Thursday 3 March 2011

The Beauty of a Beat

Could music be the one thing that brings peace to the Middle East?

The concept sounds a little, well, frankly, a little "hippie," but, maybe we haven't given those guitar-strumming flower children enough credit. In the immortal words of Madonna, "Music makes the people come together," even if it is for just two fleeting minutes at a time.

A YouTube sensation in the Arab world, the hip-hop dance remix of an incensed speech by Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi thrown over Pitbull & T-Pain's "Hey Baby", "Zenga Zenga Song" has accomplished the nearly impossible. It has brought an ever-so-slight breeze of humanity through the strangled air of the Israeli-Arab socio-political relationship. The track, of course, appreciated by both Arab and Israeli folk alike, was crafted and remixed by Israeli, Noy Alooshe.

In an interview for public radio, Alooshe admitted that he received death threats at first, after Arab fans of the video found out that he was an Israeli, but eventually, they came around and admitted to him that, although they did not like HIM, they appreciated his music.

And, oh that rhythm did never sound sweeter...

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