasing segment of the Arab population really is like that, with varying degrees. That said, it’s not something to be proud of and highlight in order to earn the West’s approval. You’ve really said it all. From one extreme stereotype to another!
That video is embarrassing. It’s very typical of Jad, so I’m not surprised. It seems to me that he’s exploiting Middle-Eastern women to show western audiences that Arabs are just as “hot” and “westernized.” Interesting how male filmmakers and producers tend to USE attractive women to show off how great their society and culture is, isn’t it?
Ughh. I can’t bring myself to watch this but judging from the description my question is this:
Uhmm, Isn’t that already a stereotype? From my experience almost all stereotypes have dichotomies ( Madonna/whore, hyper-sexual/ oppressed, wise Native American/drunken, mammy black woman/jezebel). In the case of Arabs I’ve seen: oppressive/oppressed, humorless, sexless, religious (always Islam of course) extremist vs. the hyper-consumerist, play boys, hyper-sexual all around, into drugs and alcohol, hypocritical (often assumed all the men are oppressive to women in the name of women but indulge in alcohol, drugs and sex, basically the Saudi male stereotype).
So basically, to some folks in America, this may only be saying: “Hey that stereotype is wrong, but the other one isn’t far off!” Yeah, we not exactly challenging anything.
Salaam Alaikum,
Oh dear. Words cannot express how terrible I think this is.
Ethar (or anyone else) – Do you remember a song by a female singer that was released a few years ago? It was quite political and the video shows her chasing after an American soldier with her shoe and then finishes with her walking off into the distance with Handala. Maybe that didn’t bust Arab stereotypes either, but it was far better then this then women using botox in a club bathroom
Great post Ethar. Unfortunately the majority of Arab music videos are as trashy as this. It’s not a bad thing to embrace or imitate western pop culture, but the problem with this video is that it is saying Arabs are “normal” because they are just like westerners. Arab culture is rich enough to stand on it’s own, even with the injection of certain aspects of other cultures; however if Arabs are serious in wanting to change their image in the west, it needs to be by being true to Arab culture, and not cowing to whatever is sexy.
When I clicked on the video, I watched about 1 minute and I thought, “the author totally missed the joke,” then I read on. I can not believe anyone can make something like this seriously. Women shooting botox in a club bathroom? Someone humping a giant bottle of champagne? It’s Saturday Night Live.
Honestly, I think it just makes the musician look like a complete idiot and only reinforces negative stereotypes.
also, the rapper in the video is cornrowed/canerowed, not dredlocked.
This song is just blegh awful not even slightly catchy and I hate the fact that the whole message of this faux music is boot licking to The West by saying “we are like you in that we are debauched and cool, too.” Yuck!
I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate for a moment.
As a fan of Eurovision and ridiculous spectacle, I thought this was pretty laid-back as far as music videos go. It was also bad – terrible beat, hilarious lyrics. The only thing that sets it apart is his insistence to portray this as something that’s very much Arab. Well, in one way, he’s correct.
I’m not a big fan of clubs or dribbling champagne on an overpriced dress (think about the dry cleaning bills!), but this is a very specific culture that he is portraying, and it is just as real as any other facet of life you’ll find in Beirut, Dubai or even Amman.
It has its own vibe, its own rules and its own place in society. It isn’t really “Western” either, in the sense that the way people party in high-end clubs in, say, Moscow isn’t exactly “Western” as well (no matter how often people decry it as such).
The obsession with plastic surgery, as portrayed in the video, certainly rings true. I actually thought that this was one of the better aspects of the video because, intentionally or not, it shows the darker side of this lifestyle (I personally don’t judge anyone who gets plastic surgery, and will probably get a boob job myself if I end up having kids, but we all know that some people go ballistic and end up looking like Michael Jackson or worse, endangering their health in the process).
This guy, Jad, doesn’t really look like he’s challenging stereotypes, but then again, we are not his intended audience, are we? His message might surprise some 16-year-old living in Ohio, on the other hand. There are social markers here that are going to be appealing to kids who dream of getting into the nice clubs and reenacting a fantasy, and it looks like the music video director knows this.
Salaam Alaikum,
Natalia – As a fellow fan of Eurovision, I’m going to have to take issue with you there.
Eurovision, particularly up tempo Eurovision is gloriously over the top and silly, from Grandma Bangs the Drum to Viva La Diva, the emphasis is always on fun. Even the soppy balladeers don’t try to be cool.
Jad’s video however, is desperately, cheek-suckingly trying to be cool and it fails, because if it looked any more 90’s and dated, it would be tripping over a Spice Girl. The 16 year old in Ohio would be too busy wetting themselves at the all round awfulness of the song to get much of a message.
A better example would be Tarkan’s Kiss Kiss. The song and video are unashamedly Turkish, yet the song was still a big hit internationally.
GET A LIFE PEOPLE!! THE VIDEO S COOL JUST ENJOY THE SHOW… U RE TRYING TOO HARD TO SOUND POLITICALLY CORRECT. LOVE IT
Which LIFE are you talking about, ya Magda?
The one with botox, drugs, etc.
Is it possible for you to think – simply think – that LIFE might be different from the one advertisers are desperately trying to sell you – as the ultimate cool one? A life made of a hangover in a hangover in a hangover in a hangover – a life in which the only thing you can do between each hangover is shopping.
I can’t personally enjoy this show which is sexist, hyper capitalist, noisy and simply boring.
Tell me what happens in it? Nothing. It’s not a great musical experience honestly..
Still, if you like it, just enjoy it – I don’t judge anyone enjoying this kind of shows and lifestyle – but I strictly judge anyone who denies its political consequences.
At some point, Jad’s video is the most politically correct : there is nothing subversive at all in it, it is simply a rubbishy imitation of any bling bling clip you can watch on MTV – the funky side of orientalism!
i never saw this video before and im glad! this is so trash and i don’t know why people watch it!
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I meant “tame” in the sense that there’s nothing too shocking about it. It isn’t over-the-top, it’s fairly run-of-the-mill as far as music videos go.
[...] Guest Contributor Ethar El-Katatney, originally published at Muslimah Media Watch. Sexy Girls. Arab Beauty that’ll rock your world. Sea, sex and sun. Let the funky Arabs turn you [...]
Excellent article + shameful video indeed.
It’s strange how the mentalities are stereotyped regarding the issue of ‘women’ on the major scale and ‘arab/muslim women’ on the minor one. In a nutshel, it’s disgusting how people see nothing about women but “her body” and thus you always hear things like ‘hot’ & ’sexy’. Come one, what about her mind?
Probably you’ll find now answer!
[...] of images of Arab night life, Muslimah Media Watch has a critique of the “Funky Arabs” video from Jad Choueiri: My biggest problem with this music video is not the gratuitous amounts of flesh on show by the [...]
exactly! thankyou!
As an American I’m offended that he thinks this is “Western culture”. While watching the video I was laughing so hard because he obviously watches to much tv.
he shows how we the new arab world is we dont ride camals or bomb shit we have the best buildings in dubai we have the most land the most money the most hot an exotic look on this planet and we know how to party in moderation he is represent us in america and shows how really are instead of how were protrayed in the u.s movies as terrorists and rapists and strict psycos who beat the fuck out of are children and lock then up like animals soo you all need to wake up to the year 2009 and apreciate this man is doing us a favor in making us look good.
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