Rabat – Adorned in Berber jewelry and attire, the controversial star of the film Much Loved, Loubna Abidar wanders the the dunes of Merzouga desert, singing and dancing to the tempo of her first ever song, “Bella Hanouna.”
The actress turned singer has a natural talent of stealing the limelight, and her “much critiqued song” has done precisely that.
Made public on December 13, Abidar music video has already received 58,624 clicks on YouTube, and has been given a special episode on French show “Quotidien”, during which the amateur singer explained, without reservation, her intentions behind the sudden interest in music industry.
Ce soir, on accueille une chanteuse que l'on a plutôt l’habitude de voir au cinéma ! Loubna Abidar est dans #Quotidien, et elle chante #BellaHanouna !
? 19H20
? @TMCtv pic.twitter.com/PSHnShc183— Quotidien (@Qofficiel) December 13, 2017
Abidar, who said has written, produced and directed the clip herself, is experimenting with a new music genre, budded “Loubna.”
“It’s a new style that I created, it’s called ‘Loubna’,” she told the show’s host, Yann Barthès.
But beyond the technicalities musical act direction, the instruction technical crew, actors, models, and dancers, Abidar “just wants to find love,” she confessed during the show.
“In spite of the storms, I have courage, I’m looking for you in the clouds, habibi. I have dreams. I have oriental beauty. I have a lot of love [that] will fulfill your desires, take you me far away. ” For her, the song’s lyrics symbolize her new found womanhood in France.
“I feel better here, in France. I’m learning how to speak French and I’m learning how to live a good life. I have done this to confirm to myself that I am also a human being,” she said during the show.
She then recalled the criticism she received after the release of the censored film Much Loved. “These two years were very difficult and suddenly I find myself in Paris, I found this beautiful city and I finally feel like a woman for the first time in my life, I wanted to sing it.” she said.
Shot in the dunes of Merzouga, the actress confessed that “regardless of everything, she can’t help but love her country.” However, that didn’t stop her from denouncing the gender roles of her root culture.
“In Arab countries, men have the right to marry four women, so I did the opposite and I brought four men in my clip.” She said jokingly on set.
Ce clip a beaucoup de sens pour moi. On dit que les hommes peuvent prendre 4 femmes, et bien moi j’ai montré une femme qui choisit 4 hommes ! #quotidien #LoubnaAbidar pic.twitter.com/sgtxQMjCp1
— Loubna Abidar (@LoubnaAbidarOff) December 13, 2017
While her French audience seems to be receptive of the song, their counterpart in Morocco do not appear to be satisfied. “ I saw Abidar yesterday on TF1. This girl is incredibly intelligent, she understood everything about French media: Sell oriental kitsch, with a little touch of “the emancipation of the Maghreb woman”, and it works,” TV host, Abdellah Tourabi wrote on twitter.
J’ai vu la ” chanson ” de Loubna Abidar hier sur TF1. Cette fille est d’une intelligence redoutable, elle a tout compris aux medias francais : Vendre du kitch orientalisant à des beaufs en rut, avec le petit vernis de ” l’émancipation de la femme maghrébine”, et ca fonctionne.
— A Tourabi (@Atourabi) December 14, 2017
Another twitter user considered the televised interview as a comedy sketch, thanking Abidar for her humour talent.
Merci pour ce sketch de Loubna Abidar, j’ai bien ri. #Quotidien
— Rasheed DACI (@Rashmaninoff) December 13, 2017
