Boshret Kheir

On May 16, 2014, Hussain Al Jasmi released a video on YouTube called بشرة خير , Boshret Kheir or Boushret Kheir, meaning good omen, showing clips of Egyptians dancing in different areas of the country, in order to unite them so they can get out and vote. Most of the Egyptians hold up posters that say words 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 was going to sing it himself but found out that Hussain Al Jasmi was coming to Egypt, and Hussain Al Jasmi offered to sing the song himself, to show his love for Egypt.^[2]

In July 2013, the Egyptian presidency was vacated following removal from office of the first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi by a popular revolution 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 elections of 2014,^[3] independent reports^[4] 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, and on the basis of which he claimed a mandate to declare a dictatorship in November of the same year. Many factors played a role in determining voter turnout in the presidential election of 2014, not least of which is the success of the song, "Boshret Kheir."

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 said "Dedicated to all EGYPTIANS" in English. The video itself is sung by an Emirati (see also Emirati people) singer, who is popular all over the Middle East, when Hussain Al Jasmi was asked why he sang the song, he replied because he wanted to show his great love for the Egyptian People. ^[5]

Popularity

The video as of 26 April 2016, has received more than 155 million views and has garnered the international parodies, mixes, and imitations. The video gained popularity in the Arab world with copies being made about Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, respectively. There are many videos worldwide from people who dance to the song and post their videos, despite the language barrier. The video on the first day of its release received more than 5 million views as well as was ranked among the top 100 songs internationally.^[6] In a televised speech, Ayman the writer of the song, said that the song took him one day to write and that to put together all the pieces and produce the whole video it only took 48 hours, the video was funded by CBC, a Middle Eastern channel with rights to the song

References