There are songs that beat the drums of war and songs that wave the flag of peace, and in different ways these are all love songs, songs of grief and songs of hope. It’s all a propaganda of sorts, even songs written from the deepest place in our hearts.
Yemeni singer Bilal al-Aghbari became well-known in his home country in 2007 when he came third in Sharjah Star, an international talent competition hosted in the UAE. When the Arab Spring reached Yemen, he says: ‘I participated in the…