The song by the talented national artist Omar Al-Abdallat caused a major uproar on all social media platforms, an incident that no Jordanian song has achieved in the history of Jordanian singing, to my knowledge, and from my perspective as someone who adores words, melodies, and is enchanted by sophisticated art, and loves the songs of the artist Omar Al-Abdallat.
I believe I am qualified to give my opinion, as I hold a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Baghdad since 1975, a time when Iraq was great, and I have three-quarters of a master's thesis in Comparative Literature, with a particular interest in Linguistics before I switched to management. I also adore the Arabic language and write in it. Moreover, being from Karak gives me the right to express my opinion.
Here, I will delve into the topic of the artist Omar Al-Abdallat's song, impartially, away from bias, accusations, or trite defense. I will evaluate the lyrics in terms of meaning and structure, and the melody as a connoisseur.
Initially, I will list the song's lyrics without repetition, as follows:—
Song title: (What's wrong and how are you):—
[[ What's wrong / How are you / What's bothering you / What hurts you / May God keep your eyes safe / And make you happy / And bless your mother / As much as I love you / Tell me / What's bothering you / Tell me what heated your emotions / The day you didn’t want / O beloved of my heart / O my soul / And my being / O my first half / And my second half / Why hold back / Talk to me / And I’m all yours / And hours by your side / Pass in seconds.. ]]
1)) Spelling:— There are many spelling errors, mostly related to addressing the feminine, where breaking at the end of the word is required, with a diacritic mark, and not by adding extra letters.
2)) Structure:— or the artistic and organizational style that brings together the elements of a poem or lyrics to form a cohesive unit. The absence of this makes the song devoid of musical jingles, heavy in phrasing, rough, dry. A musical jingle means:— or rhymed speech: is the sound rhythm and melody arising from the harmony of letters and words in a phrase, which adds an auditory beauty and melodious tune to poetry or prose, and is also known as (voice timbre) distinguishing one sound source from another, or the recurring rhythm in a poem.
3)) Meaning:— The meaning in the Arabic literary context refers to a collection of poetic lines that are characterized by artistic musical and thematic properties. In other words: the poem is an expression of the poet's feelings and thoughts using inspiring and metered language. Here, we find that the lyrics of the song lack poetic structure, devoid of artistic and musical characteristics, and do not carry a particular topic, nor are they inspired or rhythmically balanced, lacking artistic features of poetry.
4)) Poetic enhancements:— or rhetorical devices: are rhetorical tools used to adorn and refine the text, such as puns, antithesis, double entendres, contrasts, symmetry, poetic imagery, imagination, etc. Unfortunately, the lyrics are utterly devoid of all these rhetorical and aesthetical devices. Moreover, they lack structure, are not constrained by the meters of poetry, and honestly, the lyrics are just scattered, lacking any coherent sentences that articulate a single meaningful message.
And here I say, the words are not suitable to be sung at all. The text is empty of content, does not carry a message, a goal, or a purpose, neither noble, nor bad, neither evil nor good, nor artistic, at all. The text carries no meaning or content.
It cannot even be considered a song, as it cannot be classified or accounted for any type of musical art. It does not fit into folk art, Tarab music, heritage, classical, and is not a type of opera, nor traditional chorales, nor sung poems, nor even pop, jazz, or rap. The text is not traditional nor does it carry any meaning. It is not a dance song, nor an entertaining song, and is not suitable for traditional dances, nor for easing sadness, or spreading happiness in joyous moments.
I do not know why the song is directed at women, as it lacks tenderness, gentleness, lightness, ease, and simplicity in phrasing and meaning.
Moreover, the text does not contain a single useful sentence. It also shows that the artist, Omar Al-Abdallat, does not master the Karak dialect when using the term (heated your emotions) inappropriately, adding to the inconsistencies in the text.
Most importantly, I firmly believe that the noble artist, Omar Al-Abdallat, intended a noble purpose and is devoid of any intent to offend or mock, absolutely. How could he not when he is the artist who excelled in songs about the Jordanian provinces including his famous songs (...) among others.
Reason and logic dictate that the national artist, Omar Al-Abdallat is impossible to have intended any harm to the Karak dialect, absolutely. It is utterly impossible for him to risk his reputation, success, and widespread recognition as a Jordanian artist by offending Karak.
I believe that artist Omar Al-Abdallat wanted to adapt the Jordanian dialects into his singing, as he sang for the Jordanian provinces, and started with Karak due to his love for it, but (the wind did not blow as the seeder wished), or (the wind did not blow as the night wanderer wished), as the rural saying goes. I think that all Jordanian dialects are not amenable to music, because they are rough, heavy, and have a serious tone. Our dialects are suitable for Samri, traditional dances, and other local forms.
Finally, I conclude that the song by artist Omar Al-Abdallat, titled (What's wrong and how are you) is unfortunate, and can be considered a mistake, a slip, or a failure, a situation every artist faces, where one song succeeds, and another fails. Sometimes a song achieves unexpected success, and sometimes a song expected to succeed fails spectacularly.
Therefore, I hope that esteemed readers avoid bias, harsh criticism, and not to burden the song more than it can bear, and not to forget that artist Omar Al-Abdallat is a respectable, committed, serious Jordanian artist who adores the entire nation and all its provinces and people, and he has my personal utmost respect and appreciation.
