It is the voice that every Arab child of the 1980s and early 90s grew up with, the voice of a heroic football player, Captain Majid, who transfixed a generation of children and made it their dream to be able to shoot and score like him.
To this day, a good player in the Middle East is told: “You are like Captain Majid.”
It was also the voice of many other characters, such as Mowgli in the Arabic dubbed Japanese animated version of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, a jungle call that was copied by anyone who watched it.
So it is a surprise to discover that the voice of famous animated male characters who inspired generations of Arabs is that of a woman.
“People rarely call me by my real name, they call me Captain Majid or Mowgli!” says Amal Hawijeh, who may be close to 50, but has kept her familiar soft and gentle childlike voice and contagious laugh.
The Syrian actress, writer and artist has been in many serious and award-winning productions, with a distinguished career in film, books and theatre, appearing in more than 20 plays around the Arab world. She has worked with famous directors such as Fawaz Al Sajer, Manuel Gigy, Mansour Al Salti and Nader Qassim. She starred in and co-wrote the documentary Amal, by Emirati filmmaker Nujoom Al Ghanem, that won the Muhr Emirati main award at the 2011 Dubai Film Festival.
But it is for cartoons that she is recognised.
Just how much her voice is loved was illustrated in the reaction of the audience in her appearance as a guest speaker recently at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival.
“Oh my god! you bring back so many childhood memories,” said Afra Ahmed, an Emirati in her 30s, a sentiment expressed by most of the Emirati and Arab attendees, young and old. Fans took autographs and photos with her, tweeting about meeting “Captain Majid”.
Arabic-dubbed cartoons, particularly Japanese animated cartoons, once ruled the TV screens of homes in not just the UAE but much of the Arab world. Until the cartoons were taken off the screen in the late 1990s (they have returned recently as reruns on the SpaceToon channel) children would tune in, often with their parents, at 4pm every day. Along with Iftah Ya Simsim, the Arabic version of hit children's show Sesame Street that taught an entire Arab generation its alphabet and numbers during the 1980s, the dubbed cartoons were the product of the GCC Joint Production Program Institution, which was set up in 1976 to make television programmes for the region.
It hired Kuwaiti, Iraqi and Syrian actors to dub more than 50 Japanese series into Arabic, distributed to the rest of the Arab world including North Africa.
“It is quite ironic that the role I almost didn’t dub is the one I would be most famous for,” said Hawijeh, who received a degree in theatre in Damascus in 1984. She was about 30 when she was approached with the Captain Majid series.
“I didn’t feel I could put much feeling and emotions into a story about a boy and soccer. I like to get attached and have a connection with all my work. I asked them to find someone else but they insisted, and I am glad they did,” she said.
In those days, the equipment was very basic and children were not used for dubbing.
“It was unethical to hire children, as we would spend hours upon hours inside taping and retaping. It is not easy, as it takes real talent to be able to capture the hearts and ears of your audience, and people train for years to become voice actors,” she said.
When Captain Majid grew up in the series, Hawijeh found someone who she mentored and became a voice actor name in his own right, Marwan Farhat.
“People always think we look like the cartoons we dub, and get surprised when they meet us,” says Hawijeh, who is petite with brown eyes, short hair, and could very easily pass for a young Captain Majid.
Hawijeh, who can voice animals and bird sounds, also dubbed Al Sayaad Al Sagheer (The Little Fisherman), Snow White and many others. She also produces plays with child actors.
“It is just something you are born with, where your voice can transform and capture the heart and soul of another creature,” she said. She pauses then clucks like a chicken, remembering a bird that used to follow her around as a child. “I would spend my childhood in the countryside, and the animals and birds were my friends.”
She got her first break in her early 20s when she was asked to dub a Russian cartoon about a doll horse that wanted to be a real horse.
“Initially someone would translate for me what the horse says. Then I signalled to the producer it is OK, I got it. And I became this character and expressed the feelings and words I would imagine it would say making it real and believable,” she said. “It is not enough to have beautiful imagery and drawings, you need the right words that touch a viewer or listener.”
Other Arab celebrities saw their lives transformed because of animation. The popular Syrian singer Asala got her first break in cartoons, and sang the theme songs for the Hikayat Alameya (Universal Stories) series when she was just a teenager. The legendary Lebanese crooner Sammy Clark, despite being a successful singer in his own right, is forever known as the singing voice behind songs in Grendizer and Jazerat Al Kanz (Treasure Island). Grendizer is the story of a prince from another planet defending Earth against aliens, and to this day has a cult-like following.
“I stopped dubbing when I found the quality of the cartoons had gone down. No depth, no values, just senseless fighting and action,” said Hawijeh, who stopped voicing them around 2000.
One of the first dubbed series was Al Rajol Al Hadidi (Iron Man or Kyoryu Daisenso Aizenborg in Japanese), a 1979 production about a team of expert warriors battling evil dinosaurs as they attacked Japan.
Other favourites include Adnan wa Lina (Conan Future Boy) about a boy and girl's adventures in a world on the brink of extinction. It was the work of the animator Hayao Miyazaki, who went on to win an Oscar in 2003 for his film Spirited Away. Other popular cartoons were based on classic books like Heidi and Sindbad the Sailor.
After influencing so many, she continues to mentor the young and writes books for them filled with stories of love and humour. A fourth book is about to be published about a dreaming child and a crusty old person, which she hopes will help another group in great need of hope.
“I really want to help Syrian refugee children keep their inner innocence and dreams as they will need them,” she said, adding: “It is not going to be any easier on them anytime soon.”
She hasn’t been back to Syria since 2011, living between the UAE, Greece and other countries, but hopes to return and give back to a country that continues to struggle with conflict.
“When I make the famous Mowgli cry now, it is a cry for Syria and for every country that has to suffer because of the destruction caused by humans,” she says. “Mowgli cried for the jungle as he left it. I cry for my country and all the innocent lives that suffer every minute.”
rghazal@thenational.ae
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
