Opinion: The musical world of theme songs (part 1)

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Fri, 01 Jun 2018 - 01:52 GMT

BY

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 - 01:52 GMT

Ramadan soap operas - a photo complied by Egypt Today

Ramadan soap operas - a photo complied by Egypt Today


CAIRO – 1 June 2018: The theme song of any series is the main instigator in attracting viewers as it is considered one of its success factors.

Drama classicals such as “Layaly el Helmeya” (El Helmeya Nights), “El Shahd w El Domoa’” (Honey and Tears), “Al Mal w al Banon” (Money and Children), “Al Dali” and others are all immortal series not only because of their plots but because of their unforgettable theme songs.

The theme song of any soap opera is an integral part of it, because it gives the viewer a general idea of what the drama's storyline is all about. It attracts the audience if it has a catchy tune, or expresses emotions through its lyrics.


Themes songs’ significance to viewers rose in 2013 when they became a far more profitable venture. Theme songs were often released a week or two before the start of the series, attracting audience more and giving them a teaser of what to expect. It was the huge success of Sherine Abdel Wahab song “Masha'er” (Emotions) for the drama series “Hekayet Haya” (Haya’s Tale) that proved to be the game changer because the actual series was not as popular as the song.

This year all eyes were on who is going to sing what for each series and what will the theme song entail and sure enough the audience were not disappointed with what was on offer. Controversy surrounded the Adel Group production company first with the whole Fadel Shaker fiasco which resulted in having music only as the theme song for “Ladayna Akwal Okhra” (We Have Other Testimonies) then with Mohamed Ramadan's series “Nesr El Saeed” (The Hawk of Upper Egypt) which had three separate singers singing three different theme songs until they decided on Ibrahim Al-Hakmi’s song.

Although Ahmed Sheba and Mahmoud el-Leithy’s theme songs for “Nesr El Saeed” gained more than 10 million views on YouTube, the production company opted for Al-Hakmi, possibly because of his previous successes with series and because they found his voice to represent Upper Egypt more than Sheba’s who was associated more with the inner alleys of Cairo and colloquialism.

The Adel Group faced criticism for choosing non-Egyptian singers for the majority of their drama production this year which might explain why they chose to 'play it safe' with yet another controversial work; they had Hesham Abbas sing the theme song of “Ard El-Nefaq” (Land of Hypocrisy). Unfortunately, people have complained that it is neither catchy or meaningful.

In a very rare instant Kathem Al Saher will be singing the opening credit for the Syrian comedy series “Al Waq Waq” which stars Bassem Yakhour and Rashed Assaf.




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