Happy Boat Men Are We: Music and Resistance in the Suez Region of Egypt

This paper will explore the resistance songs of Captain Ghazali from the late twentieth century Suez area of Egypt and their hidden life today in regional music of the Suez Canal. While many narratives of Egypt post-war emphasize international humiliation and devastation over the loss of the Sinai in 1967, the people of the Suez region immediately agitated for Egypt to continue the war and get back the Egyptian land Israel had stolen. The Suez area was by far the most devastated by Israeli bombing during the war. Most people in the region no longer had homes and were living in refugee camps. They described the quick return of the Sinai as not only essential for them to be able to return to rebuild their homes, but also essential to make the soul of the Egyptian Nation whole.

In this context emerged a man who called himself Captain Ghazali. A Suez refugee from 1967 himself, he began writing songs to promote resistance to Israeli occupation and refugee return. He used a local lyre called semsemiya to accompany himself as he sang his songs & became very popular from his tours singing in refugee camps in 1968. Much of his output sang of violent resistance and the right of return, and have been censored by the government since the 1970’s. While his song texts are banned, his melodies do remain in use in the Suez area. This paper will examine how musicians’ choices of new words as well as specific performance practices that contain hidden references to his original song texts and to Egyptians' need for resistance to Israel even today.