Shereen El Feki: Pop culture in the Arab world

Translator: Jesper Mougaard Reviewer: Sune Vilsted Østergaard

Hej allesammen. Fordi dette er min første gang på TED,

Hello, everyone. Because this is my first time at TED,

har jeg inviteret en gammel ven,

for at hjælpe med at lette stemningen lidt.

I've decided to bring along an old friend

to help break the ice a bit.

Ja. Det er rigtigt. Det er Barbie.

Hun er 50 år gammel, og ser stadig så ung ud som nogensinde.

Yes. That's right. This is Barbie.

She's 50 years old. And she's looking as young as ever.

Men jeg vil også gerne introducere jer for

et mere ukendt ansigt.

(Laughter)

But I'd also like to introduce you to

what may be an unfamiliar face.

Det her er Fulla. Fulla er den arabiske verdens Barbie.

This is Fulla. Fulla is the Arab world's answer to Barbie.

Ifølge fortalere for civilisationernes sammenstød,

så bor Barbie og Fulla i helt forskellige verdener.

Now, according to proponents of the clash of civilizations,

Barbie and Fulla occupy these completely separate spheres.

De har forskellige interesser. De har modsatte værdier.

Og skulle de nogensinde komme i kontakt ...

They have different interests. They have divergent values.

så er jeg nødt til at sige, det bliver ikke et kønt syn.

And should they ever come in contact ...

Min oplevelse, i den islamiske verden, er dog helt anderledes.

well, I've got to tell you, it's just not going to be pretty.

My experience, however, in the Islamic world is very different.

Hvor jeg arbejder, i den arabiske region,

har folk travlt med at integrere vestlige idéer

Where I work, in the Arab region,

og ændre dem til ting,

people are busy taking up Western innovations

der hverken er konventionelt vestlige

and changing them into things

eller traditionelt islamiske.

which are neither conventionally Western,

Jeg vil vise jer to eksempler.

nor are they traditionally Islamic.

Den første er 4Shbab.

I want to show you two examples.

Det betyder "for ungdommen" og er en ny arabisk TV-kanal.

The first is 4Shbab.

It means "for youth" and it's a new Arab TV channel.

(Video): Videoklip fra hele kloden.

USA.

(Video): Video clips from across the globe.

♫ Jeg er ikke bange for at stå alene ♫

The USA.

♫ I am not afraid to stand alone ♫

♫ Jeg er ikke bange for at stå alene ♫

♫ Hvis Allah er ved min side ♫

♫ I am not afraid to stand alone, if Allah is by my side ♫

♫ Jeg er ikke bange for at stå alene ♫

♫ Alt bliver okay ♫

♫ I am not afraid to stand alone ♫

♫ Jeg er ikke bange for at stå alene ♫

♫ Everything will be all right ♫

Den arabiske verden.

♫ I am not afraid to stand alone ♫

(Musik)

The Arab world.

(Music)

♫ Hun var bevaret af religionens beskedenhed ♫

♫ She was preserved by modesty of the religion ♫

♫ Hun var iklædt Koranens lys ♫

♫ She was adorned by the light of the Quran ♫

Shereen El Feki: 4Shbab er blevet døbt islamisk MTV.

Shereen El Feki: 4Shbab has been dubbed Islamic MTV.

Dens skaber, en egyptisk TV-producer

ved navn Ahmed Abu Haïba,

Its creator, who is an Egyptian TV producer

vil have islam til at inspirere unge til at leve bedre liv.

called Ahmed Abu Haïba,

wants young people to be inspired

Han tror den bedste måde at få det budskab ud,

by Islam to lead better lives.

er at bruge det enormt populære medie: musikvideoer.

He reckons the best way to get that message across

is to use the enormously popular medium of music videos.

4Shbab var skabt som et alternativ

til eksisterende arabiske musikkanaler.

4Shbab was set up as an alternative

Og de ser cirka sådan her ud.

to existing Arab music channels.

(Musik)

And they look something like this.

(Music)

Dette er iøvrigt Haifa Wehbe. Hun er en libanesisk popstjerne

og pin-up i hele den arabiske verden.

That, by the way is Haifa Wehbe. She's a Lebanese pop star

I 4Shbabs verden handler det ikke om at 'støde og gnide'.

and pan-Arab pin-up girl.

Men det handler heller ikke om 'svovl og flammer'

In the world of 4Shbab, it's not about bump and grind.

Dens videoer er ment til at vise

But it's not about fire and brimstone either.

en venligere og blidere udgave af islam,

Its videos are intended to show

for at hjælpe unge med at håndtere livets udfordringer.

a kinder, gentler face of Islam,

Mit andet eksempel er til et lidt yngre publikum.

for young people to deal with life's challenges.

Og hedder "The 99."

Now, my second example is for a slightly younger crowd.

De er verdens første islamiske superhelte.

And it's called "The 99."

De blev skabt af en kuwaitisk psykolog

Now, these are the world's first Islamic superheroes.

ved navn Naif Al Mutawa.

They were created by a Kuwaiti psychologist

Og hans drøm er at redde islam

called Naif Al Mutawa.

fra forestillingen om intolerance,

And his desire is to rescue Islam

alt sammen i et børnevenligt format.

from images of intolerance,

all in a child-friendly format.

"The 99." Karaktererne skal personificere

Allahs 99 egenskaber:

"The 99." The characters are meant to embody

retfærdighed, visdom og nåde, blandt andre.

the 99 attributes of Allah:

For eksempel er der karakteren Noora.

justice, wisdom, mercy, among others.

So, for example, there is the character of Noora.

Hun menes at have evnen

til at kigge ind i folk,

She is meant to have the power

og se det gode og det onde i alle.

to look inside people

En anden karakter, kaldet Jami,

and see the good and bad in everyone.

har evnen til at skabe fantastiske opfindelser.

Another character called Jami

has the ability to create fantastic inventions.

"The 99" er ikke bare en tegneserie.

Nu er det også en forlystelsespark.

Now, "The 99" is not just a comic book.

Der er en animeret serie undervejs.

It's now a theme park.

Og ved denne tid næste år,

There is an animated series in the works.

vil typer som Superman og Wonder Woman

And by this time next year,

have slået sig sammen med "The 99"

the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman

for at slå uretfærdighed overalt, hvor de finder det.

will have joined forces with "The 99"

to beat injustice wherever they find it.

"De 99" og 4Shbab er blot to af mange eksempler

på denne slags kulturelle krydsninger.

"The 99" and 4Shbab are just two of many examples

of this sort of Islamic cross-cultural hybridization.

Vi taler ikke om et 'sammenstød mellem civilisationer'

Ej heller en slags uidentificerbar masse.

We're not talking here about a clash of civilizations.

Jeg kan lide at tænke på det som et net af civilisationer,

Nor is it some sort of indistinguishable mash.

i hvilket de forskellige kulturelle tråde er flettet sammen.

I like to think of it as a mesh of civilizations,

in which the strands of different cultures are intertwined.

Selvom 4Shbab og "The 99" ser nye og skinnende ud,

har det faktisk en meget lang tradition.

Now, while 4Shbab and "The 99" may look new and shiny,

Igennem hele sin historie har islam lånt og adapteret fra andre civilisationer

there is actually a very long tradition of this.

Throughout its history, Islam has borrowed and adapted from other civilizations

både antikke og moderne.

Trods alt er det koranen, der tilskynder det:

both ancient and modern.

After all, it's the Quran which encourages us to do this:

"Vi gjorde jer til nationer og stammer

for at I kunne lære af hinanden."

"We made you into nations and tribes

Og i mine ører er det meget vise ord,

so that you could learn from one another."

uanset hvor du er fra. Tak.

And to my mind, those are pretty wise words,

(Bifald)

no matter what your creed. Thank you.

(Applause)