A love letter to shaabi that falters on plot, but sparkles on song
Where do traditional wedding singers go in the digital age? That is the question posed by Aman
Ya Sahabi (It’s OK, Buddy), a chaotic yet endearing Egyptian film that is as much a comedy as a love letter to the country’s famed shaabi (folk) artists.
Starring popular singers Saad El Soghayar and Mahmoud El Lithy, who play themselves, the film starts with the realisation that their career is failing.
“No more weddings,” El Soghayar cries in the opening cafe scene. “People don’t want us anymore; we are replaced by those damn flash drives.”
The duo are consoled by veteran singer Abdel Basset “Bassouta” Hamouda (also starring as himself), who suggests that the only way to cement their future is by marrying into a rich family. Using their connections, the pair gain access to Cairo’s most exclusive social club and present themselves as in-demand pop stars (that no one has heard of) in their search for brides-to-be. They match with two socialites, Bahira and Shahira (played by Nermin Maher and Safinar respectively), who are running away from their own secrets. The box-office failure of
Aman Ya Sahabi led to a discussion in the Egyptian film industry about local audiences’ shunning of low-budget feature films. Indeed, Aman
Ya Sahabi looks cheap and its slapdash nature is reminiscent of those 1970s screwball comedies starring Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. That said, when the film focuses on the music, as opposed to the throwaway plot, then it sings. Aman Ya
Sahabi boasts three winning musical set pieces sung by El Lithy and this is clearly where director Hani Hamdi feels most confident. Two of the tracks, Haqata’ak and Moush
A’leih, are shot in nightclubs, and Hamdi does a fine job of capturing all the crackling energy and raucous fun that shaabi songs can evoke.
The film would have been more compelling if it had focused on that under-appreciated music scene and its social context. But its insistence on pursuing a love story devoid of any sense, and that is slightly misogynistic, results in it not only underutilising its cast, but also sealing its fate with audiences. It’s not the lack of sparkle that audiences will object to – a decent script would have also gone a long way.