Listen to Chant Avedissian's painting

Created in 2008, the painting takes its name from a famous radio station in Egypt back in the 1950s. The station used to broadcast the political opinion of the Cairo regime throughout the Arab nations and deliberately infused the idea of the dream of one Arabic Nation.

Chant created this work on corrugated panels where he stenciled three figures from history, Umm Kulthum, Gamal Abdulnasser and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.

Umm Kulthum was the most famous and charismatic singer in the middle east in the 20th century. Her concerts were broadcast on Sawt Al Arab every thursday night for more than 10 years.  She sang for love but also lyrics with nationalist and political overtones, representing the hopes and aspirations of the Arabs.

Egyptian president and father of Arab nationalism and pan-arabism, Gamal Abdel Nasser was the most popular arab leader of the 20th century. He was loved for his charisma, his anti-colonial stance, and endorsement of Arab culture and values. His speeches were broadcast on Sawt Al Arab and widely heard in the Arab world. They carried the dream of reuniting the arabs under one political identity.

The final character is a 19th century anti-colonial activist and philosopher. Jamal al-Din al-Afghani's speeches reflected popular ideas such as pan-islamism.

Avedissian stenciled those three figures on an energetic background of militiamen maybe stating that the sound of the rifle is the fourth voice of the Arabs. The three carriers of the Arab voice are depicted here as hypnotizers they are spreading beliefs like pan-arabism pan-islamism Arab nationalism that were once a dream and now are a utopia.

See more of Chant Avedissian's work in our collection.