# Are pop songs normally in MSA / dialect?



## Anatoli

Thanks again, Josh and Cherine.

Another question related. Are pop songs normally in MSA or dialect? I downloaded some songs of Amr Diab with lyrics, most of them romanised but some have the Arabic script. I noticed, ج is pronounced as g and ق as a glottal stop. That makes me think that at least pronunciaton is Egyptian, what about the rest - are the words used those from MSA or a dialect? Would singers use "maa" (what) or "eh" or "shnu", "aysh", etc.?

Mod note:
Hello Anatoli, I thought it would be better if we give the songs an independed thread 
This thread has been split from this one.
Cherine


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## SofiaB

Most pop songs are in the local variant only a (very) few are in MSA.


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## cherine

This is correct. But, sometimes you can find singers from Egyptian sing in khaleeji dialect (like Angham who has some beautiful songs in khaleeji).
The opposite is more common : many singers from Lebanon, Algeria, Morroco... sing in Egyptian dialect. I don't like sounding chauvinistic, but it's a fact that singing in Egyptian dialect gives the singer a wider audiene, not only in Egypt but in many (if not all) the Arabic speaking countries. This doesn't mean that those singers don't sing in their own dialect, on the contrary they sing in both, and many also sing in more that two or three dialects.


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## Anatoli

Thanks, Cherine. Because Egyptian sounds cooler and more fashionable?
That is similar to European singers singing in English, rather than in their own language.


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## cherine

Anatoli said:
			
		

> Because Egyptian sounds cooler and more fashionable?


Haha  this is nice.
No, it's not about beeing cooler -though I love my dialect very much, but I have to admit that Lebanese sounds cooler to me, and much more musical- it's about a simple reason:
Egypt was the first -or among the first, I'm not 100% sure- Arab countries that knew Cinema. The cinematographic industry of Egypt was a leader in this region, and the Egyptian products were marketed throughout all the Arabic countries. Followed, the musical record, the TV serials, and even theatre : troupes made tours in many Arabic countries. This way, the Egyptian dialect became very known in the Arab world من المحيط إلى الخليج (from the Ocean to the Gulf- this is how we express the geographic extension of the Arab countries).
On the opposite side : Egyptian were/are so self-sufficient that they rarely listen/see artistic productions from the other countries -sole exceptions may be the Lebanese and Syrian productions-. This is why we have great difficuly understanding a Moroccan, an Iraqi, a Qatari..... speaking; because we're not used to their dialects.
Shame, but true


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## Ayazid

As Cherine said most Arabic pop songs are in the dialect. The rare exception are many songs of older Lebanese singers Fairouz and Majda el Roumy, who often sing in Classical Arabic. Nice example is the song Kalimaat by Majda el Roumy


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## Anatoli

> Shame, but true


Unfortunately, one language/dialect becomes more dominant than the other - bad for smaller languages/dialects, good for communication.

European singers have to sing in English, not because they don't like their language but because they want to get a wider audience and have more chance for success.

I am interested in getting hold (audio/MP3, lyrics, translation, transliteration - whatever is available) of a few/couple of nice songs in MSA, just for learning purposes.


Does Egyptian dialect play a role of inter-Arab communication (I mean more often than others, not as an exclusive and the only method, of course), since MSA is not used for informal communication? I don't want to upset speakers of other dialects, just want to understand the situation.


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## българин

hmm i didn't know this. so egyptian is like the english in the arabic speaking world (dealing with pop culture). personally i don't like it when non native english speakers sing in english....it's getting old and annoying...so are there any musicians that sing in arabic from the gulf region?? is is egyptian and lebanese the main ones?


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## cherine

Anatoli said:
			
		

> Unfortunately, one language/dialect becomes more dominant than the other - bad for smaller languages/dialects, good for communication.
> .....
> Does Egyptian dialect play a role of inter-Arab communication (I mean more often than others, not as an exclusive and the only method, of course), since MSA is not used for informal communication? I don't want to upset speakers of other dialects, just want to understand the situation.


To my knowledge, no Arabic dialect prevails over the others, each country preserves its own colloquial form of Arabic, and when two Arabs -or more- from different countries meet, each speak his/her own dialect, and they manage to understand each other more or less well.
So, if I understoo your question about the Egyptian dialect play a role in inter-Arab communiaction, as between -let's say- a Morrocan and a Syrian, then the answer is sure no  Arabs *understand* Egyptian, but this doesn't necessarily mean they speak it.
And as I said : each speak their own collquial Arabic.



			
				българин said:
			
		

> hmm i didn't know this. so egyptian is like the english in the arabic speaking world (dealing with pop culture).
> ...so are there any musicians that sing in arabic from the gulf region?? is is egyptian and lebanese the main ones?


This is partly true : many singers from different Arab countries have some songs in Egyptian, but this is only to wider audience (Egypt is the Arab country with the largest population), but they have their songs in their dialects.

As for your last question, it's a bit strange for me : Musicians from the Gulf region sing -of course- in Arabic. But if you mean to ask if they sing in Egyptian collquial form of Arabic, the answer is : I don't remember hearing of a singer from the Gulf who has a song in Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese.... But the opposite is correct; as I said before some Egyptian singers -like Angham أنغام - and some Lebanese -Diana 7addad, Nawal ez-Zoghby- and others... have songs in Khaleeji (Gulf dialect).
Lebanese is the main dialect in Lebanese songs, Egyptian is main with Egyptian songs and some songs sung by non-Egyptian singers, but as I said before : each singer sing in the first place in their own dialect/collquial form of Arabic.


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## Orseas

cherine said:
			
		

> But the opposite is correct; as I said before some Egyptian singers -like Angham أنغام - and some Lebanese -Diana 7addad, Nawal ez-Zoghby- and others... have songs in Khaleeji (Gulf dialect).


I don't understand Arabic, but I'm well aware of the fact that my favorite singer Najwa Karam sings solely in Lebanese dialect. And she has always been criticized for that, right?


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## cherine

I can't imagine why would a singer be criticized for singing in their own dialect !

Arabic singers have total liberty in choosing the dialect in which to sing. There's no law against it


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## Orseas

cherine said:
			
		

> Arabic singers have total liberty in choosing the dialect in which to sing. There's no law against it


 
Good to know that!


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## българин

Hello, I just want to ask if you guys know, what dialect does Diana Haddad sing in? I know she was born in Lebanon but live in Kuwait, so does she sing in Lebanese or Gulf dialect?


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## cherine

Diana Haddad sings mainly in Lebanese, but she has songs in other dialects (Egyptian, and maybe khaleejy (Gulf) too).


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## Hemza

cherine said:


> As for your last question, it's a bit strange for me : Musicians from the Gulf region sing -of course- in Arabic. But if you mean to ask if they sing in Egyptian collquial form of Arabic, the answer is : I don't remember hearing of a singer from the Gulf who has a song in Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese....



I know this is oooold but you have for instance عتاب, a Saudi singer who sings in Najdi but also in Egyptian since she lived a part of her life there and some of her songs have been composed by Egyptian compositors. She also passed away there too الله يرحمها. I don't have any other example in mind but I think there are few who sang in Egyptian.


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## Hamad Al-Sager

българин said:


> Hello, I just want to ask if you guys know, what dialect does Diana Haddad sing in? I know she was born in Lebanon but live in Kuwait, so does she sing in Lebanese or Gulf dialect?


Gulf dialect most of the time


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