Socio-Political Events and Music: Egyptian Songs Supporting ʿAbd Fattāḥ al-Sīsī

This article presents the results of research conducted on Egyptian popular songs, categorized as patriotic and showing their writers’ support for ʿAbd Fattāḥ al-Sīsī. He was first a general, Minister of Defense and commander of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. When protests occurred in Egypt in 2013, he remained the main actor on the political stage. Then, he became marshal, resigned from his army positions, became the candidate for presidency and finally became president of the Republic. The author of this article briefly describes what happened in Egypt in this short time (2011–2014), and answers the main research questions which concern the messages of the songs, discussing whether the messages changed from the beginning of these events to the moment when he became president of Egypt. She points out how the songs follow the political events, and presents the results of her own participant observations, including photos from when she was living in Egypt from the middle of June 2013 to October 2014. She introduces this phenomenon, how the country changed in a few months and how the culture (music/popular culture) was an important part of the country’s changes that influenced these song’s messages.