Welcome to my new band, 'The ShiبShiبs' (pronounced 'Shibshibs'). I play bass. The official description of the band goes something like this:
Because of today's uprising pseudo-religious stream in Egypt, Bonzo, Spanker and Dirty were to go with the flow, joining the Vox Populi. While loaded with booze; they managed to compact all of their different spiritual trances and thoughts into 'The ShiبShiبs'.
Although 'The ShiبShiبs' were conceived as an antithesis to the cultural wasteland soon to be imposed on us by the Muslim Brotherhood, this is actually my reaction to my social network feeds being constantly engulfed with terrible generic pop/rock songs since January '11. All containing either the words 'Revolution', 'Midan' and 'Tahrir' in the title. I can't stand them, not one single one. Don't get me wrong, if the as-yet-nowhere-near-finished revolution (despite what the songs try to make us believe) has inspired creativity, great. I've seen some beautiful gems (mainly painted across the streets of Cairo) since last January. What gets me is that they're mostly using the revolution as a crutch to sell their bland style of uninspired Egyptopop, which the masses then gobble up. It's a clever plan, using reinvigorated national pride as a tool to sell bad music that panders to the lowest common denominator, replacing the word '7abibi' with 'Thawra'.
Why not do something DARING and ADVENTUROUS (like the January uprising)? Probably because that won't appeal to Randa and 3aza who need their musical dosage to be safe, diluted and restrained. If you can't condense it to a catchy and irritatingly loud ring tone to proudly display your slave like status on the metro, then forget about it.
How to tell the difference between revolutionary music as art or as a product? Simple. Did they record a cheesy video in Tahrir? Are there a lot of V signs, smiling veiled Egyptian girls and flags?Are the sheep on your friends list, the ones who were initially against the uprising because it scared them, then went to Tahrir during the last days to get their picture taken by a tank sharing it on Facebook and Twitter? Then I think you have your answer.
Anyway, here's our first song. It's about bitches. Our fanpage can be found here.
Because of today's uprising pseudo-religious stream in Egypt, Bonzo, Spanker and Dirty were to go with the flow, joining the Vox Populi. While loaded with booze; they managed to compact all of their different spiritual trances and thoughts into 'The ShiبShiبs'.
Although 'The ShiبShiبs' were conceived as an antithesis to the cultural wasteland soon to be imposed on us by the Muslim Brotherhood, this is actually my reaction to my social network feeds being constantly engulfed with terrible generic pop/rock songs since January '11. All containing either the words 'Revolution', 'Midan' and 'Tahrir' in the title. I can't stand them, not one single one. Don't get me wrong, if the as-yet-nowhere-near-finished revolution (despite what the songs try to make us believe) has inspired creativity, great. I've seen some beautiful gems (mainly painted across the streets of Cairo) since last January. What gets me is that they're mostly using the revolution as a crutch to sell their bland style of uninspired Egyptopop, which the masses then gobble up. It's a clever plan, using reinvigorated national pride as a tool to sell bad music that panders to the lowest common denominator, replacing the word '7abibi' with 'Thawra'.
Why not do something DARING and ADVENTUROUS (like the January uprising)? Probably because that won't appeal to Randa and 3aza who need their musical dosage to be safe, diluted and restrained. If you can't condense it to a catchy and irritatingly loud ring tone to proudly display your slave like status on the metro, then forget about it.
How to tell the difference between revolutionary music as art or as a product? Simple. Did they record a cheesy video in Tahrir? Are there a lot of V signs, smiling veiled Egyptian girls and flags?Are the sheep on your friends list, the ones who were initially against the uprising because it scared them, then went to Tahrir during the last days to get their picture taken by a tank sharing it on Facebook and Twitter? Then I think you have your answer.
Anyway, here's our first song. It's about bitches. Our fanpage can be found here.
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