A large number of singers and musicians expressed their resentment for the unexpected decision by the Egyptian Musician Syndicate to accept Egyptian singer Ruby as a member, after all the commotion she had caused.
Hassan Ish Ish, head of the labor department in the Syndicate simply said, "we had to give her the membership after we have been embarrassed by the censorship committee which gave her permission to screen her movie that contains many of her songs. Besides, she apologized and paid 60 thousands EGP to the association as part of the deal. About Ruby's seductive and revealing clothes I can say that it's not our responsibility as an association to decide whether it is appropriate or not"
Ish Ish explained that Ruby is not the first one to sing without being licensed especially after the emergence of the satellite channels. "She was put under an examination and passed, Ruby promised the committee to be more responsible in her work. I want to add that she is not a full singer she was licensed to be a performer like Rojeena and Aida Riyad, besides the association needs every penny it gets." Ish Ish concluded.
From his side Hassan Abu Saoud, head of the musicians association, who was against Ruby and filed a lawsuit against her uttered "Ruby is like my daughter and it is not fair to prevent her from work. I was against her when she was working without a license but now I cannot see reason for anyone to be against her. I have to get 500 thousand EGP to pay salaries and pensions so we need every penny we can get. The ones who were against Ruby's membership are destructive people and they are the ones who are benefiting from Ruby's generous donation to the association."
Head of the committee that gave Ruby the license, Mohammed Rushdie, said "I don’t have any personal relationship with Ruby but I can say that she is the only Egyptian girl who is competing with the [Lebanese white flesh invasion]. She is a cute girl and people love her so do not blame the association. If people are complaining about her singing in a belly-dance outfit I tell them to go and watch the old movies, Ruby did not do anything different to deserve such criticism."
Ruby had previously donated 50 thousand EGP to the retirement fund of musicians as a part of a deal to end the lawsuit between her and the association and 10 thousands as the fee of the permit.
Ruby also did not attend the news conference where she declared to be an official member of the association saying that her mother was sick. People close to Ruby advised her not to give any press releases about her previous stance towards the association or about omitting some of the scenes from her movie. –Albawaba.com
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
