When rhythm becomes resistance: transcreating songs in Arabic

Abstract

Music is said to be the art of thinking in sound, a site where tones can be translated into aesthetic resistance. It has the power to invigorate national identities and cultural heritage as well as the potential to create nuanced contrapuntal spaces to protest against structures of oppression. Transcreating songs has the ability to assert or negotiate power dynamics and reinterpret political discourse. Although a fertile ground for analysis, song translation, in relation to activism and creativity in particular, is a relatively nascent field with scant research which, looking at the Arab landscape, is even scantier. The present essay contributes to closing the gap by probing into active engagement with music and its testimonial qualities to national identity and political struggle. Martin and White’s appraisal theory is employed to display how transcreated songs are imbued with political and religious overtones to accommodate specific motivations or agendas. As a case study, we analyse ten Spacetoon songs which a group of Yemeni artists transcreated into Arabic to signal their Palestinian solidarity amid Arab normalizations. Thus, the purpose of this essay is to shed light on how re-versioned songs – also called pseudo-translation and text replacement – transcend linguistic borders and elevate the status of the original to create positive change and advocate resistance. The research concludes that Medley Palestine (the term the artists use) is an evaluative statement about the Israeli occupation on the one hand, and an attempt to instil Islamic values and recover Arab gallantry on the other.