The Musicians’ Syndicate and the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt

Sophie Frankford

doi:10.1017/S0261143024000035

The Musicians’ Syndicate and the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt

Sophie Frankford

Music

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Based on 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo with musicians who perform a musical style known as shaʿbi, this article unravels the complex role that the state-affiliated Musicians’ Syndicate plays in musicians’ working lives in order to investigate the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt. Focusing on moments of encounter between musicians and Syndicate officials, I consider why my interlocutors’ time was split between evading the Syndicate and its restrictions, and embracing the Syndicate by calling for it to implement harsher interventions. Doing so not only sheds light on the reality of cultural production in an authoritarian state, but also prompts a broader reconsideration of scholarly approaches to popular music censorship, requiring us to move beyond dichotomies of ‘state vs. society,’ ‘censors vs. censored,’ and ‘resistors vs. oppressors’ that have tended to dominate scholarship on music censorship.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	292-309
Journal	Popular Music
Volume	43
Issue number	3
Early online date	2 Apr 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261143024000035
Publication status	Published - Oct 2023

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title = "The Musicians{\textquoteright} Syndicate and the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt",

abstract = "Based on 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo with musicians who perform a musical style known as shaʿbi, this article unravels the complex role that the state-affiliated Musicians{\textquoteright} Syndicate plays in musicians{\textquoteright} working lives in order to investigate the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt. Focusing on moments of encounter between musicians and Syndicate officials, I consider why my interlocutors{\textquoteright} time was split between evading the Syndicate and its restrictions, and embracing the Syndicate by calling for it to implement harsher interventions. Doing so not only sheds light on the reality of cultural production in an authoritarian state, but also prompts a broader reconsideration of scholarly approaches to popular music censorship, requiring us to move beyond dichotomies of {\textquoteleft}state vs. society,{\textquoteright} {\textquoteleft}censors vs. censored,{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}resistors vs. oppressors{\textquoteright} that have tended to dominate scholarship on music censorship. ",

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AB - Based on 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo with musicians who perform a musical style known as shaʿbi, this article unravels the complex role that the state-affiliated Musicians’ Syndicate plays in musicians’ working lives in order to investigate the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt. Focusing on moments of encounter between musicians and Syndicate officials, I consider why my interlocutors’ time was split between evading the Syndicate and its restrictions, and embracing the Syndicate by calling for it to implement harsher interventions. Doing so not only sheds light on the reality of cultural production in an authoritarian state, but also prompts a broader reconsideration of scholarly approaches to popular music censorship, requiring us to move beyond dichotomies of ‘state vs. society,’ ‘censors vs. censored,’ and ‘resistors vs. oppressors’ that have tended to dominate scholarship on music censorship.

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The Musicians’ Syndicate and the contradictions of state control over music in Egypt

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