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“Imagine, O Arabs!”: Ahmed Sa’id and the Rise of Egyptian Radio
Abstract
The radio world in the Middle East shifted on its axis when Ahmed Sa’id and his radio program, Voice of the Arabs, hit the airwaves in 1953. Millions of people tuned in every day to hear the famed broadcaster deliver his pronouncements on the news, to chuckle at his sharp humor, and to hear the great music that was produced during this golden era of Egyptian songwriting. Voice of the Arabs, and its parent program, Radio Cairo, functioned as a center for anti-colonialism and Arab nationalism, a nexus for the playing out of inter-Arab conflicts, and a mouthpiece for Gamal Abdul Nasser’s leadership. Based on an examination of radio transcripts taken from U.S., Soviet, and English archives, this paper examines the rhetorical tools used by Sa’id in develop a uniquely Egyptian radio language that would be emulated by other state programs for decades to come. These transcripts track the rise of post-war, Egyptian-led, Arab nationalism and its intersection with the Cold War. They tell a story of an Arab world under attack from Israel, Britain, eventually the United States, and even sometimes the Soviet Union. They reveal the tensions that arose in these years between the Baghdad Pact nations and the rest of the Arab world, led by Egypt. They tell the story of the Nasser’s propaganda program and its gradual movement away from a revolutionary identity into one that used the language of revolution to defend the state. While numerous Arab and Western scholars have noted the importance of Voice of the Arabs in shaping the soundscape of the 1950s and 60s, few have devoted attention to what that shaping really looking like. This chapter is a first step in unpacking the role that Voice of the Arabs played in this grand story of contestation and consensus. It looks closely at the linguistic and rhetorical development of Ahmed Said’s iconic approach to broadcasting. It pays attention to his use of metaphor and imagery, looking closely at how he used modern, highly emotional, propaganda techniques to merge older Quranic themes with the secular revolutionary promise of an Egyptian-led, pan-Arab liberation for the Middle East.
Discipline
History
International Relations/Affairs
Language
Linguistics
Media Arts
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
None