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Ten years ago a song performed by 23 singers from across the Middle East became a pan-Arab anthem for solidarity.
Al-Hulm Al-Arabi or The Arab Dream was broadcast several times daily on satellite channels across the Middle East.
The video of the song which set 50 years of Arab-Israeli conflict to music was an instant hit.
When the singers performed the song in central Beirut in 1998 more than half a million people showed up to join in and sing along.
The chorus: “This is our dream, the dream of our life, to be locked in an embrace that brings us together,” was chanted over and over across the Arab world.
The message was simple … that Arabs must unite to stop injustice.
A decade later, the creator of The Arab Dream, a Bahrain-based businessman and film-maker of Palestinian descent, Ahmed Al Aryan, has almost completed the sequel.
In total 153 musicians, singers, actors, sportsmen and journalists have contributed to a 40-minute-long video.
“People’s consciences have to be woken up to achieve the Arabic dream,” said Mr Al Aryam. “Unity in the Middle East is a must and we need to make a serious move towards it.”
The new video entitled The Arab Conscience was recently screened for the first time in Bahrain to a small group of journalists ahead of its October 20 release date when 200 TV networks will receive a copy of the recording.
Like its predecessor it depicts graphic scenes of death, suffering and division. A Palestinian youth is shot dead, a dead baby is held up to the camera, an old men weep for lost relatives.
The footage is accompanied by the voices of 33 top pop-stars from 16 Middle Eastern countries.
The scores of familiar faces which include Algerian singer Shab Khalid, Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram, Syrian singer Asala Nasry and Eygptian singer Shereen Aimed are likely result in Mr Al Aryan’s message becoming widely spread.
“The video is guaranteed to touch every single person in the Middle East because all of them are super, super super-stars which no one can put together again,” he said.
“Will every little kid see it? Yes.
“Will they learn? They should.
“People will be depressed by it, but they say too much oxygen gets you high, not enough makes you die. I think there is too much oxygen in life and others are suffering. People should look again at what others are doing.”
Discussions are ongoing with 13 more stars, including veteran actor Omar Sharif, to appear in the video. Mr Al Aryan last week negotiated with French footballer Zinedine Zidane, who is of Algerian descent, to participate.
“Zidane is a legend and I hope he will be in the film. He hasn’t seen it but he’s interested,” he said.
Mr Al Aryan also hopes to convince Columbian singer and world-recording artist Shakira and Mexican actress Selma Hayek, both of Lebanese descent, to take part.
The footage against which the song is performed displays a montage of carnage created by the sharp rise in intensity and violence in the region over the last five years which has left the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in shambles.
It also shows the invasion of Iraq, the torture of Iraqi prisoners, detainees held at Guantanomo Bay and last summer’s Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
In an effort to “balance” the video scenes of 9/11 and the bomb blasts that ripped through the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 are also featured.
“I included scenes of 9/11 because I don’t think what happened in 9/11 should have happened,” explained Mr Al Aryam. “I show American victims.
“We need to put peace on the right path and it has to be genuine. Terrorism is not the solution, dialogue is the answer.”
Though the footage is likely to stir anti-Israeli sentiment Mr Al Aryam is adamant that the video will promote peace.
“People are frustrated because of what they have seen and they take it to the extreme. The whole idea of what I am saying is that you guys should not take it to the extreme. There is unfairness but we should educate ourselves, communicate more, and resolve it in a more peaceful way than what is happening.”
Next month the video will be translated into 14 languages, including English and French. Despite the unprecedented popularity of The Arab Dream in the Middle East, few Westerners ever caught a glimpse of it. Instead it sits in obscure corners of university libraries collecting dust in the Middle Eastern studies section.
But Mr Al Aryam believes that The Arab Conscience should be watched by the West and used as a tool for dialogue between the West and the Middle East.
He said once the video was translated he planned to distribute it to Western TV stations and to tackle the international market via the Internet.
“Western audiences didn’t see the last one,” explained Mr Aryan, “but I think that it’s a good idea that they see this one.
“It will make the West see what the street in the Middle East sees: why they are annoyed, why they are in pain, what makes them retaliate, what makes them hurt. And if they see that, they may think, wait minute, we can understand.”
Should the likes of Zidane, Shakira and Salma Hayek come on board, then the project’s appeal over and above that to academia will be stronger.
Organising 153 celebrities is no mean feat but as a veteran of the media industry – with 29 documentaries and 400 TV commercials to his name – Mr Al Aryan has been able to bring them together.
“I am very well known in the Middle East as someone who is in the industry,” he said.
“The biggest challenge is to get a super star, living in a mansion to feel the life of others.”
Following the release of the completed video, the next challenge will be to organise the live concert, roughly two months after the song’s release.
He said Lebanon would be the “ideal” venue – where a massive turnout would virtually be guaranteed – but due to security concerns in the country, it could be too risky.
He also said he would like to organise the concert in Bahrain but believes either Qatar or Tunisia are more likely venues.
Wherever the concert is held, if the Arab dream of unity is still alive, then Mr Al Aryan believes that it will be a success.
“The Arab conscience is asleep,” he said, but he has faith that the video will awaken it.
“This video is my loud voice reaction. I cannot stay silent. I have my own brush and I decided to paint what I see.”
He said if he is alive in 2016 he will make another video. Hopefully, the footage for the next installment will contain less hate and heartache.
Special Report
By -RdS-
editor@gulfweekly.com
