Abstract
January 25, 2015 marked the fourth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and ended his 30 years of autocratic rule. Since that time Egypt has experienced continuing street protests, clashes between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious and secularist parties, three presidents, a new constitution, and an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai desert. Throughout these years of chaos however, Egypt’s ever vibrant artistic world has continued to operate. Indeed, in the larger regional context, the revolutions that occurred throughout the Arab world as a result of the Arab Spring included a florescence of artistic activity. Egyptian literary critic Samia Mehrez has argued that “One of the most remarkable accomplishments of the various uprisings in the Arab World since January 2011 has been the radical transformation of the relationship between people, their bodies, and space; a transformation that has enabled sustained mass convergence, conversation, and agency for new publics whose access to and participation in public space has for decades been controlled by oppressive, authoritarian regimes” (2012: 14). In Egypt, one way in which this new freedom has been marked has been the appearance of graffiti art, public performance art and exhibitions in which Egyptians claim space for themselves, discuss their relationship to the state, and to international entities that have so profoundly impacted Egyptian politics and economy. This paper discusses some of these artistic events as they were performed in 2012, around the first anniversary of the Revolution. It will focuses specifically on events staged by The Choir Project (mashru` koraal) that I witnessed in January 2012. These events expressed harsh criticism of both Mubarak and the then ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, while at the same time, expressing hopes and ideas for Egypt’s future. The Choir Project (mashru` koraal) is an ongoing project that invites people from all walks of life to put their hopes, concerns, jokes and woes into song. The group started in 2010, and regularly meets in workshops to collaborate in writing songs and then hold public performances. This paper is based on interview material with participants, and translation, explication and analysis of some of the lyrics. Through exposition of the work of this group I intend to show how one important example of collaborative art and performance is functioning in post-Revolutionary Egypt to express and elaborate concerns of citizens.
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