{"id":54129,"date":"2021-08-25T12:57:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=54129"},"modified":"2021-08-25T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:57:43","slug":"a-muslim-womens-choir-aims-to-break-taboos-about-public-singing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/a-muslim-womens-choir-aims-to-break-taboos-about-public-singing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Muslim Women’s Choir Aims to Break Taboos About Public Singing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Women in Egypt are finding their voices in a new way – singing in a choir. (Credit: Steve Evans, Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Music<\/a> is undeniably powerful. A group of Muslim women is harnessing that power in a bid to reclaim their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Egypt, an all-women\u2019s Islamic choir called Al Hur took form five years ago, and continues to press on today, according to Al Jazeera<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s no easy task, as their repertoire consists of religious music, which is normally performed by men and boys only. But Al Hur\u2019s female membership wants to break taboos about women\u2019s public singing and give new life and sound to sacred songs.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nema Fathi, the founder of Al Hur, told Al Jazeera that \u201chaving women in the Muslim religious chanting field not only breaks social stereotypes about female chanters — it also gives a new, distinctive style to an art that has long been dominated by only men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and other ensemble members have faced significant backlash since forming the group in 2017, in part because women musicians are considered to be promiscuous by conservative practitioners of the faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Fathi said to Al Jazeera, \u201csince the choir\u2019s founding, we\u2019ve faced widespread attacks by some leading Muslim chanting figures who discouraged us from taking this step.\u201d Worse, those who oppose the choir\u2019s existence have even told her that \u201cthe voice of a woman is dishonourable. \u2018How can girls sing religious songs?\u2019 they said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, she added, \u201cwe challenged ourselves to make this band a success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The costs — both social and financial, as it can get expensive to travel to rehearsals and book practice space — have whittled Al Hur\u2019s membership down from its original 30 members to just 10. Still, Al Hur is determined to press on, and is rehearsing for an upcoming religious music festival, among other goals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Al Hur, an Egyptian religious choir solely for women, perseveres despite facing backlash for simply existing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":54132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[21035,21034,19682],"class_list":["post-54129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now","tag-cultural-challenges","tag-religious-music","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Muslim Women's Choir Aims to Break Taboos About Public Singing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Al Hur, an Egyptian religious choir solely for women, perseveres despite facing backlash for simply existing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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