As soon as the Lebanese singer Carole Samaha published her new song “The War Will End”, which she said was from the words of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, she occupied the first position of the trend in Lebanon, and this song was among a group of songs in the artist’s new album, which she called the “Golden Album”.
But things did not pass peacefully, as the poet Mahmoud Darwish Foundation – which owns the exclusive intellectual property rights for the poet’s production – commented on the artist’s “golden album” and said, “The words attributed to Mahmoud Darwish in the song “The War Will End” are not from his poetry, but from the production of communication sites. social media, which is below the level known to our great poet.”
Activists on social media grabbed hold of this issue, and some of them chose to attack the artist, Samaha, while others rushed to defend her. Among the tweets published by the “Shabakat” program in its episode on 3/5/2023 was a tweet by the activist Ghassan, in which he attacked the Lebanese artist and said in his tweet, “Carole Samaha.” She insulted the poems of the poet Mahmoud Darwish in a bad way, with ridiculous melodies, and with a voice full of discord. Darwish’s poems are too big to be sung.
While Shafiq Saeed described what happened as literary theft, he tweeted, “Literary theft in our Arab world, unfortunately, is uncensored, especially if the victim has passed away.”
In the same context, the activist criticized Iyad’s girl when she saw the “golden album” and said, in her tweet, that “there is no scrutiny of the poet’s words, nor concern for the level of copyright. This is not a golden album (this is not a golden album), but rather a golden scandal.”
As for Moncef, he took a different position on what happened and tweeted: “Whether these are Mahmoud Darwish’s poems or not, the performance is great and the voice is greater, and such an artist must be appreciated, because there are few or rare like her with such capabilities.”
The Lebanese singer Carole Samaha, for her part, did not remain silent, and published on her account a statement by her lawyer, Jean Qianou, in which he clarified that the lyrics of the song “The War Will End” were attributed in more than one source and reference to the poet Mahmoud Darwish without anyone objecting.
The statement added that following the song was published, those who questioned its authenticity, specifically the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation, “which prompted us to search, scrutinize, and in-depth to show that the words are from the heritage and the public domain, and therefore the client will later correct the matter in order to prevent any confusion or exploitation.”
