This is a hilarious comedy song from the uplifting and manic Egyptian Cinema Film 'Aasker Fi Al Moasker' ['Soldier in the Army']. The crazy story centres on 'Khedr El Gebaly' [Mohammed Henedy] who is a naive Upper Egypt boy in the army. He marries Saadiya [Lekaa El Khomaisy]. Khedr meets 'Metwaly El Zanaty' [Maged El Kedwany] on a train on one of the many journeys to the village. Metwaly is pressured by family feud to kill Khedr as revenge on the Gebaly clan. The film is Khedr and Saadiya escaping the murder attempts by a less than keen Metwaly. We end up at The Sheherezade Club in this clip where Khedr and Saadeya need to take refuge with his Uncle Hassan [Salah Abdulla] who said he was a 'history teacher' but actually promotes cheap perfumes with the belly dancer that he lives with...
ORCHESTRATION
The song is basically a spoof of a SHA'ABI [Egyptian 'music of the people' a little like Rap as a protest and satire of bad behaviour in society]. The song makes a comedy of the way that Sha'abi song are used, particularly in Egyptian films - so it is a complex comedy of a form which creates satire and parody...
The song is a comic PASTICHE [song in the style of] of a Cairo belly dance cabaret night club song. The song basically a Sha'abi rhythm track for dancing with longer bridges for the comic dance sections and Henedy's antics to attract his uncle's attention.
The rhythm is mostly provided by an electronic drum beat from a keyboard. This is embellished with the usual SAJAT or ZILLS [small metal cymbals] that are played in a fast repetitive rhythm and give the higher REGISTER [pitches high, medium or low]. There is also some use of DARBOUKA [A vase drum] and FRAME DRUM [skin over a frame like a tambourine with no metal discs]. The PERCUSSION [instruments you hit] drop in and out of the rhythm pattern for variety]. The drumming solos in the bridges offer comic dance and comedy opportunities as well as relief from the singer.
The melody is basically ACCORDIAN [a western keyboard instrument with bellows that is detuned in octaves with a 'tangy' sound that works well in Arabic music]. This interplays with some keyboard sounds like accordian that give the cheap thin sound of contemporary Sha'abi'. The accordian also plays some rhythmic solos in the bridges in the bridges for comedy more than musical 'meaning'!
The singing is deliberately very poor to indicate the voice quality of a number of well-loved Sha'abi stars in Egypt. The backing singers interact with the vocal and instrumental solos. This is done for relief but also sarcastically silly and bad to imitate a lot of backing singers in Sha'abi songs plus to make the perfume-selling song 'Kolonia' sound more daft.
The song is quite short because it is just meant as a comedy relief in a long film. These short songs are often used in Egyptian films for this reason.
VIDEO
The video is wonderful! The whole club is made to look seedy and gaudy. The red seedy walls and furniture and the green and mixed colour outfits clash superbly. The backing singers all look out of place, are the wrong age and appearance and are not taking anything seriously. The pumping cheap perfume as chirping in the chorus is an amusing touch.
Henedy and Khomaisy do a great job in their 'inappropriate' traditional clothes that can often result in refused entry into nightclubs and restaurants in cosmopolitan Cairo. The Arab audiences understand a lot of the rule breaking behaviour thus the great success of these comedies. The shouting and screaming over the night club is a good touch, as is the laughing taxi driver motif that repeats over the movie.
The dancer is just 'out of control' and hilarious in a backdrop of Cairian society. Again, this is a parody of famous belly dancers like the rustic Fifi Abdu or Nagwa Fuad, but their rural charm is taken 'just a bit too far' and makes for mayhem and hilarity.
The filming is nice, one camera, but lots of nice colouful shots that give variety and clever sarcastic imitations of Sha'abi film songs.
