Waad: #1 with a Bullet

Charles Paul Freund | June 30, 2005

The most popular music video in the Arab world, according to the Beirut-based countdown show Top Ten, is currently "Aala Meen" ("Whose Fault?"), performed by an elegantly beautiful woman named Waad. That brings the Arab music-video revolution to Saudi Arabia: Waad is a Saudi, and until now her country has yielded very few women pop singers, and certainly nobody like her. Even the Arab world's music fans are interested in her phenomenon, in part because Waad's career is a spectacle that includes the potential of danger. Indeed, there have already been an alleged kidnapping and an attempt on her life by an outraged brother.

By the often-racy standards of music videos by singers from Lebanon (and to a lesser degree from Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco), Waad's video is pretty tame. By Saudi pop standards, however, it's a breakthrough. Like other Gulf women singers, Waad remains covered below the neck. (She does wear a pantsuit, however, which is frowned on by some moral conservatives; one Egyptian cleric recently issued a fatwa against ironing women's pants because it would be abetting a woman in wrongdoing.) But while other Gulf women singers generally remain immobile while performing so as not to appear provocative, Waad moves around freely, swaying to her music. By contrast, a Waad video last year was notably austere: Sitting on a stool in an otherwise empty set, her only physical movement was to accompany her lyrics by "signing" them for the deaf.

Swaying and pants may not seem like much, but then one of her brothers has allegedly tried to kill her simply because she sings in public, a story that is an important aspect of Waad's public persona. For example, here is a page where Arab music fans discuss Waad's music, her Saudi-ness, her appearances on Arab reality TV shows, her dark complexion, and, inevitably, the attempt on her life. According to the version on the forum, Waad's brother, Muhammad Bakar Yunus Al-Fallatta, tried to kill her during a concert.

A different version appears in this April 2004 account in the Saudi paper, Arab News. According to the brother's own father-in-law, Al-Fallatta and another brother disguised themselves as women and followed Waad into a Cairo TV studio. Al-Fallatta fired a gun in his sister's direction, then escaped. The same source adds that later, Waad, who lives in Lebanon, "was drugged and kidnapped and smuggled back into Saudi Arabia"; Al-Fallatta was reportedly "under investigation for the kidnapping" of his sister. (These allegations are "back story"; the account is really about Al-Fallatta beating his own wife nearly to death because she answered their ringing home phone.)

In fact, Waad's video seems to make use of the air of impending danger around her. The clip's opening titles identify her character in the video as on the run and in hiding, though the nature of that danger is left to the viewers' understanding. In short, Waad appears to be exploiting the very challenges to her unusual role of Saudi diva to enhance her career. The bigger her career, of course, the more she may contribute to the pressure for social change within Saudi Arabia.

Comments

|6.30.05 @ 12:50PM|#

Those Saudis (and I suppose many other arabs [Sorry Mo.], along with Pakistanis and Indians - with the caveat that I'm not trying to stereotype all people from those areas, etc, etc) are some sick fucks. I mean, what is there problem with women? Someone that hostile towards women usually a) has a small dick or b) is gay.

I say nuke the site from orbit - it's the only way to be sure.

But first, I'll take all their women. Especially if they look like Waad.

|6.30.05 @ 12:51PM|#

...what is their problem...

|6.30.05 @ 1:07PM|#

Someone that hostile towards women usually a) has a small dick or b) is gay.

Yeah, gays are really hostile toward women - especially while date-raping... or beating their wives.

|6.30.05 @ 1:12PM|#

Arabnews.com is full of Saudi humor. An example:

JEDDAH, 30 June 2005 - The answer to the question of whether women should drive is very simple. Yes. The answer to why should they drive is also very simple. Safety. They are safer drivers, have fewer accidents and a much lower death rate than men from accidents they are involved in.

Are Saudis too lazy and dishonest to work at a gas station?

Abdullah Balhareth, another gas station owner, said: "We cannot depend on Saudis to work in this job because it needs patience. It needs constant supervision on workers, honesty and a great deal of trust because they will be dealing with large amounts of cash."

Who doesn't enjoy Oprah bashing? Some Saudis are unhappy with the way Oprah Winfrey shed light on the issues women face in Saudi Arabia.

Every Saudi who watched the program was dismayed that the image of the Saudi woman, in contrast to all the others, was negative - as if to say, "Hello Everybody. I am a Saudi woman and I come from a country where the national sport is wife-beating!"

|6.30.05 @ 1:15PM|#

So... in the mind of this guy:

Singing in public/Swaying to music = not okay.

Cross-dressing to kill sister = okay.

Gotchya.

This kind of misogyny makes me physically ill.

|6.30.05 @ 1:31PM|#

I'd like to issue a fatwa against any more women named Waad, or anything pronounced the same. It's just plain wrong.

|6.30.05 @ 1:39PM|#

But while other Gulf woman generally remain immobile while performing so as not to appear provocative, Waad moves around freely, swaying to her music.

and

The bigger her career, of course, the more she may contribute to the pressure for social change within Saudi Arabia.


I don't see what is revolutionary in this singer, if you have ever seen Etab. Etab has been doing the singing/dancing thing for more than 30 years and I would argue that Saudi society is more socially conservative in recent years than it was 30 years ago when Etab started singing. So, why do you think it would be different this time?

|6.30.05 @ 1:56PM|#

She does wear a pantsuit, however, which is frowned on by some moral conservatives; one Egyptian cleric recently issued a fatwa against ironing women's pants because it would be abetting a woman in wrongdoing.

Yeah, this fatwa is an indication of how backward is Egypt and other Arab countries. Such a thing will never happen in the enlightined US society. Oh wait, I forgot about Falwell's fatwa against a cartoon.

gaius marius|6.30.05 @ 2:02PM|#

Oh wait, I forgot about Falwell's fatwa against a cartoon.

*blows milk through nose*

well done, mr a.

R C Dean|6.30.05 @ 2:10PM|#

Barbarians. The Etabs and the Waads can't upset their apple carts fast enough.

|6.30.05 @ 2:36PM|#

Falwell's fatwa has no power of law, it's just the silly ravings of an idiot. Saudi ones do, which is why those freaking Bedouin hillbillies can legally beat the crap out of their wives for the horrendous crime of answering the phone. What a bunch of sick bastards.

|6.30.05 @ 2:39PM|#

Someone that hostile towards women usually a) has a small dick or b) is gay.

Yeah, gays are really hostile toward women - especially while date-raping... or beating their wives.


I think he meant some gay men that are still in the closet trying to deny who they are. They hate themselves and take it out on others. These of course are in the minority and will become rarer as it becomes more acceptable in our society to be gay.

That said, I would say the main thing is fear. All straight men know the seductive power women have over us. Men have been physically subjecting women to secondary status because they know they could easily psychologically (RE: sexually) subject us to secondary status. This fear has been around since the Ancient Greeks. The Amazon women were not a fairy tale bedtime story the Greeks told their children. It was story to instill fear of ravage women into their boys.

|6.30.05 @ 2:41PM|#

Oops. I was quoting Rhywun there.

|6.30.05 @ 2:58PM|#

Falwell's fatwa has no power of law, it's just the silly ravings of an idiot. Saudi ones do, which is why those freaking Bedouin hillbillies can legally beat the crap out of their wives for the horrendous crime of answering the phone.

If you bothered to read the Arabnews article that Charles linked to, you will find this:

Police are currently looking for her husband, Muhammad Bakar Yunus Al-Fallatta, an out-of-work singer, who is facing charges of attempted murder.

You can check this article from the BBC about this same crime: " Saudi jailed for battering wife"

But I guess facts are irrelevant when you are a moron with an Axe to grind.

|6.30.05 @ 3:23PM|#

Every time a situation like this reminds me of how bad Arab women have it, I forget for a moment that I am essentially non-interventionist, and wish I were young enough to join the armed forces so I could assist with the effort to bring that system to its knees.

Every time I see that women are still wearing burquas, getting gang-raped for supposed crimes, being beaten or burned to death for their perceived indiscretions, etc., etc.

|6.30.05 @ 3:38PM|#

Sorry Rhywun, I didn't see your post earlier.

Yogi is correct in discerning what the meaning of my statement was. I was not trying to be demeaning towards gay men. As Yogi said, I was more talking about the type of man who is closeted gay and hates himself for it. A man who lashes out by either acting too "manly" or by hating on women because he thinks he's "supposed" to be attracted to them but is not.

Thankfully, as Yogi pointed out again, these types of people will become increasingly rare.

|6.30.05 @ 3:41PM|#

A couple observations:

1) Lowdog, loved the "Aliens" reference. One of my top ten movies.

2) a, You explode at Don Mynack for mistakenly stating that men can legally beat socially "offending" women to death, yet you don't acknowledge that he is right about your error in equating Falwell's loony hysterics about a Teletubbie with a cleric issuing a fatwa. As we have seen over and over again, a fatwa carries an enourmous amount of social weight in strongly religious Muslim countries (Rushdie being a particularly famous example), while Falwell's proclamations are generally ridiculed. Mispeaking does not make one a moron, does it, a?

|6.30.05 @ 3:42PM|#

From the article a linked to: "Under Sharia law, if Mrs al-Baz insists on compensation for her suffering, her husband could either be ordered to pay damages or be given a beating of equal severity to the one he inflicted on his wife..."

Too bad the asshole won't have to endure both. Not that I advocate 'an eye for an eye' generally, but that dude deserves whatever he gets.

|6.30.05 @ 3:45PM|#

The worst was when some Saudi 'moral police' wouldn't let some girls out of a burning dorm because they weren't properly covered.

So they died.

|6.30.05 @ 3:47PM|#

What about the time some Saudi jihadists hijacked airliners and used them to destroy skyscrapers full of people?

|6.30.05 @ 4:03PM|#

Swede:

Don claimed that fatwas have the power of law and that this lead to making Fallata's beating his wife for answering the phone legal. He was wrong on both counts. The beating was not legal and fatwas do not have the power of law. Ironing women's pants is not illegal in Egypt.

|6.30.05 @ 4:12PM|#

I suspect Al Fallatta just wanted to brag to his homies that he "shot his Waad".

|6.30.05 @ 4:47PM|#

a, thank you for enlightening me! Heck I'm getting out of this fascist oppressive US of A right now - I'm moving to Saudi Arabia where I can really be free.

|6.30.05 @ 4:58PM|#

Did she sing the song, "Borrrnnnnnnn to Be Waaa-aaaa-aaaad"?

|6.30.05 @ 5:48PM|#

What's wrong with a Saudi woman wearing pants? Saudi men wear dresses.

|6.30.05 @ 5:53PM|#

There are many things wrong with Saudi women wearing pantsuits. For one, ageing Saudi women who wear too-tight elasticized waistband pants that cause midriff bulge is a penalty punishable by death in some regions. Brightly-colored capri pants are considered taboo. Also, cigarette pants on fat women are a no-no.

Oh wait, sorry I'm confusing Saudi Arabian fatwas with Cosmo's Fashion Tip Of The Week.

|6.30.05 @ 6:22PM|#

Uh, sorry, I believe the "rapists are closet gays" theory was largely disproven a while back. Along with a lot of other Freudian claptrap. Not that beating or raping anyone is OK, of course.

And of course the penalty for false claims of beating or raping someone should be double the penalty for actually beating or raping.

Too bad they have all those arab women covered up, a lot of 'em sure are cute.

PS - Are hyper-macho, homophobic, exaggeratedly chivalrous rants a sign of latent homosexuality?

|6.30.05 @ 6:32PM|#

daddy - maybe...

But I didn't say anything about rapists being closet gays...I just said they could be hostile towards women...I've seen it.

For what it's worth, I haven't read any/much Freud because the synopsis I've gleaned over the years seems like nonsense. Actually it seems like Freud assumed everyone had his same issues, which is obviously not the case. I mainly go on personal experience when I make comments such as I made.

If I offend someone, I will gladly apologise. For that is rarely, if ever, my intention.

I suspect that in many ways Yogi is right.

Anyway, it's messed up, whatever the cause.

|6.30.05 @ 7:21PM|#

Lowdog-

You're not offending me, I'm not a woman beater, rapist, or gay.

I disagree somewhat with Yogi's analysis. There has been research to suggest that the Amazons actually did exist in an area that's now Kyrgistan (or one of the other 'stans).

As far as the psychodynamics are concerned I think its just a cultural thing. If there was a culture where men were kept locked up I think some women would be abusive and react the same way to men attempting to gain freedom and autonomy. It's like stalking, there's a lot of female stalkers as well as male ones.

|6.30.05 @ 10:36PM|#

If there was a culture where men were kept locked up I think some women would be abusive and react the same way to men attempting to gain freedom and autonomy.

(Insert joke about marriage and divorce courts here.)

|7.1.05 @ 4:33AM|#

daddy - I didn't think I had offended you...it was more a disclaimer...

And you're right about the research on the amazons, although of course, it's not settled.

|7.1.05 @ 1:57PM|#

Serge/"gay wife beater"-

You need to do the research, a lot of the "rapists/woman beaters are closet homosexuals" theories were pretty well discredited.

As a libertarian, I don't care what legal, consensual sex acts you engage in. It's when people like yourself do things to sleeping, unconcious, drugged, incapacitated, etc. people that a crime is committed. Then there's extra criminal (and civil) liability when you stage pictures as well.