Boshret Kheir Explained

"Boshret Kheir" (بشرة خير pronounced as /ar/), (English: "Good Omen") is an Egyptian-folk song created by Egyptian composer Amr Mostafa and performed by Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi dedicated from him to Egypt and was released on May 16, 2014, showing clips of Egyptians dancing in different areas of the country, in an effort to unite them and convince them to vote. Most of the Egyptians depicted hold up posters with phrases such as "vote", "get out there", and "your voice counts".[1] The video was filmed in eight Egyptian provinces by eight different cameras and was put together in less than a day. The creator of the song, Ayman Qamar, planned on singing it himself but found out that Al Jassmi was coming to Egypt, and offered to sing the song himself to show his love for Egypt.[2]

In July 2013, the Egyptian presidency was vacated following the removal from office of the president Mohamed Morsi after protests, after only a single year in power. Despite claims from the ousted Muslim Brotherhood indicating that Egyptians did not participate in large numbers in the subsequent 2014 elections,[1] independent reports[2] indicate that 47.14% of eligible voters participated in the ballot; this is comparable to the 49.62% who turned out in the 2012 election that elevated Mohammed Morsi to power.

Video

On May 16, a 3-minute video was published, showing the diversity of the people across Egypt as they dance and hold cards with different Arabic words on them to encourage people to vote. A caption in the video says "Dedicated to all EGYPTIANS" in English. Al Jasmi himself doesn't appear in the video. When asked why he sang the song, he replied that he wanted to show his great love for the Egyptian People.[3]

There are many videos worldwide from people who dance to the song and post their videos. The video received more than 5 million views on the day of its release, and was ranked among the top 100 songs internationally.[4]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Voter turnout low in Egypt elections. Al Jazeera.
  2. Web site: www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=69#pres. 2016-01-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160308200345/http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=69#pres. 2016-03-08. dead.
  3. Web site: حسين الجسمي " اغاني. Mawaly. 16 May 2014. 26 Feb 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150314195603/http://www.mawaly.com/music/Hussein+Al+Jasmi/track/126617. 14 March 2015. dead.
  4. Web site: اغنية بشرة خير . . 16 May 2014 . 16 May 2014.