Falling in love with king Tut

I have known you since childhood

A figure from ancient history

A king with a nickname...king Tut..

How could I believe in you when it has all been hot..

Desert like and to my mind now there were

Sanddusts everywhere

But you grew on me like a piece of jewellery

I have acquired in my childhood 

You are my amulet

And in my sleepless days

You give me strength

****

I close my eyes

And I can hear the noise of chariots

Harps play as you descend from your throne

****

It is now 9 pm...

I lie on bed

Promising myself with some earned rest 

Your face is on a cup close to me

Golden with an eagle soaring above

****

I am now in Thebes

Wearing a linen dress

It is dawn time and I am looking forward to an Egyptian sunset

The sun is descending into the sky

Like a graceful friend saying good bye

***

I closely approach you

Thinking it is a miracle 

That I have known you for long

Torn clothes

I saw my mother stitching clothes

I kept my torn clothes and always said 'I will fix them soon'

Today I threw a few

I stared at them as they lied deep in the bin

I took them out, inspected them

Then put them back with a puzzled heart

The moon

The moon is pretty in the sky

And all I would like to do is to listen to this song 

Non-stop as I watch the moon 🌙

But I have things to do

Papers to sort out

Stories to tell to my child

And games to play      

I step back 

As the lyrics of the song repeat in my head

Which I don't  quite well understand

I pick up the key to the French door

Close the door, the curtains 

And head to the room

Karen Wallace...how did you know?!

I have many storybooks for children. In the room next to me, there are characters of all sorts: a polar bear cub who conquers his fear of the dark, a reindeer who delivers presents 🎁 for Santa and a rabbit who has three sisters and sometimes seems to take pride in being alone and doing things by himself! But my favourite storybook has a dog in it, a dog who solves mysteries at the farm and puts everyone at ease. Detective Dog -so is the name of the book series- is written by Karen Wallace and is illustrated by Jackie Harland. The first book I read for Detective Dog series was The Stolen Egg; it is about a goose who lost her egg (she had built her nest on top of a steep hill) and Detective Dog was able to find her egg. I fell in love with the storybook, and bought another book of the series: Treasure Trail, this time Detective Dog solved the mystery of shiny objects that were given to the farm animals as presents. As I am writing this blog post now, I am thinking of why I admire Karen Wallace's writing. I could think of a few things: her stories are written in an easygoing style, they are intriguing and humane. 

I wanted to read more books of the series so I ordered one more online. 

 I received it by post and when I unpacked the parcel and opened it, I read Karen Wallace's signature on the first page. It read "To"..and what comes after that was not my name. And at the bottom of the page was Karen Wallace's signature. I carried the book bemused as I rushed upstairs. I am not sure if liking the writings of someone you have never met in person will go unnoticed. I nodded as if I am speaking to someone. There are things in heaven above and secret magic that no one knows about; I said to myself as I sat on the small bed. Read it with enjoyment.

Literacy practices #Mary had a little lamb

I could have printed the paper and went to bed, after a long day. But I did not. I read it faithfully, like a diligent student at school. And the paper I am talking about was the lyrics of a nursery rhyme for children. It is called 'Mary had a little lamb'. You may or may not be familiar with the lyrics so I will summarise it here (ha ha, in today's blog-post, I will practise the skills of summarising and paraphrasing!). 

Mary is a little girl. She has a pet, a lamb whom she loves. One day, Mary took the lamb with her to school which 'was against the rules'. 'The children laughed to see a lamb at school', and the teacher pushed the lamb away out of the room. 

As in children's rhymes and storybooks, the lamb is attributed human qualities; so when the teacher turned the lamb out of the class, the lyrics tell us that 'he waited patiently about...till Mary did appear'. The lyrics are interesting I think because there are many characters; each have their own point of view about why Mary took the lamb to school. We have the children who probably found it funny; the lamb and Mary; and the teacher. 

The first time I listened to the song was on YouTube and I was okay with the teacher taking the lamb out of the room. It is well-justified in the song, 'it is against the rules at school' and so 'the teacher turned the lamb out'. But as I read the lyrics, I thought a little bit more about the teacher.

Later on, in the song, the love between the lamb and Mary becomes a talking-point among the children. They ask 'why does the lamb love Mary' (so much?). The lyrics end with the teacher commenting on the children's question, however. The children were focused on the lamb. But the teacher was more focused on Mary. He re-phrased the children's question, meaning that the children should not ask why the lamb loves Mary but rather 'Why does Mary love the lamb, you know?'.

As it happens, I listen to this song a few times, during the day, and fortunately or unfortunately, the things I have learnt about critical discourse analysis at Lancaster University was troubling me in the song. Usually, we won't blame a lamb (a pet) for their love for their owners. One assumption is that animals have less agency/power in comparison to humans. The fact that the teacher shifted the agency to Mary at the end of the song showed that perhaps the teacher was a bit cynical of Mary and critical of how Mary loved her pet so much. In the teacher's worldview, Mary was a naughty girl, who did something 'against the rules' and therefore is the one to blame in this unusual incident of bringing a lamb to school. In her attachment to her lamb, she was a bit 'bizarre' in the teacher's eyes. 

"But what if there was hutch or a small house in the classroom where Mary could have kept her pet till she finishes her class?" I thought, as the traffic light turned green. 

I forgot about the song for a few days (yaaaay!) till it found its way here!

Here is the link to the song, if you would like to have a look! 

#Write to you again soon.  

    

       

The discursive construction of love

The discursive construction of love…

I am writing this blog post with some mixed feelings. I have spent many hours of my life exploring discourse on love when I could have explored current topics such as discourse on Brexit or discourse on disease (coronavirus). But may be love is a universal phenomenon that is worth exploring anyway. There were two aims for my blog post which seemed pretty straightforward: first, I would like to explore if there is such a thing as discourse on love (e.g. recurrent themes, images and metaphors) and second, if so, what characteristics of this discourse might be?

For the purposes of this blog post, I am using a sample of Egyptian songs. I chose Egyptian songs to examine due to my close affinity with the Egyptian culture, which will facilitate the understanding of love songs. Second, Egyptian media outputs seem to have popularity outside Egypt for example, in the Gulf, and in neighbouring Arabic-majority speaking countries. Third, since Egyptian songs are mediated on YouTube, such a global medium, I am intrigued to find out the images of love that lyrics’ writers in Egypt might be exporting to the “world”. I would like to add that as I enjoy listening to Egyptian songs, I have listened to English songs for many years and what I have written below is indirectly informed by this comparison. I am hoping to find out what might be unique about contemporary love songs in Egypt.

I would like to dedicate this post to a few people: to my mother (who is not physically with me in this world now), to my students at the Faculty of Education at Fayoum University with whom I explored -some time ago - metaphors used in love songs. I would like also to dedicate this blog post to Prof. Ola Hafez, my MA supervisor and to Distinguished Prof. Ruth Wodak and Dr Shuruq Naguib, who supervised my doctorate research at Lancaster University. I know it is perhaps unusual to dedicate blog posts, tweets or notes. But it is OK. I am imagining the world now a big room with digital walls and ceilings that feature tweets, info-graphics and blog posts (which could be dedicated). Here we go. 

In Egyptian songs, Love inhabits the heart...and the eyes as well

Words, images and symbols 

In Egyptian Arabic and in English too, it is very common to use phrases such as “in my heart I believe or in my heart I can see that”. These phrases are common because we tend to think of the heart as the home to feelings and emotions. We take this for granted although we now know that it is the brain (rather than the heart) that is responsible for generating feelings, as signals are sent to the body through the brain. Anyway, this rhetorical image of the heart as the place of love is further developed in Egyptian songs; the heart is frequently anthropomorphised (given human qualities) and becomes a key social actor in love's representation. The following examples dwell on the idea that there is a struggle between the lover and their heart.

Example 1

 I tried to stay away from you. But I couldn't. My heart cried and drove me crazy.

حاولت أبعد بعيد عنك وما عرفش حاولت كتير لكن قلبى بكى منى وحنني

Example 2

Why and how come my heart fell in love? What happened to it? All of a sudden, my heart loved your soul and is now at a loss. What happened to it?

إزاي ليه قلبي بيحبك، معقول، إيه مالوا، إيه جرالوا؟ 

كده فجأه روحه فيك وألاقي بين إيديك حالي حالو إيه جرالوا؟

Example 3

Your heart has woken me up. It hugged me and made me its life and soul. 

قلبك صحانى على صوت  دقاته ضمني خلاني روحو وحياته

Example 4

Why? Why have you fallen in love again my heart? What can I do with you now, (when) you cannot hide your feelings?

إيه إيه بس إللي رماك تعشق تاني يا قلبي؟ اعمل ايه وياك ما بتقدرش تخبي

   The heart in the above examples make love a powerful concept. The heart brought about material 
and emotional states e.g. it “drove the lover crazy”, "made the lover forget whom they are"  and in example 1 and example 4, the heart overrode the lover's will of not falling in love. In example 3, the heart is described as a super power through the mention of "life" and "soul". Just like the heart, the eyes are a "big deal" in Egyptian songs. I wish I was an archaeologist to say something about how love was talked about in ancient Egypt, and if this has anything to do with the recurrent reference to the eyes of the beloved/lover in Egyptian songs. Well, I will show you first some examples, before explaining how the recurrent reference to the eyes could have a historical background to it. :.. .     .  

Example 5

Your eyes were able to love ...They made me forget who I am after they hugged me

يا عيون قادرين ع الهوا و خدوني 

نسوني أنا مين بعد ما حضنوني 

Example 6

Your eyes brighten up the world in front of me

نظرة عينيك بتنور الدنيا في عينيا

Example 7 

Send my regards to your eyes till we meet

سلم لي على عينيك لاتنين ده لحد ما نتقابل

The eyes are referred to in three different ways in the above examples. In example 5, the eyes seem to be a super-power that hugged the lover and made the lover forget whom they are. Example 6 -metaphorically- draws on the eyes “as a source of light that brightens up the world”. In example 7, the eyes refer to the beloved, i.e. send my regards to you/your eyes till we meet (and therefore is a metonymy). Going back to ancient Egypt, it could be that the fascination with the eyes in Egyptian songs has historical roots to it. In ancient Egyptian mythology, there are the Eyes of Horus, a symbol of protection, royal power and good will. Just as a small proof of the popularity of the Eyes of Horus as a visual symbol in contemporary modern Egypt is that you could perhaps find it sold as a pendant in jewellery/silver shops in a similar way to Nefertiti's iconic bust. Many of the schools in Egypt decorate their brick fences with ancient Egyptian images and symbols, the Eyes of Horus being one of them. I mean, "the eyes" (as a social actor) in Egyptian songs could be a re-contextualisation or an appropriation of past discourses about protection, power and royalty (which the Eyes of Horus symbolised). 

Having explained these two images in love songs, of the heart and the eyes, I now move on to explore key themes and figures of speech in the sample of song I examined.

 Key themes and figures of speech 

I found that there are three broad themes in love songs: a) celebrating love and its beauty b) describing separation and its pain c) unrequited love. Here are some examples: 

Example 8 (celebrating love) 

I think I am in love with you

I am in love with the world that always smiles when I am with you

باين حبيت حبيت الدنيا إللي بتضحكلي معاك علاطول

Example 9 (describing separation) 

I don't get upset when you cross my mind 

The more I think about you I realise

There was nothing in our past that says we could be together

ما بزعلش أما بفتكرك ، بلاقي كل ما اتأمل ماضينا ما كنش فيه حاجة تقول إن إحنا حنكمل 

Example 10 (unrequited love)

You crossed my mind a few days ago

I thought I would ask about you

Between you and me, I cannot forget the days I had with you and I keep missing you(r eyes)

جيت على بالى كده من كام يوم قولت اما اسأل فينك وكلام بينى وبينك مقدرش انسى ايامى معاك وبتوحشنى عينيك

ًWhile the first two examples (about love and separation) are self-explanatory, I find the theme of “unrequited love” more interesting and intriguing. This is because the assumption made here is that the “lovers” are possibly distant and will remain so. But if this is the case, how does love drive its force? In example 10, love is legitimised (= made plausible and real) through the invocation of memories which, you could argue, act as an argument. The premise here is that: if we have memories of someone, it means we are likely not to forget them, or will keep thinking about them (also see below on arguments in love songs). 

For now, though, here is a list of the conceptual domains through which love was talked about in the examples I examined:

• Love as a source of light

The sunlight is your forehead

نور الشمس نور جبينك

Your light came and guided me

نورك هل وهداني (طيفك بحر وسقاني)

• Love as magic 

Oh the magic in her eyes 

ياه على سحر عيونها يا

• Love as a thought/ a dream

ُI think of you and my dream about you travels up in the sky

بفكر بيك وحلمي بيك بيعلى في الفضا أعلى

• Love as freedom (or a new beginning)

Oh my heart who fell in love like a bird that is free and flies in the sky

حبيبي يا عاشق يا حر زي الطير 

• Love as a journey

I travelled countries and walked wide and far and I found your picture in my heart

• Love as something that is spatially higher and relates to the semantic field of space e.g.sky, moon, clouds and stars

Let them count the stars, and sing for the beautiful night, my love is like the sunlight and does not need more songs/singing

ما يعدوا نجوم الليل و يغنوا يا عيني يا ليل أنا حبي باين لك زي الشمس ومش محتاج 

• Interestingly, love is also described as a speech act, saying "beautiful words":

I think as if I am with you now. I tell you and you tell me more beautiful words

(بافكر فيك و حلمي بيك بيعلى في الفضا أعلي) بافكر فيك كأني معاك بقولك وانت بتقولى كلام أجمل 

• Love as a drawing

Teach my heart and draw in it, my love for you has begun; just acknowledge it

علمي علمي في القلب ارسمي الحب ابتدى ليكي وسلمي

• On a negative note, love is described as a scar, or stereotypically as "fire" (e.g. check Johnny Cash's song "I fell into a ring of fire").

Example: They asked me: choose between heaven and fire? And I chose your fire    

قالوا اختار بين جنة ونار اخترت أنا نارك

Argumentation and legitimisation strategies  

If love is not represented as a powerful phenomenon by means of the images and figures of speech discussed above, it is also legitimised or de-legitimised through arguments. Some of these arguments 

legitimise (or are in favour of) love. Some are in favour of separation. Here are some examples.

Legitimising love

I have loved you for years 

As a statement/claim: “I have loved you for years” occurred in one song mayyal which leads to the conclusion that since I have loved you for a long time, then my love to you is “true/real”. I also came across argument from years in a famous English song (last Christmas) in which the lyrics read: "well, it has been a year, it does not surprise me". 

Love as a teacher 

Interestingly, love/the lover is described as a teacher. The following example is from a song called "biscuits" (by Simone):

So you think hearts are biscuits...Will melt straight away? 

 I will teach you how to stop asking why...

And I will remind you -in case you forget- that you have to show kindness and compassion

هي القلوب عندك بسكوت تدوب أوام من غير كلام

حعلمك ما تقولش إزاي

وافكرك لتكون نساي إن الحنان لازم يبان

Another example is from a song by Diab called "teach my heart" or "allem alby":

Teach my heart how to love. Talk to me and say the best words. Live with me in my dreams and love me. 

علم قلبي الغرام، كلمني أحلى الكلام ، عيش معايا في الأحلام، يا حبيبي حبني

I find the concept of “love as a teacher” quite unique and interesting. Why would love songs  integrate a bit of discourse on education in which love is talked about as an act of teaching and learning? I have at least two things to say here. The Egyptian social (class) system seems to adopt educational certificates as part of its structure (for example, when you introduce yourself to someone, you would probably say what you have studied rather than what you do). Add to this is that teachers, as a matter of fact, tend to have authority, a psychological one I mean (e.g. respect, gratitude etc.). In this world view, if you teach the person you love or vice versa (they teach you), it means that love here has more authority and is powerful.  

Legitimising separation

We have had good memories and that is enough 

This argument is used in one song called “te2dar tetkalem” and can be paraphrased as: “since we have had good memories (that is enough) and we can now part”. 

We have to live our lives. Life has to move on

Another argument that is used to justify separation is that we need to “live” our lives. This can be paraphrased as: "since we cannot be together, it is OK if we separate since life has to move on or since we have to live our lives".    

Representation of love: myth or reality?

I am coming now to the end of this rather long blog post so bear with me (if you can, ha ha). As I thought of this blog post, I thought of it as a challenge really, of sitting back, and revisiting and assessing love songs which I quite liked and took them for granted. I was hoping to critique and assess discourse on love. Yet I find myself pausing at one bit and one question: Is love really powerful, transformative and enlightening? Or is it just a myth, something similar to magic in the Middle Ages in which people mistakenly believed in it?

Still, if I shovel this above question through the door, and revisit the examples I examined, I am not sure if love is represented in a positive or a negative light. While love for example is described as transformative and enlightening via images of love as a source of light that guides the lover, as magic and as transcendental through linking it to objects of space, love is also dramatised as struggle. It is made authoritative via the power of the heart and the eyes and through images of being “at a loss” or having a “scar” or as a dramatic choice between “heaven and hell”. If you internalise this aspect of representation,  you could perhaps experience feelings of love not as a positive force but as a hurdle, an impending doom on your brain and heart? To add, popular love songs- as with the sample I examined- rarely talk about anything other than love being a creative space, for example, they rarely talk about gender assumptions or differences in cultures. They seem to be geared at constructing an enjoyable, aesthetic and a dramatic representation of love that would perhaps sell songs, make the listener feel good, well-engaged or persuaded, till another song plays.

Paper moon...

It is almost 3 am and I want to write about something I have admired for so long...da da da...the moon! In the past two weeks, the moon has become something that I consciously think of, I keep saying to myself how much it is beautiful and inspiring. Daydreaming, I wrote a poem (sort-of) about me and the moon. In the foggy and fluffy space, the moon was wearing a face mask and when I took it off, there were sirens everywhere and spotlights on my face. Last Friday, I was admiring the moon even more when this song, descended from somewhere in Seventh Sky to YouTube to my laptop. It is called paper moon. "Say it is only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea...Yes it's only a canvas sky.. hanging over a muslin tree" ♫♫♫ 

 

I did not mean it...it just happened ^_^

 

Well, I have recently cut my hair, very short that I sometimes feel myself a bit strange or as if -sometimes- I don't recognise my old self. 

I discovered myself as a reasonably 'good' hair dresser in the coronavirus pandemic. I started cutting my hair, using two mirrors, one at the front and one at the back. I once cherished myself on the thought that there is nothing better than hearing that noise of the scissors taking away a clip of my hair, then looking at my hair strips on the floor with happiness and uncertainty, if I have done the right thing? ha? 

 But before this last time, I had no back mirror to look at and I did not care. I was enclosed by an Egyptian sunny weather; everyday, I enjoyed a walk in the hot weather to buy groceries and lots of fruit, peaches, figs, red grapes and white grapes. 

And when I decided to 'fix' my hair, I cut it too short. 

The lesson is that when something goes wrong, may be it is just better to wait and wait, give yourself time and more time.

Apart from this, everything is reasonably okay. I have been busy with a few things. Do you want to know? (Raising my eyebrows and looking at an imaginary mirror!).

Well, guys, I gave a presentation in BALEAP (abbreviation is coming! British Association for Lecturers  of English for Academic Purposes). I co-presented on the use of students' hobbies and interests in EAP teaching. It was a rewarding co-presentation, as I had many good questions after my presentation on literacy practices (that have to do with reading, writing, listening and speaking) and on EAP teaching. 

Another thing I was happy about is that I participated in a workshop for a project about accents by Queen Mary University London. The workshop was entitled 'Accent and discrimination'. As you can guess from the title, this workshop raised awareness about perceptions of accent and accent discrimination. It made the argument that all accents are equal and should be treated the same. It was also very interesting as it dealt with accent perception from many viewpoints, e.g. sociology and sociolinguistics.  

Well, guys, I have more to share with you; I have published an article about the coronavirus pandemic, more specifically, its representation in YouTube songs. Ask me for the link, and I will post it here, ha ha, just ask.!

Well, write to you again soon!

The representation of coronavirus: 'Don't be afraid but pay attention'

Coronavirus...coronavirus...'Don't be afraid but pay attention'

14 June 2020

In this blog post, I would like to write about coronavirus and language: how it is talked about in the media? As I do this, I am hoping to contribute to an interest in ‘coronavirus and language’ (see below). I would like to find out if there might be, if any, a positive representation of coronavirus other than its negative (and rather grim) representation in the news.

I am also inspired by auto-ethnography (self-reflection through writing) and I would like to talk a bit about how I coped with the lockdown. I will do so in the second part of this blog post. But first, I will tell you more about what I have learnt so far about language (particularly metaphors) and coronavirus, and how the use of metaphors creates a specific representation of coronavirus. Ready?

I would have liked to travel this summer, day dreaming…and I could bizarrely hear the sounds of a helicopter, as if I am in it, leaving the ground, for some exciting good views!

Coronavirus and language

 Many blog posts, tweets and articles have explored how language, mostly used by politicians,  frame our attitudes about the coronavirus. When we analyse language, there are many aspects we can look at for example, the presuppositions and assumptions made in a text, the nominalisations used (for example, how a particular phenomenon is named and described) and the metaphors used (see for example, Unger, Wodak & KhosraviNik 2016: 283 and Wodak & Krzyzanowski 2008). The metaphors used to talk about coronavirus has been a focus of interest in what is written about coronavirus and language. So, what are metaphors? What do they do? And what does the use of metaphors tell us about the representation of coronavirus?

Metaphors and coronavirus

You might be already familiar with the term ‘metaphor’ (for example, saying ‘my mother is the moon'). But if you do not know the term, here is its definition by an expert on metaphors, Elena Semino. She defines metaphors as follows:

‘By metaphor, I mean the phenomenon whereby we talk and, potentially, think about something in terms of something else’ (Elena Semino (2008: 1).

In Metaphor in Discourse, Elena Semino shows us how metaphors can frame the way we think about actions, processes, or phenomena; metaphors also have richness of meanings (see for example, Semino 2008: 4-10). For example, when we say 'life as a journey', we are likely to communicate many meanings about life, for example, life as movement, as an adventure, or possibly going through unexpected events or new things.

I like this article by Paul Elie, named ‘against virus as metaphor’ published in the New Yorker (I knew about this article on Twitter: @elenasemino). This article is interesting because it explains why some/many of us did not take coronavirus seriously at first. The article tells us two things. First, even before the outbreak of covid 19, ‘the virus’ was already popular as a metaphor, for example, when we say, this video went ‘viral’ or when we say this computer had ‘a virus’. Second, it is this popular use of ‘the virus’ as a metaphor -the article suggests- that could have made coronavirus seem less serious than what it is.

There is more about metaphors and coronavirus, in this blog post by Brigitte Nerlich named ‘metaphors in the time of coronavirus’. (She is on Twitter: @BNerlich). The blog post talks us through the many metaphors that have been used to talk about coronavirus, such as ‘flattening the curve’ (also used as a persuasive device as in ‘stay at home, flatten the curve’), ‘the domino effect’ (showing how easy it is to spread the virus) and the ‘spike protein’ as ‘weapon’ in reference to the spikes on the virus that allow it to stick to human cells. This blog post also explains how coronavirus is described as a natural disaster or as a plague killer. Another variation of this metaphor is describing coronavirus as a tsunami, as @elenasemino pointed out in one of her tweets. To elaborate on the tsunami metaphor, here is an example from an article on the BBC news website about coronavirus in South Africa:

'But so far, and against most predictions, South Africa's hospitals remain quiet, the anticipated tsunami of infections that many experts here have been waiting for has yet to materialise'.

Coronavirus is also described as ‘an enemy’ in which nations are described in a ‘state of war’. You might have already noticed that politicians used phrases such as ‘the fight’, ‘the struggle’ and ‘the battle’ in their speeches on the coronavirus. From one perspective, you might argue that the war metaphor is used as a persuasive strategy to show the seriousness of the situation and to persuade people to follow the social distancing rules.

The war metaphor, however, has been criticised a lot. In fact, if there is anything positive about the coronavirus pandemic, it could be said that it has contributed to an increasing interest and debate about metaphor, language use and the coronavirus. To illustrate, a google search on ‘coronavirus and the war metaphor’ shows about ‘21 million results’, which leads to many many pages with links to content (articles/videos) about the war metaphor and the coronavirus.

As I mentioned above, many of these articles are against the use of the war metaphor. Since this feeds into my inquiry of the representation of coronavirus, I will briefly sum up the main arguments against the war metaphor, before moving on to the second part of my blog post about coping with the lockdown (yay, finally!).

The war metaphor

There are at least two arguments against the use of a war metaphor in talking about covid 19. First, a war metaphor could give wrong assumptions about the world, which needs unity and cooperation rather than discourse on war, as this article argues, for example. Second, a war metaphor could put the listener/viewer in a state of frenzy and panic, as my former lecturer Veronika Koller argues in this article.

In my view, the above-mentioned metaphors of a war, of a natural disaster make an official representation of coronavirus. It is described here as a looming threat (‘a war’ or an  ‘enemy’), as something dynamic (‘a moving curve’) and as something unavoidable (‘a tsunami’, ‘a natural disaster’ etc.).

I passed through days since the corona outbreak when stepping out of the door (to buy things from the shop nearby) gave me negative feelings and was something uncomfortable. I always looked round me, as if the coronavirus (the ‘invisible enemy’) would suddenly appear and track me down, as I went to the shop and came back. Luckily, these feelings were intermittent. It was listening to songs and music that helped me get over my fears. I will tell you more below about my fascination with a song in Spanish called 'coronavirus', in this following section.

Coping with the corona quarantine…🎧

My main coping strategy in corona lockdown was listening to songs. I would like to say more about this but first I will tell you about a course/module I attended at Lancaster University. It was about understanding media. I learnt from the lectures of Julia Gillen that when we study media texts, we can examine not only the texts themselves (for example, the lyrics) but also what we do with them, for example, the practices that surround listening to songs.

In corona lockdown, I think I was mainly listening to songs to overcome boredom and negative thoughts. Like books or paintings, some songs inspire me, for example, give me energy to go through the 'tasks of the day' or explore new things. But since in the past, I mainly listened to songs in English and Arabic, I thought it would be a good idea to listen to songs of languages I don't speak. I even thought after a while that life could be more welcoming and tolerant, if we adopt this as a practice, since songs and their video-editions carry with them cultural symbols, new tastes etc.

I started listening to Indian songs; I am still exploring them but so far, I like this one by Neha Kakkar. I then moved to explore songs in Spanish. In this (most amazing) time of self-reflection, I stumbled  upon a song on YouTube called 'coronavirus'. When I first listened to it, it sounded like a dance song, and I thought it is brave. It is not something usual, I think, that we have songs about 'disease', and with such an upbeat rhythm? I became more curious and checked the lyrics' meanings in Google. 

As I will explain below, this song was inspiring as it was hopeful and humorous. It made me more confident; as a language scholar, I could see other representations of coronavirus other than the dominant images of war and tsunami.

CORONAVIRUS, CORONAVIRUS, LÁVENSE LAS MANOS, HÁGANLO SEGUIDO ‘wash your hands. Do it often’

The 'coronavirus' song -I am using as an example of another representation of coronavirus-  has at least three versions on YouTube: one is by the singer Andy Zvala, another is by Mister Cumbia (these are grown-ups) and a third version is by a child singer, Ramiro Martínez. He is an accordion player and has a YouTube channel of his own, with about 6 thousand subscribers (featured below).

I hope that you, like me, enjoy the song (here is the link to it! Surprise!).

As you listen to the song, you will notice that it has an upbeat music and a call for interactivity. For example, the description of Andy Zavala's performance reads: 'Andy Zavala wants to teach how the virus is fought by singing’ and at 00.38 of the song, as the singer mentions his name and we read it as well like a banner running on the screen, we see an image of him on stage. It is as if he is now in front of us, performing the song live (see below).

Besides the upbeat music and interactivity (through the repeated mention of the singers' name: Andy Zavala and Mister Cumbia, humour is apparent, I think, in the two songs. Andy Zavala’s song for example, has a funny picture of a man wearing a ‘Norton antivirus CD’ to his nose, as a face mask, drawing on the double meaning (pun) of a virus: 1-computer virus and 2-coronavirus. There is also a graphic image of people wearing masks in a collective action, perhaps in a self-mocking manner, as if from now on, this will be our 'new' dress code.

In the song by Mister Cumbia, coronavirus is personified as two faces that keep moving in their place throughout the song (which perhaps shares with the metaphor of ‘flattening the curve’, the idea of movement). The two faces of the coronavirus have crossed eyebrows, suggesting an evil attention, which is also communicated by the ‘fake’ smile on their face (see the figure below). This cartoonist style of personifying the virus, however, brings it closer to children's stories, as if this could be a part of a (monster) story book for children, giving a light-hearted representation of the corona virus.

This light-hearted approach is also evident in the song by Ramiro Martínez. He 'seriously' acts the role of a medical professional,  as can be seen from his gestures and dress code, for example, he gestures with his index finger to the viewer, and applies a disinfectant in front of the camera, which takes me to my last and my final section (I promise!) about the lyrics of the song.

The lyrics and their structure

The lyrics follow a problem-solution structure. First, they establish coronavirus as an ‘alarm’ that has ‘scared’ the world, something that at first might be similar to the representation of coronavirus in the news. Yet, having established coronavirus as an alarm, the lyrics offer advice/solution: ‘wash your hands frequently, wear a mask and keep a meter distance from others’. It is up to the listener to infer the following message: follow this advice and things will be fine or as the description in Andy Zavala’s song says: ‘Don’t be afraid but pay attention’.

In my corona quarantine, I listened to this song quite a bit and I found it inspirational and empowering, through its upbeat music, use of humour and message of hope. Plus, it was good to see another representation of coronavirus, other than the images of coronavirus in the news, as a looming threat, a weapon; and a tsunami that is approaching.

References

Elie, Paul. 2020. (Against) virus as metaphor. The New Yorker. March 19:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/against-the-coronavirus-as-metaphor Accessed May 27, 2020.

Nerlich, Brigitte. 2020. Metaphors in the time of coronavirus. Making Science Public. March 17. https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/makingsciencepublic/2020/03/17/metaphors-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/ Accessed May 27, 2020.

Tisdall, Simon. 2020. Lay off those war metaphors, world leaders. You could be the next casualty. The Guardian. March 21. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/donald-trump-boris-johnson-coronavirus Accessed May 27, 2020.

Semino, Elena. 2008. Metaphor in discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Serhan, Yasmeen. 2020. The case against waging ‘war’ on the coronavirus. The Atlantic. March 31.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/war-metaphor-coronavirus/609049/ Accessed May 27, 2020.

Unger, Johann, Wodak, Ruth, & KhosraviNik, Majid. 2016. Critical discourse studies and social media data. In David Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative research (4th ed.). London: SAGE, pp. 277-293.

Wodak, Ruth, & Krzyzanowski, Michal. 2008. Qualitative discourse analysis in the social Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan

Links to the songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lap1eCx3Wvw&t=2s (Andy Zavala)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hW4DF6FWtk (Mister Cumbia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21oUje8pUcY (Ramiro Martínez)