By Rahma Diaa Egyptian women have the right to ride bicycles and wear dresses in Egypt’s streets. They have the right to work, travel and change society’s stereotype of what women are allowed to do, female underground music artists say, defying both mainstream music and Egyptian society’s perceptions of women. Through rock, metal, rap and jazz, they get their message across. The phenomenon of underground music came to the fore in Egypt in recent years, giving women artists a space to express themselves and speak for other women. The first “taboo” Rania al-Adawi faced when she was forming her band in 2015 was to find female musicians who can join in. “Families were worried about their girls becoming members of underground bands. Although girls can make good art, they are often not given the opportunity,” she told Aswat Masriya. Eventually, she had to resort to men to be able to form her band, “Taboo”. But she could still rebel against “masculine dominance” through music. Women are both “pretty” and “brave”, Adawi says in her song “Don’t look at my outside only.” “From the heart of tyranny, I come to snatch my right. I reject the eastern man’s unjust laws,” she says…
Women Artists Defy Stereotypes, Mainstream Music in Egypt Through Underground Bands
May 11, 2016
