CAIRO — Ever since her debut more than 20 years ago, the popular Egyptian singer Ruby has been controversial in both Egypt and other Arab countries. The conservative norms across the Arab world continues to systematically turn the female body into a tool controlled by both men and the economic power of the traditional entertainment industry.
Now, with the woman’s body finding a new space of freedom on social media platforms, governments, especially in Egypt, have launched crackdown campaigns on such spaces, for what it calls: “insulting society’s values.” Such campaigns have wound up with the imprisonment of women who posted online dancing videos in what became widely known as “TikTok Girls.”
In the face of this situation, Ruby, 42, has launched a new gamble with a song entitled: “3 Hours Straight,” which sparked a major controversy in Egypt. Some said the song included “sexual overtones.”
The Artists’ Union in Egypt quickly convened a meeting to discuss the song and the controversy it has stirred up. The head of the union, Mustafa Kamel, received numerous calls from journalists and others protesting the song. But the round of protests came just 30 minutes after the song was released, which Kamel said: “indicates careful planning to stir up controversy and spread fake agendas.”
Ruby started her career in 2000 with a small role in the movie Cultural Film, which tells the story of a group of young men who found a pornographic video and went looking for a place to watch it. At the time Ruby was known by her real name: Rania Hussein.
The following year, she participated in another film, Silence… We’re Rolling, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Youssef Chahine who gave her the stage name Ruby.
Body, not voice
She then starred in 7 Cards in 2004, but true stardom would arrive later that year with the release of song “Leh Bidari Kada.” Critics described Ruby as a “show performer” who uses her body as much as her voice.
It was a new category of Arab entertainer, responding to the onslaught of musical TV satellite channels, mainly Melody and Mazzika, which were founded in 2003.
Chahine, the director, recalled in an interview how he heard a voice while he was attending the filming of 7 Cards movie, which turned out to be Ruby singing, and dancing.
“I didn’t look at her. Rather I looked at people’s eyes, and found that they were looking at her in a different way,” Chahine said.
Secret escape
The controversy over Ruby’s current song, which was written by Aziz Shafi’i, is not surprising. The eloquence with which she addresses sexuality is not new to the pop song; but this time, Ruby approached the direct description and played on the limits of eloquence and imagination.
The invitation is for an encounter of three hours in a nighttime isolation.
In the song, Ruby promises her lover a secret escape in which they isolate themselves from the other people who intrude on the lives of the lovers. It’s an invitation for the partner to take a break from the daily routine, and join the solitude with his beloved.
The invitation is for an encounter of three hours in a nighttime isolation: the first hour is for calm time together, the second for the love of excitement, and the third is the time for tasting love — which many interpreted as having sex.
Ruby’s boldness is not only viewed in the bedroom talk, which was for years limited to men in the entertainment industry, but also in her request for a nighttime meeting with her lover. She didn’t hide such a meeting; she publicly demanded it.
Official lyrics video for Ruby’s “3 Hours Straight” song
“Bringing the nightclub to our homes”
Ruby began her professional career in late 1990s as the video clip (filmed songs) started to gain more space on TV screens. That has paved the way for many other performers to take the stage, including the Lebanese Nancy Ajram and Allen Khalaf.
Again the woman’s body has become a commodity favored by TV viewers. In that context, Ruby released her first song, “Enta Aref Leh,” or “You know why” in 2003, in which she was filmed performing belly dancing through European streets. She became the first Egyptian singer to join a troupe of Lebanese performers known for exposing their body to attract more views to their filmed songs.
An Egyptian critic called Ruby’s videos“the greatest threat to the nation.”
With her region-wide fame, Ruby has come to be seen as a “Pharaonic icon,” adding the belly dancing to her Egyptian stature.
Muslim clerics and journalists have regularly criticized her over the years, accusing her of “bringing the nightclub to our homes” and “normalizing” erotic dancing and sexual arousal in public places. The satellite TV channels that broadcast her videos were also attacked, with one Egyptian critic calling them “the greatest threat to the nation.”
In 2004, lawyer Nabih al-Wahsh filed a lawsuit before the court against the head of Egypt’s Artists Union in Egypt at the time, Hassan Abu Al-Saud, demanding that Ruby’s membership in the union be revoked.
None of the relentless attention and criticism has deterred a generation of performers who helped build a new Arab entertainment industry over the past two decades. “Singers continued to perform songs that were deemed offensive to the public,” said Ziad Itani, a journalist and theatre actor. “But none of them apologized or changed their lyrics.”
So don’t expect Ruby to change a single note of her new song.
